UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutierrez refers Guyana-Venezuela border controversy to the ICJ

​The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Gutierrez has decided to refer the controversy arising out of the claim by Venezuela to Guyana’s territory, to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The longstanding border controversy between Guyana and Venezuela arose as a result of the Venezuelan contention that an arbitral award of 1899 about the frontier between British Guiana and Venezuela is null and void. In the so-called Geneva Agreement of 1966, Guyana and Venezuela conferred upon the secretary-general the power and responsibility to choose a means of peaceful settlement from amongst those contemplated in Article 33 of the Charter of the United Nations.
 
The Geneva Agreement also provides that if the means so chosen does not lead to a solution of the controversy, the secretary-general is to choose another means of settlement. Former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon communicated to the parties on 15 December 2016 a framework for the resolution of the border controversy based on his conclusions on what would constitute the most appropriate next steps. Notably, he concluded that the good offices process, which had been conducted since 1990, would continue for one final year, until the end of 2017, with a strengthened mandate of mediation.