HGP Nightly News – Guyana is now awaiting a historic final judgment from the International Court of Justice after oral hearings concluded in its case against Venezuela over the Essequibo border controversy.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall said the conclusion of the hearings before the World Court represents a major triumph for the rule of law and the international legal order.
The case, which is before the world’s highest judicial body, concerns Guyana’s request for the court to confirm the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award. That award settled the boundary between Guyana and Venezuela and placed the Essequibo region within Guyana’s territory.
Following the close of oral hearings, Nandlall said both Guyana and Venezuela had presented their arguments in two rounds before the court. The judges will now deliberate and deliver a final judgment on the merits of the case in the coming months.
That judgment, he stressed, will be legally binding on both countries.
According to the Attorney General, the fact that the matter reached the ICJ and went through written and oral proceedings to completion is itself a significant achievement. He said disputes between states must be resolved peacefully, finally, and in keeping with international law, rather than through threats or the use of force.
Nandlall said Guyana has repeatedly made it clear that it will respect the court’s judgment, whatever the outcome may be. However, he said the country is more confident than ever that the ICJ will uphold the legal validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award.
He said Guyana expects the court to confirm that the boundary established by that award is final, definitive, permanent, lawful, and binding on both Guyana and Venezuela.
The Attorney General said Guyana was proud of the arguments presented during the hearings, noting that the country’s legal team made what he described as compelling and convincing submissions. He said those arguments exposed weaknesses in Venezuela’s position, both on the facts and in law.
Nandlall also expressed gratitude to Guyana’s representatives in the proceedings, including Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hugh Todd and Guyana’s Agent in the case, Carl Greenidge. He also praised the country’s international legal team, which included Paul Reichler of the United States, Professor Philippe Sands of the United Kingdom, and Professor Alain Pellet of France, among other senior advocates.
The Attorney General said the court’s final judgment will bring an end to a controversy that began in 1962, when Venezuela first challenged the lawfulness of the 1899 Award after accepting and respecting it for more than 60 years.
He argued that Venezuela raised its challenge at a time when Guyana was approaching independence, British troops were preparing to leave, and Venezuela believed it had a military advantage to press its claim to the Essequibo.
Nandlall said that before Guyana’s independence in 1966, the British negotiated the Geneva Agreement, which created a process for resolving Venezuela’s challenge to the 1899 Award. Guyana became a party to that agreement after independence.
The Geneva Agreement first provided for a period of bilateral negotiations, but those efforts failed to settle the controversy. As a result, the agreement allowed the United Nations Secretary-General to choose another means of settlement.
After decades without a resolution, UN Secretary-General António Guterres decided in January 2018 that the controversy should be settled by the International Court of Justice. Guyana then filed proceedings before the ICJ in March 2018.
Venezuela later challenged the court’s jurisdiction, but in December 2020, the ICJ ruled that it had the authority to determine the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award and the related boundary between Guyana and Venezuela.
With the hearings now completed, Guyana says it is looking to the court for a final legal settlement to one of the longest-running territorial controversies in the region.
