Colombia on Friday asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to reject Nicaragua’s proposal to extend its continental shelf over Colombian territory in the context of the dispute between the two countries in The Hague.
«We ask the Court to reject outright the request for delimitation of the continental shelf claimed by Nicaragua,» said the representative of Colombia, Carolina Olarte, as reported by the newspaper ‘El Tiempo’.
Bogota reiterated its position this Friday in a new round of oral arguments and argued that, under customary law, the continental shelf of a country cannot extend beyond 200 nautical miles to another state.
The Hague tribunal is deliberating a claim by Nicaragua, whose ruling is expected within six months at the latest, on the recognition of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from its coast, as reported by ‘El Colombiano’.
The same court issued a ruling in 2012 by which it recognized Colombian sovereignty over the archipelago of San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina, but at the same time extended Nicaragua’s territorial waters to 200 nautical miles at all points of the border in the Caribbean.
Colombia refused to abide by the ruling and even denounced the Pact of Bogotá – by which it recognizes the jurisdiction of the ICJ – and, in response, Nicaragua again sued its neighbor for preventing it from enjoying its new rights in those waters and for extending its continental shelf.
