By nine votes to six, the judges of the Court (ICJ) considered that Colombia must "immediately cease this behavior", and by ten votes to five that it had "violated the sovereign and jurisdictional rights of Nicaragua", reported Judge Joan Donoghue.

The two Latin American countries have no land border but a maritime border, a subject of tension for almost a century, in waters rich in oil and fish.

Managua had brought Bogotá before the ICJ in 2001, and had won in 2012 several tens of thousands of km2 of exclusive economic zone (EEZ), previously under the control of Bogotá.

This decision was however experienced as a trauma by Colombia, which had declared that it no longer recognized the jurisdiction of the ICJ over border disputes.

Nicaragua again seized the Court in The Hague in 2013, arguing violations of the judgment by Colombia in the vast expanses of the sea.

The judges of the Court had ruled in 2016 that it did indeed have jurisdiction in this case, dismissing Colombian objections.

Managua's lawyers had also asked the ICJ to rule on the payment of compensation by Bogota in return for "the threat or use of force by the Colombian navy against Nicaraguan fishing boats".

However, this point was not addressed by the ICJ on Thursday.

– “Imperatives” –

In a cross-blaming game, Colombia's lawyers had dismissed allegations that its navy was blocking Nicaraguan fishing vessels, and accused Managua of interfering with indigenous fishing rights.

Map with the delimitation of the maritime border between Nicaragua and Colombia as defined by the International Court of Justice in 2012 Patricio ARANA AFP

They had claimed that the loss of fishing grounds due to the 2012 ICJ decision had particularly affected the Raizales, an English-speaking and Creole community made up mainly of descendants of slaves abducted from Africa.

On this point, Judge Donoghue said Thursday that Colombia had "not been able to establish that the inhabitants of the San Andres Archipelago, in particular the Raizales, enjoyed fishing rights in the waters now recognized as part of the EEZ" of Nicaragua.

Bogota also claimed that its presence in this area was "due to other imperatives" such as the fight against drug trafficking and international maritime rescue.

The ICJ was created in 1946 to settle disputes between states.

Its judgments are binding and cannot be appealed, but the court has no means of enforcing them.

In rare situations where a country refuses to implement the court's decision, the case can then be brought before the UN Security Council by the complaining state.

© 2022 AFP