Alleged Violations of Sovereign Rights and Maritime Spaces in the Caribbean Sea (Nicaragua v. Colombia) - The Court authorizes the submission by the Republic of Nicaragua of an additional pleading rel

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
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Press Release
Unofficial
No. 2018/59
13 December 2018
Alleged Violations of Sovereign Rights and Maritime Spaces in the Caribbean Sea (Nicaragua v. Colombia)
The Court authorizes the submission by the Republic of Nicaragua of an additional pleading relating solely to the counter-claims submitted by the Republic of Colombia
THE HAGUE, 13 December 2018. By an Order dated 4 December 2018, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, authorized the submission by the Republic of Nicaragua of an additional pleading relating solely to the counter-claims submitted by the Republic of Colombia in the case concerning Alleged Violations of Sovereign Rights and Maritime Spaces in the Caribbean Sea (Nicaragua v. Colombia). The Court fixed 4 March 2019 as the time-limit for the filing of that pleading.
The Court made the Order taking account of the views of the Parties. The subsequent procedure has been reserved for further decision.
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History of the proceedings
The history of the proceedings can be found in the Annual Report of the Court for 2017-2018 (paragraphs 117-130) and in Press Release No. 2017/35 of 20 November 2017, available on the Court’s website (www.icj-cij.org).
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The full text of the Order can also be found on the Court’s website.
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Note: The Court’s press releases are prepared by its Registry for information purposes only and do not constitute official documents.
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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 Court (ICC, the only permanent international criminal court, which was established by treaty and does not belong to the United Nations system), the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL, an international judicial body with an independent legal personality, established by the United Nations Security Council upon the request of the Lebanese Government and composed of Lebanese and international judges), the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT, mandated to take over residual functions from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda), the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office (an ad hoc judicial institution which has its seat in The Hague), 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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