The Government of Venezuela is maintaining that the International Court does not have jurisdiction in the border controversy issue with Guyana and it therefore rejects the move to the Court for a final settlement of the controversy.
One day after Guyana officially filed its application to the International Court in the Hague, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry issued a statement objecting to the move.
In that statement, Venezuela says that it made clear its objection to the move since the Secretary General of the United Nations made the referral back in January.
“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has reported that it expressly objects to the judicial settlement as a means of resolving the territorial dispute over Guayana Esequiba, since it violates the preamble of the 1966 Geneva Agreement, which establishes, exhaustively, that the controversy must be “amicably resolved in a way that is acceptable to both parties”. The aforementioned method also violates Article I, since it does not lead to “satisfactory solutions for the practical settlement of the dispute”, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said.
It added that Guyana’s move to have the judicial settlement “is unacceptable, sterile and unenforceable, given that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela does not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice as mandatory, and in this sense, it has always been consistent with its historical position of making an express reservation or not being a signatory of any international legal instrument that contains arbitration clauses that grant compulsory jurisdiction to the aforementioned Court.”
Venezuela says it has proposed to the Government of Guyana, that the two sides restart diplomatic contacts that allow reaching a practical and satisfactory solution of the territorial controversy.
Venezuela believes that “these contacts will allow, in addition, to evaluate jointly the convenience of continuing with the figure of the Good Offices, under the auspices of the Secretary General of the UN, all in a context of cordiality and constructive and peaceful dialogue.”
Guyana believes that the UN Good Offices process has been exhausted. The Secretary General had made it clear that he would have been referring the matter to the ICJ if the Good Offices process offered no results by the end of 2017. He has stuck to that promise.
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