World Court throws out Venezuela’s preliminary objection in border case

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday dismissed Venezuela’s preliminary objection to the admissibility of Guyana’s application for a final, legally-binding settlement of the longstanding border controversy between the two countries.

ICJ President Judge Joan E. Donoghue read the Court’s judgement on Thursday at a sitting of the Court in Hague.

Venezuela, during oral hearing for the preliminary objection last November, contended that the United Kingdom is an indispensable third party to the case and as such, the World Court should not proceed with the substantive border controversy case in the UK’s absence.

Guyana, however, argued that the United Kingdom is not indispensable because it has no legal interests that would be affected by a judgement on the validity of the Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899, which fixed the boundary between British Guiana and Venezuela, or any interests in the boundary itself.

Those interests, it was argued, were terminated on May 26, 1966, when Guyana gained its independence from the UK.

The ICJ agreed with Guyana’s arguments in a 14 to 1 vote, basing its judgement largely on the Geneva Agreement inked on February 17, 1966.

In fact, the Court said that there are several instances in the long history of the border case that indicate the UK was no longer participating in the settlement of the matter.

“The Court considers that the scheme established by Articles Two and Four of the Geneva Agreement reflects a common understanding of all parties to that agreement that the controversy which existed between the United Kingdom and Venezuela on 17 February 1966 would be settled by Guyana and Venezuela through one of the dispute settlement procedures accepted through the Geneva Agreement,” Judge Donoghue stated.

The Court, according to the judgement read by Donoghue, also observed that the UK did not participate in other engagements relating to the border case.

It was noted that Venezuela exclusively engaged with the Government of Guyana when implementing Article Four of the Geneva Agreement in respect of the ‘Good Offices’ process conducted by the Secretary General of the United Nations.

“…. accordingly parties to the Geneva Agreement further demonstrate their agreement that dispute could be settled without the involvement of the United Kingdom,” Judge Donoghue said further.

With this preliminary objection thrown out, the World Court is now expected to return to the substantive case where the ICJ has already found it has the jurisdiction to preside over the matter.

Guyana is seeking a final and binding judgement that the 1899 Arbitral Award, which established the location of the land boundary between then British Guiana and Venezuela, remains valid and that the Essequibo region belongs to Guyana and not Venezuela.