International Court of Justice rejects Venezuela’s objection, and declares it has jurisdiction over Guyana’s claim

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) rejected the preliminary objection presented by Venezuela, asking to declare the case of its dispute with Guyana over the Esequibo territory inadmissible.

Also, it declared itself competent to decide the merits of the case presented by Georgetown before that body.

“By 14 votes to one, it rejects the preliminary objection presented by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” expressed ICJ president Joan Donoghue after reading the judgment

“By 14 votes to one, it determines that it can decide on the merits of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana since it is within the scope of the judgment of December 18, 2020”, she continued.

Similarly, the Court, based in the Dutch city of The Hague, determined that the dispute could be resolved without the participation of the United Kingdom.

“In the behavior of the parties, according to the Court’s examination, the behavior of the parties to the Geneva Agreement, we see that there is a lack of participation of the United Kingdom in the resolution of the dispute between Guyana and Venezuela.”

“The Court notes that the United Kingdom did not seek to participate in this joint commission proceeding, and neither Venezuela nor Guyana required the United Kingdom’s participation,” Donoghue said.

In June 2022, the Government of Nicolás Maduro presented before the ICJ preliminary objections to the admission of the unilateral claim of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana against his country.

According to the document, the purpose of the measure filed was to defend the rights and interests of Venezuela and sought that the claim not be admitted by the Court, considering that it lacks essential elements to constitute due process.

Venezuela maintains that the ICJ does not have jurisdiction to hear the case based on 1943 jurisprudence.

For more than 100 years, Venezuela and Guyana have maintained a dispute over the sovereignty of the Essequibo Region, which covers some 160,000 square kilometers west of the Essequibo River and has large oil reserves.

In 1966, both nations signed an agreement to seek a peaceful solution to this dispute. Still, in 2018, Guyana introduced a claim before the ICJ asking the Court to legally validate the 1899 arbitral award, which gives it absolute control over the territory.

The historic dispute between the two countries has grown increasingly tense since Guyana cemented its oil and mineral exploration work in the area.

With information from Sputnik

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