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
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Press Release
Unofficial
No. 2023/36
30 June 2023
Question of the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf between Nicaragua and Colombia beyond 200 Nautical Miles from the Nicaraguan Coast (Nicaragua v. Colombia) The Court to deliver its Judgment on Thursday 13 July 2023 at 3 p.m.
THE HAGUE, 30 June 2023. On Thursday 13 July 2023, the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, will deliver its Judgment in the case concerning Question of the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf between Nicaragua and Colombia beyond 200 Nautical Miles from the Nicaraguan Coast (Nicaragua v. Colombia).
A public sitting will take place at 3 p.m. at the Peace Palace in The Hague, during which Judge Joan E. Donoghue, President of the Court, will read out the Court’s decision.
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A. Practical information and admission procedures
There will be no parking on the Peace Palace grounds.
1. Members of the diplomatic corps
Owing to the limited number of seats available in the Great Hall of Justice, members of the diplomatic corps who wish to attend the reading are requested to kindly notify the Registry’s Information Department by Monday 10 July 2023 at the latest, by email to [email protected]. On presenting that email and a valid diplomatic ID at the main gate of the Peace Palace on the day of the reading, they will be provided with a badge giving access to the Great Hall of Justice. Seats in the Great Hall of Justice will be allocated on the basis of availability.
2. Members of the public
A limited number of seats in the public gallery will be available for members of the public on a first-come first-served basis. There will be no advance registration procedure, and admission
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requests submitted beforehand will not be considered. Members of the public wishing to attend the reading are requested to present themselves at the main gate of the Peace Palace 40 minutes before the start of the public session. They will be provided with a badge giving access to the public gallery upon presentation of a valid ID. The security officers at the gate will notify those concerned once all seats available for members of the public have been filled. Admission to the public gallery will close 20 minutes before the start of the sitting.
3. Media representatives
Media representatives who wish to attend the reading are subject to an online accreditation procedure, which will close at midnight on Monday 10 July 2023 (The Hague time). Requests submitted after this deadline will not be considered. The Court’s Press Room can accommodate 30 people only. Accreditation requests will be considered on a first-come first-served basis.
B. Further practical information for the media
1. Entry to the Peace Palace
Only duly accredited individuals with valid identification will be permitted to enter the Peace Palace grounds. Accredited media representatives must bring with them their personal ID and press card. They are asked to arrive at the Peace Palace gates no later than 30 minutes before the start of the reading. The Press Room will be open one and a half hours before the start of the reading and will close one hour after it concludes.
2. Access to the courtroom
Photographers and camera crews will only be permitted to enter the courtroom for a few minutes before the opening of the session. They will be accompanied by a member of the Information Department. Other media representatives will not have access to the courtroom.
3. Press Room
The reading will be transmitted live on a large screen in the two official languages of the Court, English and French, in a press room equipped with shared internet access (Wi-Fi and Ethernet). TV crews can connect to the Court’s PAL (HD and SD) and NTSC (SD) audio-visual system, and radio reporters to the audio system.
4. Multimedia
The reading will be streamed live and on demand (VOD) in the two official languages of the Court, English and French, on the Court’s website and on UN Web TV. High-resolution video clips and still photos produced by the Registry during the reading will be available free of charge and free of copyright for editorial, non-commercial use, on the Court’s website and Twitter feed (@CIJ_ICJ) (to download, click on Multimedia).
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History of the proceedings
On 16 September 2013, the Republic of Nicaragua filed an Application instituting proceedings against the Republic of Colombia relating to a
“dispute concern[ing] the delimitation of the boundaries between, on the one hand, the continental shelf of Nicaragua beyond the 200-nautical-mile limit from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea of Nicaragua is measured, and on the other hand, the continental shelf of Colombia”.
In its Application, Nicaragua requests the Court to adjudge and declare,
“[f]irst: [t]he precise course of the maritime boundary between Nicaragua and Colombia in the areas of the continental shelf which appertain to each of them beyond the boundaries determined by the Court in its Judgment of 19 November 2012 [in the case concerning the Territorial and Maritime Dispute (Nicaragua v. Colombia)]”
and,
“[s]econd: [t]he principles and rules of international law that determine the rights and duties of the two States in relation to the area of overlapping continental shelf claims and the use of its resources, pending the delimitation of the maritime boundary between them beyond 200 nautical miles from Nicaragua’s coast”.
As basis for the jurisdiction of the Court, Nicaragua invokes Article XXXI of the American Treaty on Pacific Settlement (Pact of Bogotá) of 30 April 1948.
In its Judgment of 17 March 2016 on the preliminary objections raised by Colombia on 14 August 2014 to the jurisdiction of the Court and the admissibility of the Application, the Court found that it had jurisdiction, on the basis of Article XXXI of the Pact of Bogotá, to entertain the first request put forward by Nicaragua in its Application, in which it asked the Court to adjudge and declare “[t]he precise course of the maritime boundary between Nicaragua and Colombia in the areas of the continental shelf which appertain to each of them beyond the boundaries determined by the Court in its Judgment of 19 November 2012”. The Court also found that request to be admissible. However, it concluded that the second request made by Nicaragua in its Application was inadmissible.
The Parties subsequently filed two rounds of written pleadings on the merits of the case within the time-limits set by the Court or its President.
By an Order of 4 October 2022, the Court decided that, during the oral proceedings in the case, the Parties should present their arguments exclusively with regard to the following two questions:
(1) Under customary international law, may a State’s entitlement to a continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of its territorial sea is measured extend within 200 nautical miles from the baselines of another State?
(2) What are the criteria under customary international law for the determination of the limit of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured and, in this regard, do paragraphs 2 to 6 of Article 76 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea reflect customary international law?
Public hearings on the merits of the case were held between 5 and 9 December 2022.
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Earlier press releases relating to this case are available 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 Court is composed of 15 judges elected for a nine-year term by the General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations. The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). The Court has a twofold role: first, to settle, in accordance with international law, through judgments which have binding force and are without appeal for the parties concerned, legal disputes submitted to it by States; and, second, to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by duly authorized United Nations organs and agencies of the system.
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Information Department:
Ms Monique Legerman, First Secretary of the Court, Head of Department: +31 (0)70 302 2336
Ms Joanne Moore, Information Officer: +31 (0)70 302 2337
Mr Avo Sevag Garabet, Associate Information Officer: +31 (0)70 302 2394
Email: [email protected]
Question of the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf between Nicaragua and Colombia beyond 200 Nautical Miles from the Nicaraguan Coast (Nicaragua v. Colombia) - The Court to deliver its Judgment on Thursday 13 July 2023 at 3 p.m.