The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has notified Guyana that the hearing planned for March 23, 2020 on whether it has jurisdiction in the case pertaining to this country’s border controversy with Venezuela has been deferred due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A release yesterday from Guyana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the ICJ, also known as the World Court, has informed Guyana that the oral proceedings have been postponed due to the current worldwide health crisis. The Court has further said that it will give a decision on a new date in due time.
The postponement may also appear to be fortuitous for Guyana as it is unclear whether a new government will be sworn-in by then following the March 2nd general elections.
The ICJ will determine whether the Court has jurisdiction over the case filed by Guyana on March 29, 2018 to obtain from the Court a final and binding judgment that the 1899 Arbitral Award, which established the location of the land boundary between then-British Guiana and Venezuela, remains valid and binding, and that Guyana’s Essequibo region belongs to Guyana, and not Venezuela.
Guyana brought its case to the Court following the decision by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, in January 2018, that the controversy between Guyana and Venezuela should be decided by the World Court. In taking his decision, the Secretary-General was exercising the power vested in him in the 1966 Geneva Agreement between Guyana, Venezuela and the United Kingdom to decide how the controversy should be settled.
