Border Case Nears End as Guyana Awaits ICJ Ruling

Guyana’s decades-long border controversy with Venezuela is now entering its final phase, with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) expected to deliver a binding judgment within months on the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award and the international boundary between the two South American neighbours.

In a statement issued on Friday, Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips announced that Guyana’s case before the world’s highest judicial body has been fully presented and that all submissions by both countries have now been completed.

“Guyana’s case against Venezuela in the International Court of Justice, the world’s highest international judicial tribunal, has now been fully submitted,” Phillips stated.

The announcement follows the conclusion of oral hearings at the Peace Palace in The Hague on May 11, bringing to an end eight years of legal proceedings.

According to the Prime Minister, all that remains is for the court’s judges to deliberate and issue their final ruling.

“As is customary, no date for that session has yet been set,” Phillips explained. “Normally, it takes six and eight months from the close of the oral hearings to the issuance of the final Judgment. If this holds true in our case, we can expect the Judgment sometime between November 2026 and January 2027.”

The case is one of the most consequential in Guyana’s history, as it concerns Venezuela’s claim to the Essequibo region, a territory comprising nearly two-thirds of Guyana’s landmass and rich in natural resources, including gold, timber, freshwater and significant offshore oil reserves.

At the centre of the dispute is the 1899 Arbitral Award, which established the boundary between then British Guiana and Venezuela. Venezuela accepted the award and the resulting boundary for more than six decades before challenging its validity in 1962, shortly before Guyana attained independence.

The dispute was ultimately taken to the International Court of Justice by the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) administration led by former President David Granger after decades of unsuccessful efforts to resolve the controversy through diplomacy and a United Nations good offices process. In January 2018, then United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres determined, under the provisions of the 1966 Geneva Agreement, that the controversy should be referred to the ICJ for final settlement. Guyana subsequently initiated proceedings before the Court in March 2018.

Phillips said Guyana remains confident that the court will uphold the validity of the award and affirm the existing international boundary.

“While we cannot know with certainty how the Court will rule, Guyana is confident – in fact, after the oral hearings last month, Guyana is more confident than ever — that the Court will uphold the legal validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award and the finality and permanence of the international boundary between Guyana and Venezuela,” he said.

The Prime Minister added that Guyana expects the court to order Venezuela not to “offend, seize, annex or trespass any Guyanese territory” and expressed confidence that the country would emerge fully victorious.

“In short, we expect to be fully victorious in this historic, and for Guyana, existential, case,” Phillips declared.

The dispute has its roots in the 1966 Geneva Agreement, signed by the United Kingdom, Venezuela and British Guiana shortly before independence. The agreement established a framework for the peaceful resolution of Venezuela’s challenge to the 1899 Arbitral Award. It initially provided for direct negotiations and later empowered the UN Secretary-General to select a means of settlement if the parties failed to reach agreement.

After more than five decades of unsuccessful negotiations and mediation efforts, the matter was referred to the ICJ.

Since then, Venezuela has repeatedly challenged the court’s authority to hear the matter. In December 2020, however, the ICJ ruled that it had jurisdiction to determine the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Award and the international boundary between Guyana and Venezuela. A second Venezuelan objection was rejected by the court in April 2023.

The legal proceedings have unfolded against a backdrop of escalating tensions.

In October 2023, Venezuela announced plans to hold a national referendum seeking approval to reject the ICJ’s jurisdiction and incorporate Guyana’s Essequibo region into a proposed Venezuelan state called “Guayana Esequiba.” Guyana immediately sought provisional measures from the Court.

The ICJ unanimously ordered Venezuela to refrain from taking any action that would alter the status quo in territory administered and controlled by Guyana.

A similar ruling followed in May 2025 after Venezuela announced plans to conduct elections in the disputed territory. The Court again sided with Guyana, ordering Venezuela to refrain from conducting or preparing elections within the area.

Phillips described the completion of the proceedings as a victory for international law and peaceful dispute resolution.

“The very fact that this case reached the ICJ, and that the written and oral phases of the proceedings were carried out to their completions, represents a triumph for the rule of law and the rules-based international order,” he stated.

He also praised Guyana’s legal and diplomatic team, headed by Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hugh Todd, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, and former Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge, who serves as Guyana’s Agent before the Court.

Looking ahead, the Prime Minister said Guyana would await the court’s decision with “patience, dignity and optimism” while continuing to engage Venezuela peacefully.

“And when the final Judgment is issued, we will insist that it be respected and fully complied with, as international law requires,” Phillips said. “This is the only way forward for our two States: toward a secure, just and lasting peace, an enduring friendship, and a mutually prosperous future for both our peoples.“

The final ruling, whenever it is delivered, is expected to bring legal closure to a controversy that has shaped Guyana-Venezuela relations for more than six decades. Whatever the outcome, the judgment will be legally binding on both countries under the United Nations Charter and the Statute of the International Court of Justice, marking a defining moment in Guyana’s history and in the quest for a permanent resolution of the Essequibo controversy.