Colombia-Nicaragua Maritime Dispute Goes to UN Court

In a 14-2 vote on November 17, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nation’s highest court, ruled that it will resolve a maritime dispute between Colombia and Nicaragua. Nicaragua filed the case in 2013, accusing Colombia of violating its territorial sovereignty by failing to comply with a previous ICJ ruling on the boundary between the two nations.

The dispute between the two countries has flared off and on since the early 19th century, when they gained independence from Spain. They signed an agreement in 1928 that set their maritime border, but Nicaragua later disputed the settlement, claiming it was pressured to sign by the United States.

The ICJ, after more than a decade of deliberation, resolved this dispute in November 2012. Colombia retained possession of all its Caribbean islands, but Nicaragua gained sea territory.

However, President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia, who took office in 2010, rejected this decision. He stated that Colombia would use any legal means necessary to defend its claim to the disputed territory. Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega, on the contrary, celebrated the verdict, declaring that “the Court has given to Nicaragua what belonged to us.”

Nicaragua filed a grievance with the UN in 2013 that accused Colombia of violating its territorial sovereignty by holding naval operations in the waters transferred to Nicaragua by the Court. Carlos Gustavo Arrieta, representing Colombia before the ICJ during the preliminary stage of the case, said that Nicaragua was fabricating a disagreement “where there isn’t one.”

Although Colombia raised five objections, the Court rejected them nearly unanimously. It will hear the case over the next two to four years.

Once again, President Santos rejected the ICJ’s ruling. In his response to the decision, he repudiated the Court’s jurisdiction over the ruling, arguing that disputes between Colombia and Nicaragua “should be addressed through direct negotiations between the parties.”