Introduction The recent judgment of the International Court of Justice on the Question of the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf between Nicaragua and Colombia beyond 200 Nautical Miles from the Nicaraguan Coast (Nicaragua v. Colombia) is, so to speak, making waves, despite the holiday period (eg here and here). The Court had previously decided that, prior to addressing any technical and scientific matters related to the question of the delimitation of the continental shelf between 200 nm, it was crucial to decide “certain questions of law”. The first asked whether, under customary international law, a “State’s entitlement to a continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of its territorial sea is measured [may] extend within 200 nautical miles from the baselines of another State”. The second asked “[w]hat are the criteria under customary international law for the determination of the limit of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured” and whether…
Maritime Delimitation
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Preliminary reflections on the ICJ Judgment in Question of the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf between Nicaragua and Colombia beyond 200 nautical miles from the Nicaraguan Coast (Nicaragua v. Colombia) of 13 July 2023
Almost 10 years after Nicaragua instituted a second delimitation case against Colombia, with respect to the delimitation of the continental shelf beyond 200 nm, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a long-awaited (but surprising) judgment on 13 July 2023, thereby concluding the case. As one may remember, the ICJ seemed to have bifurcated the…
Recommendations on the Russian Federation’s Proposed Outer Continental Shelf in the Arctic Area
On 6 February 2023 the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) made its recommendations to the Russian Federation under Article 76(8) and Article 3 of Annex II to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in regard to the Arctic area. The Russian submission was initially made in…
Some Observations on the Agreement between Lebanon and Israel on the Delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone
Introduction On 11 October 2022, Lebanon and Israel reached a historic agreement to delimit the two countries’ territorial seas and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (‘the Agreement’). The Agreement is ground-breaking for several reasons. First, it is the first maritime boundary agreement reached between countries that have no diplomatic relations.
A Commentary on the Dispute Concerning the Maritime Delimitation in the Indian Ocean (Somalia v Kenya)
On 12 October 2021, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered its long-awaited judgment in the case of Maritime Delimitation in the Indian Ocean (Somalia v Kenya) on the location of the maritime boundary between Somalia and Kenya. Kenya refused to participate in the oral proceedings on the merits, as discussed here and here.