See full statement from the International Court of Justice (ICJ):
THE HAGUE, 3 November 2023. The International Court of Justice will hold public hearings in the case concerning Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899 (Guyana v. Venezuela) on Tuesday 14 November 2023 at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the seat of the Court. It is recalled that on 29 March 2018, Guyana filed an Application instituting proceedings against Venezuela in which it requests the Court “to confirm the legal validity and binding effect of the Award regarding the Boundary between the Colony of British Guiana and the United States of Venezuela, of 3 October 1899” (see press release 2018/17).
The hearings will be devoted to the Request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by Guyana on 30 October 2023. In its Request, Guyana states that “[o]n 23 October 2023, the Government of Venezuela, through its National Electoral Council, published a list of five questions that it plans to put before the Venezuelan people in a . . . ‘Consultative Referendum’ on 3 December 2023”. According to the Applicant, the purpose of this referendum is “to obtain responses that would support Venezuela’s decision to abandon [the current proceedings before the Court], and to resort instead to unilateral measures to ‘resolve’ the controversy with Guyana by formally annexing and integrating into Venezuela all of the territory at issue in these proceedings, which comprises more than two-thirds of Guyana” (see press release 2023/58).
Schedule for the hearings:
Tuesday 14 November 2023 10 a.m. -1 1.30 a.m.: Oral argument (Guyana) and 3 p.m. – 4.30 p.m.: Oral argument (Venezuela)
