During the second day of the oral hearings of the maritime dispute between Nicaragua and Colombia At the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Bogotá affirmed that the Central American nation’s claims to delimit its continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles and within the space of another country, may have “global implications.”
Eduardo Valencia-Ospina, agent and principal representative of Colombia, assured that Nicaragua’s demand “has some of the most worrying global implications, since it would constitute a regrettable development for the Court in its fundamental role as guarantor of justice and peace.”
And he added that the Nicaraguan proposal “will produce a disorderly pattern of jurisdictional patches in the Caribbean Sea” which, in his opinion, justifies the rejection of the demand.
He also stated that the request is “unprecedented” and that he assured that Nicaragua “belongs to the tiny and exclusive club of countries that believes that extended continental shelves can invade the 200 nautical mile rights of other States.”
Valencia-Ospina also stressed that if the 200 nautical miles are granted, sovereignty would be violated.
“Can a State’s claim to a continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles cross and amputate the rights of another State within its 200 nautical miles of maritime coastline? A short answer is: no,” she highlighted.
The agent also emphasized that Colombia’s position conforms to International Maritime Law and “is firmly supported by the practice of the States, and is in line with the points of view of the neighboring States of the Caribbean Sea that have protested against the petition.” exorbitant” of Nicaraguans, such as Jamaica, Costa Rica and Panama.
imminent rejection
The Colombian legal team is made up of Valencia-Ospina, the co-agent and ambassador of Colombia to the Netherlands, Carolina Olarte Bácares, the co-agent Elizabeth Taylor Jay, the adviser Gabriel Cifuentes Ghidini and the special coordinator Andrés Villegas Jaramillo, who was accompanied by the Minister of Exteriors, Alvaro Leyva.
At the end of the session, the foreign minister told the press that Colombia insists that “there are no rules under customary international law that allow a state to superimpose its claims to an extended continental shelf on the areas of another state.”
He also emphasized that, if Nicaragua’s claims were accepted, a dangerous precedent would be created: “Obviously there is no precedent, and we are not going to be the ones who are going to lend ourselves to something that we have to avoid at all costs.” .
On Monday oral sessions began to hear the arguments of both parties on two key issues requested by the Court: whether the continental shelf of one State can extend within 200 nautical miles of another and, two, the criteria in customary international law for determining the delimitation of that nature.
Carlos Argüello, Nicaragua’s main representative to The Hague, said on Monday that “Nicaragua’s position is that the continental shelf, like the maritime areas that overlap between states, must be delimited in accordance with international law.”
More oral sessions will be held on Wednesday and Friday with responses to the allegations from both countries.
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