World Court to begin jurisdiction hearings for Venezuela border controversy case on June 30

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has announced that public hearings on whether it has the jurisdiction to adjudicate Guyana’s border controversy with Venezuela is to begin on June 30, at the Peace Palace in The Hague.

In a press statement issued on Friday, the ICJ, also known as the World Court, said in view of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the hearings will take place in the Great Hall of Justice using videoconference technology and with the physical presence of some of Members of the Court. Members of the media and the public will be able to follow the oral proceedings on internet through a live webstream.

It added that the programme of the hearings will be announced at a later stage.

A previous hearing planned for March 23 was deferred due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The ICJ will determine whether the Court has jurisdiction over the case filed by Guyana on March 29, 2018 to obtain from the Court a final and binding judgment that the 1899 Arbitral Award, which established the location of the land boundary between then-British Guiana and Venezuela, remains valid and binding, and that Guyana’s Essequibo region belongs to Guyana, and not Venezuela.

Guyana brought its case to the Court following the decision by the SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations Antonio Guterres, in January 2018, that the controversy between Guyana and Venezuela should be decided by the World Court. In taking the decision, the Secretary-General was exercising the power vested in him in the 1966 Geneva Agreement between Guyana, Venezuela and the United Kingdom to decide how the controversy should be settled.

The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) has said it has donated sanitising agents to several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) across Guyana during the current month as part of its “Pinktober” initiative.

In a statement issued on Friday, GTT said the donated items are for distribution to indigent persons within the respective communities of each organisation.

“It is our intention to touch the lives of as many persons as possible through the funds raised from Pinktober. We cannot do it alone and thus we appreciate the support of the cancer-related NGOs that have made the commitment to support the distribution of these sanitizing items to the people in their communities that need it the most,” GTT’s Pinktober Coordinator Diana Gittens was quoted as saying in the statement.

The Periwinkle Cancer Club, Linden Cancer Foundation, Berbice Cancer Society, the Giving Hope Foundation, Women on the Move and the Debra Shipley-George Go Care Foundation are among the NGOS that received donations this month. The donations amounted to $350,000 in total value.

It is the third monthly Pinktober initiative to be executed by the company, which plans to continue the activities in the coming months. The first initiative provided hampers for cancer patients and the health care providers at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GHPC). The company’s second donation focused on the needs of palliative care patients, to the benefit of cancer survivors, patients and their caregivers at home.