Dates have been set by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for written second round pleadings by Guyana and Venezuela in the ongoing border case.
Per the ICJ’s order, Guyana has until December 9 this year to make submissions. Venezuela has until August 11 the following year.
Agents from both Guyana and Venezuela had determined earlier this month that the second round of written pleadings was necessary after Venezuela’s Counter-Memorial in April. Guyana had initially suggested October 8 to make its submission while Venezuela wanted 12 months after this to make theirs, a timeline considered excessive to Guyana.
The case concerns the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award, which determined the boundary between the two South American nations more than a hundred years ago. In 1962, some 63 years after accepting the boundary, Venezuela claimed the Award was null and void, reanimating a claim for two-thirds of Guyana’s territory. After years of discussions between the two countries under the United Nations Good Offices Process failed to deliver a resolution, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres referred the matter to the ICJ in 2018.
