The ICJ dismisses Nicaragua’s claim in its maritime dispute against Colombia

Nicaragua and Colombia have maintained a silent conflict, but above all a diplomatic one, for more than a century. For the past decade, they have been locked in a territorial dispute to determine where the sea ends.

In 2012, the International Court of Justice agreed with Nicaragua. The government of Daniel Ortega claimed rights to the bed and subsoil of an area of ​​the Caribbean, which is beyond the 200 nautical miles established by international law.

Said extension was in conflict with the Colombian maritime platform that includes the islands of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina.

This Thursday, July 13, 11 years later, the Court ruled in favor of Colombia.

“Since 2012 Colombia has had a defiant attitude. Nicaragua had no choice but to file two new lawsuits in April 2022. The Court condemned Colombia and today it stops the claims that Nicaragua had. It is a call made by the judge of the International Court of The Hague to the two States to get closer for a good common management of those maritime spaces that they share”, says Nicolas Boeglin, professor of international law at the University of Costa Rica.

For Julián Bonilla Montenegro, professor of international relations at the Nueva Granada Military University, possible negotiations will have to put on the table how to distribute the resources that are here.

A somewhat complicated balance at the moment, due to the current tensions, aggravated even by the decisions of the International Court of Justice.

“If Colombia initially refused to abide by the 2012 ruling, why would Nicaragua accept the 2023 ruling? This implies the need for both States to negotiate in order to establish how a harmonization of the maritime spaces that correspond to both Colombia and Nicaragua could be guaranteed,” he told RFI.

“A fundamental factor must be taken into consideration: the establishment of equidistant demarcation lines between the coastal zones – coastal archipelagic for Nicaragua and archipelagic for San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina – in order to make projections of what the territorial sea will be. , the contiguous zone, the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone, so that both States could correspond to it. It must be articulated under a general principle of negotiation, since the idea would be to find which are the elements that would benefit each of the parties in an equitable manner”, Bonilla Montenegro details.

Nicaragua does not recognize the treaties signed during the first half of the 20th century, such as the one of 1928 that establishes the maritime borders with Colombia. He judges that during those years the government was controlled by the United States.