STATEMENT ON THE SUBMISSION TO THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

STATEMENT ON THE SUBMISSION TO THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE COOPERATIVE REPUBLIC OF GUYANA OF ITS MEMORIAL ON THE MERITS IN THE CASE ON THE ARBITRAL AWARD OF 1899 (GUYANA v. VENEZUELA)

Guyana has today submitted to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, its Memorial on the Merits of its Case against Venezuela – as required by the Court following its decision of 18 December 2020 confirming its jurisdiction to decide the merits of Guyana’s claims. The matter is before the Court pursuant to the decision of the Secretary General of the United Nations under the 1966 Geneva Agreement, by which the parties conferred upon the Secretary General the authority to determine the means by which the controversy between Guyana and Venezuela shall be settled.

Guyana seeks from the Court a decision that the Arbitral Award of 1899 determining the boundary is valid and binding upon Guyana and Venezuela, and that the boundary established by that Award and the 1905 Agreement demarcating it, is the lawful boundary between Guyana and Venezuela. The Court has agreed in its earlier decision that it has jurisdiction to do so. Guyana now looks to the Court’s judicial process and its settlement of the matter under the rule of law.

This year sees the 56th anniversary of the 1966 Geneva Agreement. Guyana considers that the true commemoration of that Agreement is in contributing in good faith to the fulfilment of its true meaning and intent by participating fully in the current juridical process deriving from it. Hence the submission today to the International Court of Justice of Guyana’s Memorial on the Merits as required by the Court.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation