By Femi Harris-Smith
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) yesterday ruled in Guyana’s favour that its case before it seeking to affirm the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award settling the boundaries between it and Venezuela is admissible; and that the United Kingdom has no place in the proceedings as Caracas has sought to argue.
What this means, is that the Netherlands-based Court can move forward with hearing the substantive case on its merits, of whether the 1899 arbitral award settling the boundaries of Guyana and Venezuela is valid and binding.
The decision has been hailed by both Government and the main APNU+AFC opposition.
