United Nations, CMC- Guyana’s Everlasting Consultant to the United Nations, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, has reiterated her nation’s dedication to a peaceable resolution to the border dispute with Venezuela, which is claiming the Essequibo area within the Caribbean Group (CARICOM) nation.
On Tuesday, the UN Safety Council met privately to debate latest developments relating to the territorial dispute between the 2 nations, as Guyana’s President, President Irfaan Ali, requested in an April 5 letter he submitted to the Council.
The assembly was held below the theme “Threats to worldwide peace and safety,” with the Assistant Secretary-Common for Europe, Central Asia, and the Americas, Miroslav Jenča, briefing the Council.
Rodrigues Birkett’s presentation to the Council offered a radical overview of the historical past of the border controversy and highlighted Venezuela’s actions in contravention of diplomatic agreements, together with the Argyle Declaration, and worldwide legislation, together with the legally binding orders of the Worldwide Court docket of Justice.
She emphasised Guyana’s dedication to peace, the rule of legislation, and the decision of the controversy by means of the Worldwide Court docket of Justice (ICJ).
Ambassador Rodrigues-Birkett underscored the Council’s duty to make sure respect for the rule of legislation and adherence to the basic rules of the UN Constitution.
She referred to as on the Council to impress Venezuela with the necessity to pursue a peaceable settlement of the controversy by the ICJ, as it’s certain to do by the 1966 Geneva Settlement.
Venezuela’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Samuel Moncada Acosta, who attended the session, dominated out any occupation plan by the South American nation.
The UN Safety Council has not issued an official assertion following the assembly at which Haiti and Suriname addressed the delegates.
Nonetheless, in an announcement posted on ‘X’ previously Twitter, the UK mentioned, “Venezuela can’t act unilaterally to disrupt the peace of the area.
“The border was settled in 1899 by means of worldwide arbitration and have to be revered,” the UK mentioned.
The Safety Council mentioned Guyana had requested the assembly, citing Article 35 (1) of the UN Constitution, which states that any UN member state “could convey any dispute, or any scenario referred to in Article 34 [that is, one that may lead to international friction or give rise to a dispute] to the eye of the Safety Council or the Common Meeting”.
Within the letter requesting the assembly, Ali cited the “Natural Legislation for the Protection of Guayana Esequiba,” President Nicolas Maduro signed on April 3.
Ali warned that this motion “cements Venezuela’s intent to annex greater than two-thirds of Guyana’s sovereign territory and make it a part of Venezuela.”
However Maduro described the legislation as implementing the outcomes of the December 3, 2023 referendum, including that the legislation “establishes the creation of state quantity 24, the state of Guayana Esequiba, inside the political and territorial group of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”
The legislation additionally reiterated Venezuela’s rejection of the validity of the 1899 Paris Arbitral Award and the ICJ’s jurisdiction on the matter.
In his April 5 letter, President Ali mentioned that the legislation violates the Worldwide Prison Court docket’s (ICJ) December 1, 2023, provisional measures and expressed concern that given Caracas’ disregard of this order, “Venezuela’s subsequent transfer could be to implement its plan for the seizure of our sovereign territory.”
Ali added that such an act would breach the basic rules of worldwide legislation enshrined within the UN Constitution and would contradict the letter and spirit of the Argyle Declaration.
The letter additionally rejects latest claims made by Maduro that the US has put in bases of the Central Intelligence Company (CIA) in Essequibo, calling it a “harmful narrative.”
The dispute over the Essequibo area, an roughly 160,000 sq. km stretch of densely forested land that constitutes two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is house to roughly 125,000 of its 800,000 residents, stretches again to the nineteenth century when Guyana was below colonial rule.
Venezuela had claimed the Essequibo area since 1841, when it was argued that the British Empire had encroached on Venezuelan territory by buying the territory of then-British Guiana from the Netherlands. It has additionally challenged the validity of the 1899 Paris Arbitral Award, by means of which the border between Venezuela and British Guiana was determined.
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