( Spanish) — The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled this Thursday against Nicaragua, which claimed to extend its continental shelf beyond the 200 nautical miles that delimit its maritime border with Colombia.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro welcomed the ruling. “Great victory for Colombia in The Hague. The ICJ did not agree to Nicaragua’s claims to expand its continental shelf. We hope with this ruling to close the border dispute and focus on bringing sustainable development to our archipelago,” he posted on his Twitter account. Twitter.
Great victory for Colombia in The Hague. The ICJ did not accede to Nicaragua’s claims to expand its continental shelf. With this ruling we hope to close the border dispute and focus on bringing sustainable development to our archipelago.
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) July 13, 2023
Without a doubt, today is a day of immense celebration for Colombia,” said Eduardo Valencia Ospina, internationalist lawyer and first agent in the case, in a video posted by the Colombian Foreign Ministry on his Twitter account. Instagram.
“This is the largest international judicial victory for our country in recent decades. It is a remarkable fact, complete victories are rare in court”, added Valencia Ospina.
The history of the maritime dispute
This dispute centers on the sovereignty of the archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, a territory that is currently Colombian, but has been claimed by Nicaragua.
The archipelago is located about 800 kilometers from the northwest coast of Colombia and 240 kilometers from the Nicaraguan coast. In addition to the sovereignty of these islands and several cays, the dispute between Colombia and Nicaragua includes an area of 50,000 kilometers of fishing waters, according to the Court.
The disputed maritime zone is recognized as rich and extensive for fishing, as well as for the exploration and probable exploitation of oil and other hydrocarbons.
After a years-long legal dispute that began at the beginning of the 20th century, in 2007 the International Court of Justice declared Colombia’s sovereignty over the islands of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, which are located in the Caribbean Sea. But at that time it did not define what was the maritime border between the two countries.
The process continued and in 2012 The Hague granted Nicaragua 80,000 km in the Caribbean Sea, and after that Colombia said it would not recognize this ruling.
Nicaragua then asked the Court to intervene to force Colombia to comply with the 2012 judgment, and also to extend the continental shelf by more than 200 nautical miles.
Nicaragua requested the Court to determine the ‘single maritime frontier’ between the areas of the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zones corresponding to Nicaragua and Colombia, respectively, in the form of a median line between the continental coasts of the two States,” it said. the court in the 2012 ruling.
In this way, the Court granted Nicaragua the delineation of a new line in the platform with which it granted a maritime platform of 200 nautical miles to the Central American country.
Given the ruling, the then president of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos responded that his government does not accept the ruling because it considers that the Court made “serious errors” when drawing a new maritime delimitation between this country and Nicaragua.
The Colombian president declared that The Hague recognized Colombia’s sovereignty over the entire archipelago but that it later separated the keys of Serrana, Serranilla, Quitasueño and Bajo Nuevo from the rest.
In April 2022, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the main judicial body of the United Nations Organization, issued a ruling ruling that Colombia “violated the sovereign rights and jurisdiction” of Nicaragua in its exclusive economic zone.
