125 years of Arbitral Award. We remain convinced justice is on our side and case can stand strong before ICJ

By Roysdale Forde S.C M.P-  Consequent upon the Treaty of Washington of 1897 and the Arbitral Award of October 3, 1899, the boundary between what was then British Guiana and Venezuela was settled and a Boundary Commission appointed comprising two British Commissioners, Messrs. H. I. Perkins and C. Wilgres Anderson, representing the British Government and two Venezuelan Commissioners, Senores Abraham Tereado and Elias Toro, representing the Venezuelan Government. 

The task of the Commission was to demarcate on the ground the line of the boundary established by the Arbitral Award and to state it with clarity on an agreed map.

The resulting boundary line which was surveyed by the Commissioners between November 1900 and June 1904 was set out on a map, an extract from which has been circulated to honourable Members and signed by the said Commissioners at Georgetown, British Guiana, on 7^th January, 1905.

On 9^th January, 1905, a report was submitted by Mr. Perkins, the senior British Boundary Commissioner, to his principals and published in the official records of British Guiana for that year.

Two identical maps were drawn and jointly signed “one for the Government of His Britannic Majesty and the other for that of Venezuela containing all the enumerated details relating to the … demarcation with a clear specification of the boundary line according with the Arbitral Award of Paris.”

On the 10^th January, 1905, the British and Venezuela Commissioners signed a formal agreement at Georgetown referring to the map previously signed by them and endorsing its accuracy and authenticity.

The sun of Guyana sets in the Essequibo.  So it is and so it must be.

Going back to 1965, young Guyana has been unwavering in commitment to abide by the 1899 Arbitral Award that settled the territorial dispute between then British Guiana and the Bolivian Republic of Venezuela, under the colonial leadership of Britain.

Guyana’s position was solidified by Premier Forbes Burnham’s presence during the 9^th– 10^th December 1965, at a high level meeting with Venezuelan Foreign Minister and the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, addressing the 7^th November 1965 Communiqué signed by representatives of Venezuela and Britain, along with a representative from British Guiana to:

“Find satisfactory solutions for a practical settlement of the controversy which has arisen as a result of the Venezuelan contention that the 1899 Award is null and void.”

On the eve of independence, the Forbes Burnham Administration pursued a path to resolution through the Geneva Agreement, which the Desmond Hoyte Administration continued, and on expiration in 1990 pursued the Good Officer process which lasted until 2017.

We remain thankful that in 2018, the David Granger/Moses Nagamootoo Administration approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ), to have the matter resolved, based on committed to principle of peaceful resolution.

In or out of government, the People’s National Congress (PNC) remains committed to protecting and defending Guyana’s sovereignty, through peaceful and judicious means- legal and diplomatic. This has been demonstrated by successive PNC leaders, from Messrs Forbes Burnham, Desmond Hoyte, Robert Corbin, David Granger to Aubrey Norton.

The Party holds true to the statement of its Founder Leader and Prime Minister Forbes Burnham as adumbrated on 12^th July 1968 in the National Assembly that:

“We have no quarrel with the Venezuelan people but we shall not lack courage or resolve in resisting aggressive demands of a Venezuelan Government that is prepared to defile the traditions of Bolivar and to flout the precepts of Hemispheric and world order and security.

“In our stand for survival we shall call upon the conscience of all peace-loving people to speak out in our cause and we shall need all our unity as a people so that your voice may be heard in all corners of the world and in 11 the Councils of the world’s institutions for peace”

When Mr. Burnham uttered those profound words he was addressing the matter of Guyana’s Statement on Venezuela’s Decree that purported a plan to “annex as part of the territorial waters and contiguous zone of Venezuela a belt of sea lying along the coast of Guyana between the mouth of the Essequibo River and Waini Point.”

We are here, more than a century later, facing a threat of no lesser magnitude, and we cannot pretend this issue is not a clear and present danger to every citizen of this beloved land, home and abroad.

Guyanese deserve a peaceful and lawful resolution of the controversy which is presently before the ICJ. Guyana’s case is ably led by party stalwart and former Vice President, Mr. Carl Greenidge and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Ms. Gail Teixeira.  Undoubtedly the matter is in safe hands. And as Forbes Burnham said in the House in 1966, “we are convinced that justice is on our side and our case can stand thorough scrutiny from any quarter.”