Venezuela presented on Wednesday before the International Court of Justice “preliminary objections to the admission of the unilateral lawsuit” made by the Cooperative Republic of Guyana against the Venezuelan nation, for lacking essential elements to form a due process.
According to a statement issued by the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry, the purpose of the preliminary objection “is to defend the rights and interests of the Republic, and ensure that this claim is not admitted.”
The document indicates that “Venezuela’s position has been, and will continue to be, its inescapable adherence to the 1966 Geneva Agreement and its confidence in direct negotiations as mandated by this legal instrument, the meaning, purpose and reason of which is none other than to achieve amicably a practical and acceptable arrangement for the Parties”.
In this sense, the Bolivarian Republic refuses to use the International Court of Justice to resolve the matter, when it can be resolved through negotiation.
“Venezuela rejects the instrumentalization of the International Court of Justice to resolve a dispute that demands a negotiated solution, without prejudice to due respect for this body, as the main judicial body of the United Nations,” the statement said.
Faced with this new situation, Venezuela hopes that “the matter will immediately return to the field of friendly negotiation between the parties and to the correct application of the Geneva Agreement to settle the territorial dispute that justified its signing.”
Finally, Venezuela calls on the people, says the text, to remain “in national union in defense of the historical and territorial legacy of our Father Liberator Simón Bolívar and in compliance with the constitutional values of peace, integrity and sovereignty.”
Venezuela summons “all the Venezuelan people to the national union in defense of the historical and territorial legacy of our Father Liberator Simón Bolívar and in compliance with the constitutional values of peace, integrity and sovereignty, in the strictest respect for International Law” .
Below is the full text of the statement issued this Thursday by the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry:
“The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, for the sake of defending the highest interests of the Republic and its territorial integrity, informs the Venezuelan people that on June 7, 2022, in accordance with the applicable regulations, the Republic has been forced to present before the International Court of Justice preliminary objections to the admission of the unilateral claim of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana against Venezuela.
The objective of this preliminary objection is to defend the rights and interests of the Republic, and ensures that this claim is not admitted due to the lack of essential elements to conform a due process.
Venezuela’s position has been, and will continue to be, its inescapable adherence to the 1966 Geneva Agreement and its confidence in direct negotiations as mandated by this legal instrument, the meaning, purpose and reason of which is none other than to reach a friendly and practical settlement acceptable to the Parties.
Venezuela rejects the instrumentalization of the International Court of Justice to resolve a dispute that demands a negotiated solution, without prejudice to due respect for this body as the main judicial body of the United Nations.
However, we are obliged to point out, without a doubt, the course of the procedure that has been followed since the unilateral application of Guyana, as well as the decision of December 18, 2020 in which, against all precedent, the Court jurisdiction is arrogated to rule on “the validity of the 1899 arbitration award”, an issue that has been overcome and that was artificially proposed in the unilateral demand of Guyana, to seek to get rid of its commitment to negotiate, to which it is bound under the Geneva Agreement.
Venezuela hopes that the matter will immediately return to the field of friendly negotiation between the parties and to the correct application of the Geneva Agreement to resolve the territorial dispute that justified its signing.
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela summons all the Venezuelan people to the national union in defense of the historical and territorial legacy of our Father Liberator Simón Bolívar and in compliance with the constitutional values of peace, integrity and sovereignty in the strictest respect for the Law. International”.
