Aerial Herbicide Spraying (Ecuador v. Colombia) - Case removed from the Court's List at the request of the Republic of Ecuador

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
Peace Palace, Carnegieplein 2, 2517 KJ The Hague, Netherlands
Tel.: +31 (0)70 302 2323 Fax: +31 (0)70 364 9928
Website: www.icj-cij.org

Press Release

Unofficial

No. 2013/20
17 September 2013

Aerial Herbicide Spraying (Ecuador v. Colombia)

Case removed from the Court’s List at the request of the Republic of Ecuador

THE HAGUE, 17 September 2013. The case brought by the Republic of Ecuador against the
Republic of Colombia on 31 March 2008 before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in respect
of a dispute concerning “Colombia’s aerial spraying of toxic herbicides at locations near, at and
across its border with Ecuador” was removed from the Court’s List on 13 September 2013 at the
request of Ecuador.

By a letter dated 12 September 2013, the Agent of Ecuador, referring to Article 89 of the
Rules of Court and to an Agreement between the Parties dated 9 September 2013 “that fully and

finally resolves all of Ecuador’s claims against Colombia” in the case, notified the Court that his
Government wished to discontinue the proceedings in the c.se

A copy of that letter was immediately communicated to the Government of Colombia,
which, by a letter of the same date, informed the Court, pursuant to Article 89, paragraph 2, of the
Rules of Court, that it made no objection to the discontinuance of the case as requested by Ecuador.

According to the letters received from the Parties, the Agreement of 9 September 2013
establishes, inter alia, an exclusion zone, in which Colombia will not conduct aerial spraying
operations, creates a Joint Commission to ensure that spraying operations outside that zone have
not caused herbicides to drift into Ecuador and, so long as they have not, provides a mechanism for
the gradual reduction in the width of the said zone; according to the letters, the Agreement sets out

operational parameters for Colombia’s spraying programme, records the agreement of the two
Governments to ongoing exchanges of information in that regard, and establishes a dispute
settlement mechanism.

In consequence, the President of the Court, on 13 September 2013, made an Order recording
the discontinuance by Ecuador of the proceedings and directing the removal of the case from the
Court’s List.

* - 2 -

The full text of the Order is available on the Court’s website in the documentation for the
case, under the heading “Contentious cases”.

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The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United
Nations. It was established by the United Nations Charter in June 1945 and began its activities in
April 1946. The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). Of the six

principal organs of the United Nations, it is the only one not located in New York. The Court has a
twofold role: first, to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by
States (its judgments have binding force and are without appeal for the parties concerned); and,
second, to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by duly authorized United
Nations organs and agencies of the system. The Court is composed of 15 judges elected for a
nine-year term by the General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations.
Independent of the United Nations Secretariat, it is assisted by a Registry, its own international

secretariat, whose activities are both judicial and diplomatic, as well as administrative. The official
languages of the Court are French and English. Also known as the “World Court”, it is the only
court of a universal character with general jurisdiction.

The ICJ, a court open only to States for contentious proceedings, and to certain organs
and institutions of the United Nations system for advisory proceedings, should not be confused
with the other mostly criminal judicial institutions based in The Hague and adjacent areas,

such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY, an ad hoc court
created by the Security Council), the International Criminal Court (ICC, the first permanent
international criminal court, established by treaty, which does not belong to the United Nations
system), the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL, an independent judicial body composed of
Lebanese and international judges, which is not a United Nations tribunal and does not form part of
the Lebanese judicial system), or the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA, an independent
institution which assists in the establishment of arbitral tribunals and facilitates their work, in

accordance with the Hague Convention of 1899).

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Information Department:

Mr. Andrey Poskakukhin, First Secretary of the Court, Head of Department (+31 (0)70 302 2336)
Mr. Boris Heim, Information Officer (+31 (0)70 302 2337)
Ms Joanne Moore, Associate Information Officer (+31 (0)70 302 2394)
Ms Genoveva Madurga, Administrative Assistant (+31 (0)70 302 2396)