PRESIDENT, Dr Irfaan Ali has called on Venezuela to respect the forthcoming ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy, reaffirming Guyana’s commitment to a peaceful resolution of the decades-old controversy.
Addressing the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York yesterday, Dr Ali said Guyana had consistently pursued peaceful avenues to settle the controversy, despite what he described as “long and repeated provocations and aggression.”
His remarks came a day after Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez used her UNGA address to reaffirm Caracas’ claim over the Essequibo region and call on Guyana to return to negotiations under the 1966 Geneva Agreement.
President Ali pointed to the 1899 Arbitral Award, which Guyana maintains provided the “full, perfect, and final settlement” of the border, and noted that the matter was eventually taken to the ICJ after decades of bilateral efforts and the UN Secretary-General’s Good Offices process.
He said both Guyana and Venezuela had participated in the ICJ proceedings, which concluded in May 2026.
“Now that we have both participated in the hearings, which were completed in May 2026, we urge Venezuela to abide by the forthcoming ruling in accordance with their obligation under the UN Charter, as Guyana will do,” Dr. Ali told the Assembly.
The president said Guyana looks forward to “a new era of neighbourly relations” focused on the development of both countries and the stability and prosperity of the region.
At the centre of the controversy is Guyana’s request for the court to affirm the legal validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award, which established the international boundary between then British Guiana and Venezuela.
Guyana argued that the award conclusively settled the border more than a century ago, while Venezuela maintains its claim of invalidity.
Importantly, the ICJ has already ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear and determine the matter on its merits. In a December 2020 judgment, the court rejected Venezuela’s challenge to its authority and ruled that it has the power to determine the validity of the 1899 award and the land boundary between the two neighbouring states.
Guyana’s Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, SC, had said the country was “more confident than ever” that the world court will uphold the 1899 Arbitral Award and definitively affirm the country’s lawful boundary following oral hearings of the case back in May.
The oral hearings, held between May 4 and May 11, saw Guyana and Venezuela present arguments in two rounds of pleadings before the ICJ — the United Nations’ highest judicial body.
The court is now deliberating before issuing its final judgment on the merits of the case, a ruling Nandlall stressed will be legally binding on both countries.
