International Court of Justice overview: Question of the delimitation of the continental shelf between Nicaragua and Colombia beyond 200 nautical miles from the nicaraguan coast (Nicaragua v. Colombia, Judgment of 13th July 2023 {Merits} ICJ Reports 2023, 413)

Abstract

On 13 July 2023, the International Court of Justice delivered its judgment in
the case of Nicaragua v. Colombia. Nicaragua instituted proceedings against
Colombia on 16 September 2013, with respect to the delimitation of the conti-
nental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the Nicaraguan Coast and the con-
tinental shelf of Colombia. By an Order issued on 4 October 2022, the Court
considered that it was necessary to address two legal questions before it could
reach its final decision, and asked the parties to limit their arguments to these:
 “Under customary international law, may a state’s entitlement to a con-
tinental 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?”,  “What are the criteria under customary in-
ternational law for the determination of the limit of the continental shelf be-
yond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the ter-
ritorial 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 in-
ternational law?”