Corte Internacional

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
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Summary
Not an official document

Summary 2007/4 8 October 2007

Territorial and Maritime Dispute between Nicaragua and Honduras in the Caribbean Sea (Nicaragua v. Honduras) Summary of the Judgment of 8 October 2007Chronology of the procedure and submissions of the Parties (paras. 1-19) On 8 December 1999 Nicaragua filed an Application instituting proceedings against Honduras in respect of a dispute relating to the delimitation of the maritime areas appertaining to each of those States in the Caribbean Sea. In its Application, Nicaragua sought to found the jurisdiction of the Court on the provisions of ArticleXXXI of the American Treaty on Pacific Settlement (officially known as the “Pact of Bogotá”), as well as on the declarations accepting the jurisdiction of the Court made by the Parties, as provided for in Article 36, paragraph 2, of the Statute of the Court. Since the Court included upon the Bench no judge of the nationality of either of the Parties, each Party proceeded to exercise its rightconferred by Article 31, paragraph 3, of the Statute to choose a judge ad hoc to sit in the case. Nicaragua chose Mr. Giorgio Gaja and Honduras first chose Mr. Julio González Campos, who resigned on 17 August 2006, and subsequently Mr. Santiago Torres Bernárdez. By an Order dated 21 March 2000 the President of the Court fixed 21 March 2001 and 21 March 2002, respectively, as the time-limits for thefiling of the Memorial of Nicaragua and the Counter-Memorial of Honduras. Those pleadings were duly filed within the prescribed time-limits. By an Order of 13 June 2002, the Court authorized the submission of a Reply by Nicaragua and a Rejoinder by Honduras, and fixed 13 January 2003 and 13 August 2003 as the respective time-limits for the filing of those pleadings. The Reply of Nicaragua and theRejoinder of Honduras were filed within the time-limits so prescribed. Public hearings were held between 5 and 23 March 2007. At the conclusion of the oral proceedings, the Parties presented the following final submissions to the Court: On behalf of the Government of Nicaragua, “Having regard to the considerations set forth in the Memorial, Reply and hearings and, in particular, the evidence relatingto the relations of the Parties,

-2May it please the Court to adjudge and declare that: The bisector of the lines representing the coastal fronts of the two Parties as described in the pleadings, drawn from a fixed point approximately 3 miles from the river mouth in the position 15° 02' 00" N and 83° 05' 26" W, constitutes the single maritime boundary for the purposes of the delimitation ofthe disputed areas of the territorial sea, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf in the region of the Nicaraguan Rise. The starting-point of the delimitation is the thalweg of the main mouth of the River Coco such as it may be at any given moment as determined by the Award of the King of Spain of 1906. Without prejudice to the foregoing, the Court is required to decide the question ofsovereignty over the islands and cays within the area in dispute.” On behalf of the Government of Honduras: “Having regard to the pleadings, written and oral, and to the evidence submitted by the Parties, May it please the Court to adjudge and declare that: 1. The islands Bobel Cay, South Cay, Savanna Cay and Port Royal Cay, together with all other islands, cays, rocks, banks and reefs claimed byNicaragua which lie north of the 15th parallel are under the sovereignty of the Republic of Honduras. 2. The starting-point of the maritime boundary to be delimited by the Court shall be a point located at 14° 59.8' N latitude, 83° 05.8' W longitude. The boundary from the point determined by the Mixed Commission in 1962 at 14° 59.8' N latitude, 83° 08.9' W longitude to the starting-point of the...