Colombia has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) this Friday 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 the delimitation of the continental shelf sought by Nicaragua,” said the representative of Colombia, Carolina Olarte, according to the newspaper ‘El Tiempo’.
Bogota has reiterated its position this Friday in a new round of oral arguments and has argued that, under customary law, the continental shelf of a country cannot extend beyond 200 nautical miles to another State.
The court in The Hague is deliberating a lawsuit from Nicaragua, whose ruling is expected within a maximum period of six months, regarding the recognition of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from its coast, according to ‘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 the extension of Nicaraguan territorial waters to 200 nautical miles at all points of the border in the Caribbean.
Colombia refused to abide by the sentence and even denounced the Pact of Bogota –by which it recognizes the jurisdiction of the ICJ– and, in response, Nicaragua once again sued its neighbor for preventing it from enjoying its new rights in those waters and to extend its continental shelf.
