Following advice from a national group of lawyers, Colombia’s government is preparing to take legal action to prevent Nicaragua from being able to claim more Caribbean territory.
In November of 2012, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) granted 30,000 square miles of Colombia’s maritime territory to Nicaragua.
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In the wake of fresh claims that following the Nicaraguan government is looking into the possibility of claiming more Colombian territory, the Colombian government is reportedly planning its immediate withdrawal from the Bogota Pact, a treaty signed by the members of the Organization of American States (OAS) designed to help peacefully resolve conflict between member states, through which Nicaragua obtained the ruling granting the country the Colombian territory.
MORE: Nicaragua studying possibility to claim more of Colombia’s Caribbean territory
If the Colombian plan is carried out, they would reportedly be able to refuse any demands made by OAS member countries through the ICJ court of the Hague.
Though the Colombian government denounced the Bogota Pact on November 27, 2012, days after the Hague ruled in favor of the Nicaraguan request, however the treaty supposedly requires a year of notice before implicated members are permitted to leave, which requires Colombia to continue to comply with the norms of the treaty, which was signed in 1948, until November 27, 2013.
Unless Colombia’s lawyers can find a loophole allowing them to exit the treaty early, the result is a race against time, with the permanent representative for Nicaraguan government at the Hague court last week confirming that his country may make another move to “recuperate the totality of the continental territory that is Nicaraguan by right” before Colombia is able to withdraw itself from the regulations of the treaty.
Sources
- Bloqueo a nueva demanda de Nicaragua (El Espectador)
- Nicaragua analiza posible demanda a Colombia (El Colombiano)