HAGUE, May 4, CMC – Guyana Monday told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that its case with Guyana over the ownership of the Essequibo region, “has an existential quality” for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country and that it “respectfully submits that this case is as straightforward as it is consequential”.
Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister, Hugh Todd, who is leading the Guyana delegation, told the panel of ICJ judges that at stake is “more than 70 per cent of our sovereign territory, which has been recognised to be an integral part of the country for more than 126 years, including the past 60 years since independence.
“The Essequibo, as this land is known in Guyana, is named for the Essequibo River, the largest and most remarkable in Guyana, which runs through it. For the Guyanese people, it is tragic even to think about having our country dismembered by stripping from us a vast majority of our land, together with its people, its history, its tradition and its customs.
Todd said that it is for this reason, and because Guyana is convinced of its right and entitlement to the territory under international law, and in the fairness and scrupulous integrity of this court that it has brought the matter before the ICJ.
(Details in Full News section)
CMC/2026