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Article classification: Case Law Commentary-Case Study Based Research Article
Purpose-The article presents a commentary on the case Alleged Violations of Sovereign Rights and Maritime Spaces in the Caribbean Sea (Nicaragua v. Colombia), aiming to deliver a comprehensive summary of the case and general commentary on the most relevant claims and the procedural history.
Design, Methodology, Approach-The article comments on the case following a procedural structure, explaining the principal factual and jurisdictional issues, the application presented by Nicaragua, the preliminary exceptions, and the counterclaims presented by Colombia during the jurisdictional phase of the case leading to the judgment on jurisdiction in 2016, and the decision on the merits rendered by the Court in 2022.
Findings-The commentary highlights the difficulties raised before the ICJ when entertaining the admissibility of counterclaims, and studies the factual pattern that led to Nicaraguas application as a manifestation of a conduct of resistance to international courts and tribunals.
Practical Implications-The article may provide readers with in-depth knowledge of recent litigation that is relevant to the law of the sea but also the authority of the ICJ and the effectiveness of its judgments.
Originality, Value-The article is one of the few case commentaries on the procedural history and legal claims before the ICJ in this very recent case that was decided by the Court in 2022.
Keywords: counterclaims, customary fishing rights, International Court of Justice, law of the sea
I. Introduction
The Judgment of April 21, 2022, of the International Court of Justice in the case Alleged Violations of Sovereign Rights and Maritime Spaces in the Caribbean Sea (Nicaragua v. Colombia),1 better known by the parties as NICOL 3, faced: once again with Nicaragua as applicant and Colombia as respondent. The case completes another piece in a long history of litigation between the parties over the maritime spaces and sovereign rights in the area of the Western Caribbean and the San Andres Archipelago. It is a history that was initiated with the 2001 application by Nicaragua that led to the 2012 judgment that established the final maritime delimitation between the parties. Issues surrounding the implementation of that decision, and the subsequent application by Nicaragua, initiated in 2013, are the core of the case analyzed in this commentary, and which will...