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STORY: ICJ / GUYANA VENEZUELA
TRT: 01:12
SOURCE:
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 18 DECEMBER 2020, THE HAGUE
1. Wide shot, Court in session
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, President of the Court:
“The Court, one, by twelve votes to four, finds that it has jurisdiction to entertain the Application filed by the Co-operative Republic of Guyana on 29 March 2018 in so far as it concerns the validity of the Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899 and the related question of the definitive settlement of the land boundary dispute between the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”
3. Wide shot, Court in session
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, President of the Court:
“Unanimously, finds that it does not have jurisdiction to entertain the claims of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana arising from events that occurred after the signature of the Geneva Agreement.”
5. Wide shot, Court in session
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), today (18 Dec) in the Hague delivered its Judgment and found that the Court “has jurisdiction to entertain the Application filed by Guyana in so far as it concerns the validity of the Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899 and the related question of the definitive settlement of the land boundary dispute between Guyana and Venezuela.”
Unanimously, the Court also found “that it does not have jurisdiction to entertain the claims of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana arising from events that occurred after the signature of the Geneva Agreement.”
In its Application filed on 29 March 2018, Guyana requested the Court “to confirm the legal validity and binding effect of the Award regarding the Boundary between the Colony of British Guiana and the United States of Venezuela of 3 October 1899.”
Guyana contends that the 1899 Award was “a full, perfect, and final settlement” of all questions relating to determining the boundary line between the colony of British Guiana and Venezuela.
On 18 June 2018, Venezuela stated that it considered that the Court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case and that Venezuela would not participate in the proceedings.
