The Guyana Government yesterday said that an objection by Venezuela to Georgetown’s application for an extension of its continental shelf is “deeply regrettable”.
The statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said:
“The Government of Guyana wishes to make clear that Guyana’s Submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), pursuant to Article 76 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (the Convention), was done in a manner fully consistent with the provisions of international law, including the Convention. The Submission itself was made without prejudice to maritime delimitation with other States in accordance with the provisions of Article 76 (10) of the Convention. The decision of the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to object to Guyana’s Submission to the CLCS is therefore deeply regrettable.
“In recognition of the fact that the boundary with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela was definitively settled by the Arbitral Award of 3rd October 1899, Guyana informed the CLCS, in its Submission, that “there are no disputes in the region relevant to this Submission of data and information relating to the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles.” That statement remains legally and factually correct.
“It should be noted that the Geneva Agreement of 17th February, 1966 was aimed at allowing the Parties to resolve the matter of the claim of nullity and invalidity of the Arbitral Award by Venezuela and not to reopen the question of the boundary between Guyana and Venezuela.”
The Venezuelan newspaper El Universal reported this week that Venezuela had formally objected to the United Nations to the application by Guyana for the extension of its continental shelf.
El Universal said that the Foreign Ministry of Venezuela, through a statement, reported on Tuesday that Caracas had rejected the fact that the Commission on the Limits of Continental Shelf (CLCS) is considering the Guyanese request.
The CLCS will meet on March 19.
The report said that Venezuela reminded the UN that the territory west of the Essequibo River is the subject of a controversy “inherited from colonialism” and subject to the Geneva Agreement of 1966 and, within this context, to the Good Offices of the UN Secretary-General, “to which Venezuela is fully committed.”
According to the press release, Venezuela “informed promptly the Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana about our move, which complies with international law and the procedures of the Organization of the United Nations.”
Guyana’s application, submitted on September 6, 2011 to the CLCS, states that “there are no disputes in the region relevant to this submission of data and information relating to the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles.”
Guyana’s contention has always been that the 1899 arbitral award finally settled its boundaries with Venezuela. A controversy arose after Caracas raised certain objections in 1962 amid the Cold War.
The current boundary with Venezuela is an internationally recognized border.
On September 26 last year after objections raised by Caracas, the Guyana Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in response to Venezuela’s statement on Guyana’s submission of a claim to an extended continental shelf, that under cover of a Note Verbale, the Venezuelan Embassy here had been provided with a copy of the information Guyana submitted in its claim since May 2009, except for adjusted coordinates for the outer limits of the shelf which was based on seismic data obtained after that time.
On September 6 last year, Guyana submitted a claim to an extended continental shelf to the Commission on Limits of the Continental Shelf under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). According to the Venezuelan government, Guyana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave official notification of the submission the following day.
The Venezuelan Government had issued a statement in which it said it had started to “assess this irregular situation” and was taking the necessary action to preserve the law with respect to its “maritime façade.”
The vital interests of the country would be defended in a resolute manner by means of internationally established mechanisms for dialogue, the Venezuelan statement said, reiterating the Venezuelan government’s commitment to the Good Offices Process of the United Nations Secretary General.
The Venezuelan statement last year had said: “The Bolivarian Government of Venezuela, acting responsibly, has begun to evaluate this irregular situation [Guyana’s claim to an extended continental shelf] in order to give a proper response in the context of International Law and is taking the necessary action to preserve the law in respect of its maritime façade.”
The Venezuelan government noted that its statement did not seek to prejudge the issues relating to the determination of the maritime boundary between Venezuela and Guyana, but expressed its concern that the Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana had not previously informed Caracas about its submission to UNCLOS, despite the fact that avenues of communication were available, such as the Good Officer or the bilateral commissions.
In response, Takuba Lodge said the Guyana government “wishes to state that as was made pellucid in Guyana’s submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, Guyana’s submission of information and data pursuant to Article 76 of the [UNCLOS] is without prejudice to any future maritime delimitation exercise with neighbouring states.”
The Guyana government had said then it also values the relations that have developed between Guyana and Venezuela in the recent past and it was in that context that it shared the information in May 2009 as well as its full submission this month. It added: “The Government of Guyana reiterates its interest in the development of continued harmonious relations with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and anticipates that since [its submission] is without prejudice to future maritime delimitation exercises with neighbouring states whether within or beyond 200 nautical miles, this issue would not be allowed to adversely affect the exceptionally good relations that exist between Guyana and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”
According to www.UN.org “The term “continental shelf” is used by geologists generally to mean that part of the continental margin which is between the shoreline and the shelf break or, where there is no noticeable slope, between the shoreline and the point where the depth of the superjacent water is approximately between 100 and 200 metres. However, this term is used in article 76 as a juridical term. According to the Convention, the continental shelf of a coastal State comprises the submerged prolongation of the land territory of the coastal State – the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a distance of 200 nautical miles where the outer edge of the continental margin does not extend up to that distance. The continental margin consists of the seabed and subsoil of the shelf, the slope and the rise. It does not include the deep ocean floor with its oceanic ridges or the subsoil thereof .
“According to article 76, the coastal State may establish the outer limits of its juridical continental shelf wherever the continental margin extends beyond 200 nautical miles by establishing the foot of the continental slope, by meeting the requirements of article 76, paragraphs 4 – 7, of the Convention”.
