JURIST - Paper Chase: ICJ upholds 1928 Nicaragua-Columbia treaty in dispute over Caribbean islands

[JURIST] The International Court of Justice (ICJ) [official website] Thursday upheld [ruling, PDF; press release, PDF] a 1928 treaty between Nicaragua and Columbia that granted several small islands off the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua to Colombia. Nicaragua had brought suit [case materials] in 2001 claiming sovereignty over the islands of San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina, arguing that the treaty was invalid because it was signed while Nicaragua was under US occupation [backgrounder]. Nicaragua's Sandinista government rescinded the treaty in the 1980s.

Nicaragua also claimed sovereignty over other smaller islets in the area as well as surroundings waters, but the ICJ found that it did have jurisdiction to decide the issue because it was not addressed in the 1928 treaty. Reuters has more.

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