Guyana Where and What 2023-2024 for website_compressed

already become a rule of
customary international law.”
Venezuela’s effort to deny that
right to Guyana was firmly and
unconditionally thwarted.
As independence dawned,
British Guiana (with Britain still
in the wings) joined in an effort
to settle for all time the
concerns that had bedevilled
Venezuela about its eastern
border. What emerged was the
Geneva Agreement of 1966
allowing for the resolution of
Venezuela’s new found dispute
over the validity of the Arbitral
Tribunal’s Award of 1899 – fixing
their border with the then
British Guiana. Under the
Geneva Agreement, if the
parties were unable to resolve
this dispute between
themselves, it would fall to the
Secretary-General of the United
Nations to determine the means
by which the dispute would be
finally settled. On 30 January
2018, Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres sent a letter to
Guyana and Venezuela advising
them that he had determined, in
the exercise of his authority
under the Geneva Agreement,
that the dispute must be settled
by International Court of Justice
in The Hague.
In accordance with the
Secretary-General’s
determination, on 29 March
2018, Guyana filed its
Application to the International
Court of Justice - the ICJ.
Unfortunately, when a final
resolution came in sight,
Venezuela rejected the decision
of the Secretary-General and
challenged the jurisdiction of
the ICJ. The Court determined
that it would first decide on the
question of Jurisdiction, and
following oral hearings on 30
June 2020, issued its decision on
Produced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation