As Guyana prepares to return to the International Court of Justice next month to file additional submissions in the border controversy case against Venezuela, CARICOM has reaffirmed its commitment and support to Guyana and the protection of its sovereignty.
During a press conference today, ahead of the opening of the inter-sessional CARICOM Heads of Government meeting, CARICOM Secretary-General, Dr. Carla Barnett said the Guyana case is being followed closely by CARICOM. She said it is always an agenda item at the CARICOM meetings.
“There are two border issues that are on the agenda for every Head meeting and one is the Guyana/Venezuela and the other is of course, is the Belize/Guatemala, those are issues that the Heads follow very closely, those are the issues which make the region stands strong on the matter of self-determination and territorial integrity and that will not change and that has nothing to do with the position on Ukraine in terms of any discussion of those issues”, Dr. Barnett said.
Guyana is currently before the International Court of Justice seeking a final and binding judgment from the Court 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.
Venezuela has been fighting off the case before the ICJ and has not been participating in the matter, claiming that the Court does not have jurisdiction.
In a 2020 ruling, the Court established that it does have jurisdiction to hear and determine the matter.
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