Sir Shridath Ramphal with support from several international lawyers, this morning argued before the World Court that it has the jurisdiction to decide that the Paris Award which settled the boundary between Guyana and Venezuela is binding.

In his presentation to the Court, Ramphal maintained that a juridical settlement of this matter is the only recourse remaining as Guyana has exhausted all other measures including those provided for in the 1966 Geneva Agreement.

He noted that Agreement grants the Secretary General of the United Nations the right where other means of resolution have failed from a list in Section 36 of the Agreement.

The Secretary General, Ramphal stressed, has selected this Court.

Guyana’s case is based in the plain text of the Geneva Agreement by which the parties expressly consented to accept the decision of the SG on the means of resolution of their dispute over the validity of the 1899 award…and that the dispute be settled by the International Court of Justice if that be the means selected by the SG,” he reminded.