GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – An international law expert suggests there is potential for Guyana and Venezuela to share or exploit the oil reserves if the International Court of Justice rules that the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award that decided on the border dispute between the two countries is valid.
“If there is any potential for friendly relations and compromise with how you delimit the borders, how you share…If you have reservoirs that straddle the territories to document the resources properly …so there is the possibility you have the proper data to meet with them on that front. Then we have a different relationship in the future, so that would be a utopian dream,” said the Dean of the University of the West Indies Faculty of Law, Dr. Alicia Elias-Roberts.
Speaking at a symposium titled “Guyana versus Venezuela Border Controversy – A Legal Perspective,” the UWI lecturer said that sharing oil reserves and cross-border oil wells would depend heavily on the two countries enjoying good relations and scientific analysis.
The symposium was organized by the local law firm of Hughes, Fields, and Stoby and comes amidst tensions between Guyana and Venezuela over the ownership of the Essequibo region that makes up about two-thirds of Guyana and is home to 152,000 of the country’s 800,000 citizens.
Both Guyana and Venezuela have signed the Joint Declaration of Argyle for Dialogue and Peace, agreeing that “any controversies” between them will be resolved by international law, including the Geneva Agreement dated February 17
Guyana is also awaiting a ruling on the border dispute from the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Speaking in her capacity, Dr. Elias Roberts told the symposium that she was almost sure that Venezuela would not respect the ICJ’s decision.
Senior Lecturer at the University of Guyana’s Department of Law, Neville Bissember, noted that the UN Charter explicitly binds member states to respect that court’s decisions or face measures through the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to enforce judgments of the court.
He said Guyana would have to rely not only on the UNSC but also its diplomatic efforts, such as the Chinese issuance of a statement in mid-December that it respects borders, “saying things in our favor.”
He said that with Venezuela allocating a substantial amount of money in its 2024 national budget to research, “it might be a positive sign that they are actually going to come to the court and defend their position.”
Regarding Venezuela’s likely decision to disregard the ICJ’s ruling, the senior lecturer said Venezuela is on shaky ground and should not follow countries like Russia and the United States, which have previously ignored the UNSC.
“Venezuela has powerful friends in the Security Council, but so do we,” he said, adding he is confident that the ICS would hand down its ruling before Guyana’s non-permanent membership in the UNSC ends in 2025.
Bissember, a former Guyana diplomat, agreed with Venezuela that the Geneva Agreement is the basis for peacefully resolving the border controversy. In keeping with that Agreement, the UN Secretary-General referred the matter to the ICJ after enhanced mediation. “Don’t worry about the noise you hear from Caracas,” he said.
Guyana’s Agent in the ICJ case on the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award, Carl Greenidge, a member of the public attending the symposium, appealed to Guyana to “redouble” its diplomatic and public relations efforts.
“I don’t think we take this matter seriously enough. You have to invest more human and financial resources in both PR (public relations) and the diplomatic offensive as an alternative to military action. We have to do a lot more.”
Greenidge recommends that Guyana embarks on diplomatic and political initiatives to address the possibility that Caracas is preparing to join the grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRICS).
“Venezuela, itself, is seeking entry into the BRICs. Are we working on that grouping? We have to work on them so that everybody is aware that here is a lawbreaker, here is a State that has no respect for agreements that have been signed,” he said.
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