Granger calls on UN to help protect interests of small states

BY ALEXIS RODNEY

President David Granger on Tuesday took to the podium of the 70th United Nation General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, engaging diplomats and more specifically the United Nation (UN) on its responsibility to defend the rights and sovereignty of small states.

Addressing the United Nation’s meeting, President Granger called on the international organisation to fully protect the interests of these micro states that are especially intimidated by much larger territories. His presentation was more inclined to the situation in which Guyana has found itself, where its oil rich neighbour Venezuela has become increasingly aggressive with claims that it owns a significant portion of Guyana’s territory.

“For 50 years Venezuela has promulgated spurious decrees claiming our territory, the most recent being on May 26, 2015, our Independence anniversary, when it issued Decree No 1.787 with specified coordinates purporting to annex almost our entire maritime zone. That decree constituted a reassertion of its claim to five of Guyana’s 10 regions,” President Granger told the auditorium of world leaders.

According to Granger, small states are now questioning its ability to protect their peoples from foreign aggression, their ability to safeguard their territory from invasion, their ability to preserve peace and the sustenance of independence of new states.

He said the Charter of the United Nations enjoins the responsibility to “bring about, by peaceful means and in conformity, the settlement of international dispute.” According to him, this responsibility is essential to the existence and survival of small states that are threatened by powerful states. Small states, he said risk being subjugated unless the international community can demonstrate the capability and commitment to provide an effective deterrent against domination by larger, stronger states.

Granger’s appeal to the UN comes some two days after meeting with Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to hold conversations on the border controversy which is being agitated by the Spanish speaking Nation. Both sides had agreed to renew diplomatic ties.

Maduro however, is yet to produce evidence that the decision made by the International Arbitral Panel back in 1899 in favor of Guyana was null and void.

“Guyana resists Venezuela’s acts of aggression in defiance of the Charter of the United Nations, which prescribes the peaceful settlement of disputes and prescribes the use of armed force.” He maintained that Guyana’s border with Venezuela was settled 116 years ago, a fact that the whole world, except the Bolivarian Republic, accepts”, he said.

He said mindful of its superior wealth and military strength, and unmindful of its obligation as a member state of the United Nations, of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and of the Organisation of American States (OAS), Venezuela has pursued a path of intimidation and aggression. “Venezuela is unsettling a settled border. It is destabilising a stable region of the globe by the use of armed force against a peaceful, small state.”

“Guyana does not wish that this obnoxious territorial claim should obscure the prospects of peace and obstruct the possibility of growth for the next 50 years. We need a permanent solution in order to avoid the fate of perpetual peril and penury. Guyana seeks a juridical settlement to this controversy,” Granger maintained.

According to Granger, the UN itself had some 21 years ago approved the resolution which stated that it recognised that small states may be particularly vulnerable to external threats and acts of interference in their internal affairs, and stressed the vital importance of all states to the unconditional respect of all other states, that were signatories to the charter of the United Nations including and strengthening the regional support to interaction and consultation.

Granger later called for the issue to be taken to the International Court of Justice and expressed confidence that the UN’s involvement would bring a favourable resolution to the issue. Since the recurring ‘Good Officer’s process which existed for some 23 years, has yield very little success in this regard. “Venezuela has retarded Guyana’s development by threats that are intended to force a small state to yield its birthright,” he said.

He continued that Guyana for 50 years, has been prevented from fully exploiting its rich natural resources as Venezuela has been threatening and deterring investors; frustrating the country’s economic development.

Protests

Meanwhile, although the two countries have agreed to restore diplomatic ties during their meeting with Ban Ki-moon, close to 100 Guyanese, during the time President Granger was addressing the assembly, picketed the UN office demanding the Maduro “back off” and allow Guyana and its citizens enjoy the bounties ebbing from the natural resources.

“I’ve been working this thing for 20 years, we thought this thing was settled 119 years ago. This is settled, we cannot change international law. We have to go to the UN and settle it. For US, Guyana is ours,” one man said. Another protester Charles Sugrim said “I hope that Venezuela respects because this is our land and it belongs to all Guyana and we need to bring this to an end immediately.”