Border Controversy: EU not in support of any ‘unilateral action’ that can ‘escalate’ situation

The European Union (EU) maintains that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) should be the place where Guyana and Venezuela settle the border controversy, the Union’s Ambassador to Guyana René van Nes said on Friday.

Further, the diplomat emphasised that the EU calls on all parties to avoid any actions that may escalate the “delicate” situation.

“The position of the EU here is that we strongly feel that international law and multilateral institutions are the appropriate framework for addressing international disputes,” the Ambassador told reporters during a press conference on Friday.

He pointed out that this is the position of many international partners and said there has been calls for all sides to “avoid unilateral actions.”

“We very clearly refer to the (ICJ) as the agreed mechanism to deal with this situation and we call on all parties to avoid anything that will escalate the situation.”

Though declining to comment on Venezuela’s December 3 referendum, which seeks citizens’ support for a potential annexation of Guyana’s Essequibo region, van Nes stressed that parties must adhere to an internationally-supported mechanism of resolving the controversy.

For years, Guyana and Venezuela have been trying to resolve a border controversy wherein Venezuela claims about two-thirds of Guyana, that is, the entire Essequibo region and the exclusive economic zone offshore. After bilateral talks failed, the matter has been referred to the International Court of Justice where Guyana hopes it can get a final, binding judgement that indeed, the Essequibo region belongs to Guyana.

Guyana and other partners, including the Caribbean Community, believe that Venezuela is attempting to encroach and annex Guyana’s Essequibo region by holding the referendum.

Through that referendum, it is feared that Venezuela’s government would attempt to seize, acquire or encroach upon Guyana’s land pending the ICJ’s final determination of the validity of the Arbitral Award that established the land boundary between the two States.

So Guyana’s government has approached the World Court and asked for provisional measures to block Venezuela’s moves while the wider judicial process of resolving the border controversy unfolds.

Guyana’s government, in a statement, said it asked that the Court schedule oral hearings on its Request at the earliest possible date in advance of December 3, 2023, the date Venezuela has fixed for its referendum.