UN gives Venezuela and Guyana 1 year to end border dispute

The Secretary General of the United Nations acting under the 1966 Geneva Agreement has informed the Heads of State of his decision to give the ‘good offices’ process one last period of twelve months, that is to the end of 2017.

According to a statement from the Ministry of the Presidency, “if, at the end of that period, the Secretary-General concludes that significant progress has not been made towards arriving at a full agreement for the solution of the controversy, he will choose the International Court of Justice as the next means of settlement, unless the Governments of Guyana and Venezuela jointly request that he refrain from doing so.”

It has long been the accepted position of all Governments in Guyana that the best means of settlement to the controversy be a reference of it to the ICJ.

The Government of Guyana stated that it “considers that controversy to be essentially a legal question and one eminently susceptible to a legal process of settlement.”

However, the government said it accepts the decision of the Secretary General and will be writing to the SG as well as to the President of Venezuela to indicate its acceptance of this decision.

“We believe that, in taking this decision, the Secretary General has remained loyal to the sacred mission of the United Nations to uphold the law and maintain the peace between nations – small and large,” the government said.

The Government calls upon all Guyanese to support the process that now lies ahead in the confidence that it will lead to a just and binding resolution of the discords that have plagued our development for so long.

It is deemed a fitting advance in this fiftieth year of our independence.