Judge Joan E. Donoghue, President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will pronounce on requests by Guyana for a provisional order to halt Venezuela’s threat to annex, occupy and issue Venezuelan passports and ID cards to citizens of Guyana’s Essequibo district at 10 am (T&T/Guyana time; 3 pm in The Hague, Netherlands) on Friday December 1, 2023.
Guyana made the request to the International Court on October 31, 2023 – See releases below.
It wants the Court to include in its provisional measures instructions that Venezuela not include within the ‘Consultative Referendum’ planned (for Dec 3, 2023), or any other public referendum, any question that would impact the legal issues before the Court in its Judgment on the Merits, including legal validity and binding effect of the 1899 Award, sovereignty over the territory between the Essequibo River, and the boundary established by the 1899 Award and the 1905 Agreement.
It also wants the Court to stay Venezuela’s ‘purported creation of the State of ‘Guayana Esequiba’ and any associated measures, including the granting of Venezuelan citizenship and national identity cards and to l refrain from any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute before the Court or make it more difficult to resolve.
The request for this provisional order precedes judgement by the Court in the case concerning recognition of legality of an 1899 boundary agreement between Venezuela and Guyana (then British Guiana).
On Our Doorstep
This matter on our doorsteps has wide significance for our region and ongoing and lingering controversies over boundaries, borders, territorial integrity and sovereignty that compound other social, cultural, political and economic challenges, as discussed here in Brokering the Border Wars – LAC limbo on barbed lines of demarcation as Venezuela-Guyana dispute heightens. In this I share some anecdotes of experiences of various culture communities with persistent border controversies. We will explore some of these challenges further moving onwards.
ICJ New Release on Provisional hearing Friday December 1, 2023
Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899 (Guyana v. Venezuela)
Request for the indication of provisional measures
The Court to deliver its Order on Friday 1 December 2023
THE HAGUE, 28 November 2023. On Friday 1 December 2023, the International Court of
Justice will deliver its Order on the Request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by
Guyana on 30 October 2023 (see press release No. 2023/58) in the case concerning Arbitral Award
of 3 October 1899 (Guyana v. Venezuela). A public sitting will take place at 3 p.m. at the Peace
Palace in The Hague, during which Judge Joan E. Donoghue, President of the Court, will read the
Court’s Order.
It is recalled that on 29 March 2018, Guyana filed an Application instituting proceedings
against Venezuela. In its Application, Guyana requests the Court “to confirm the legal validity and
binding effect of the Award regarding the Boundary between the Colony of British Guiana and the
United States of Venezuela, of 3 October 1899”.
Guyana’s request from the ICJ
Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899 (Guyana v. Venezuela)
Guyana requests the Court to indicate provisional measures
THE HAGUE, 31 October 2023. Yesterday, the Co-operative Republic of Guyana filed in the
Registry of the International Court of Justice a Request for the indication of provisional measures in
the case concerning Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899 (Guyana v. Venezuela), pursuant to Article 41
of the Statute of the Court.
In its Request, Guyana states that “[o]n 23 October 2023, the Government of Venezuela,
through its National Electoral Council, published a list of five questions that it plans to put before
the Venezuelan people in a . . . ‘Consultative Referendum’ on 3 December 2023”.
According to the Applicant, the purpose of this referendum is “to obtain responses that would support Venezuela’s decision to abandon [the current proceedings before the Court], and to resort instead to unilateral measures to ‘resolve’ the controversy with Guyana by formally annexing and integrating into
Venezuela all of the territory at issue in these proceedings, which comprises more than two-thirds of
Guyana”.
Guyana requests the Court to indicate the following provisional measures:
“1. Venezuela shall not proceed with the Consultative Referendum planned for
3 December 2023 in its present form;
- In particular, Venezuela shall not include the First, Third or Fifth questions in the
Consultative Referendum; - Nor shall Venezuela include within the ‘Consultative Referendum’ planned, or any
other public referendum, any question encroaching upon the legal issues to be
determined by the Court in its Judgment on the Merits, including (but not limited
to):
a. the legal validity and binding effect of the 1899 Award;
b. sovereignty over the territory between the Essequibo River, and the boundary
established by the 1899 Award and the 1905 Agreement; and
- 2 –
c. the purported creation of the State of ‘Guayana Esequiba’ and any associated
measures, including the granting of Venezuelan citizenship and national
identity cards.
- Venezuela shall not take any actions that are intended to prepare or allow the
exercise of sovereignty or de facto control over any territory that was awarded to
British Guiana in the 1899 Arbitral Award. - Venezuela shall refrain from any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute before the Court or make it more difficult to resolve
About Dr Kris Rampersad
Dr Kris Rampersad is an Award winning journalist, Independent Thought Leader and Sustainable Development specialist working for intercultural dialogue, understanding and peace.