The World Court on Thursday declined a legal action by Nicaragua looking for to specify and also broaden its deep sea financial legal rights past those formerly developed in a long-running maritime boundary disagreement over a triad of Caribbean islands with Colombia.
Judges at the United Nations- connected World Court, or International Court of Justice, discovered that Nicaragua’s offshore legal rights to 200 maritime miles (370 kilometres) had actually formerly been developed, and also declined its contact us to expand the borders.
“Irrespective of any scientific and technical considerations, Nicaragua is not entitled to an extended continental shelf within 200 nautical miles from the baselines of Colombia’s mainland coast,” Judge Joan Donoghue, the court’s head of state, claimed as he checked out the choice.
Nicaragua’s federal government reacted in the future Thursday in a declaration, mentioning it acknowledged the court’s judgment as “firm, definitive and mandatory.”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro hailed the judgment in an article on Twitter, calling it”a great victory for Colombia.”
Nicaragua had actually asked the World Court to expand its lawful overseas borders, declaring that its continental rack under the sea gets to past 200 maritime miles from its coast.
Since the very early 20th century, Nicaragua and also Colombia have actually challenged possession of the mineral and also fish-rich waters in the Caribbean Sea, though both nations do not share a land boundary.
In a 2012 judgment, the exact same court figured out maritime borders in between the nations in a choice that minimized the stretch of sea coming from Colombia and also offered Nicaragua legal rights to some undersea oil and also gas down payments, along with angling legal rights.
However, it granted a collection of tiny islands to Colombia, which Nicaragua challenged.
The Colombian island chain consists of the islands of San Andres, Santa Catalina, and also Providencia, the latter of which was significantly harmed by a typhoon in November 2021. All 3, nonetheless, are literally a lot closer to Nicaragua than to Colombia.
“With this ruling we hope to close the border dispute and focus on bringing sustainable development to our archipelago,” Petro claimed.
(Reuters – Reporting by Toby Sterling in Amsterdam and also Oliver Griffin in Bogota; Editing by Barbara Lewis, Alistair Bell and also Aurora Ellis)
