The Hague Judgment: Colombia is waiting for the court's decision that could affect the raizales

The judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), a tribunal attached to the United Nations (UN) and whose headquarters are in the city of The Hague (Netherlands), are about to rule on two lawsuits imposed by Nicaragua and Colombia. The decision will be announced at three o'clock in the morning — in Colombian time — this Thursday, April 21.

On March 30, the Foreign Ministry had informed through a statement that there was already a date for the court's decision, which in any case would not imply any change in the maps of either of the two countries involved in the dispute, as was the case with the one issued on November 19, 2012.

On that occasion, Colombia maintained sovereignty over the mainland of San Andrés, Providencia and seven keys attached to the department—Albuquerque, Bajo Nuevo, Southeast, Quitasueño, Roncador, Serrana and Serranilla—but lost a significant portion of the sea to Nicaragua—it conserved only twelve nautical miles of the water surrounding these territories. .

The pending decision of the Hague Court is related to alleged violations of sovereign rights and maritime spaces in the Caribbean Sea by Colombia, accused by Daniel Ortega's government since 2013.

According to Nicaragua, the Colombian National Navy continues to operate in waters of the Caribbean Sea that are no longer part of its jurisdiction. In addition, they say that the issuance of Decree 1946 of 2013, which establishes the Integral Contiguous Zone of the Archipelago, the Government of Colombia omits the changes that should have occurred on the map after the ruling.

In response to this demand, Colombia countersued Nicaragua. According to the Colombian Foreign Ministry, “Nicaragua has violated the artisanal fishing rights of the inhabitants of the archipelago, in particular the Raizal community, to access and operate their traditional fishing banks.”

In addition, according to Colombia, Nicaragua would have issued a decree in its own legislation that would be contrary to international law and would be seeking to add even more marine areas than it had already won in court, to the detriment of Colombia.

When they were notified of the date of the judgment, the Foreign Ministry reported that the Colombian legal team would remain silent on the claims until the court's ruling had been issued. However, it seems that the President of the Republic, Iván Duque Márquez, did not receive this notice from last March. Nor was he informed that the ruling to be announced this Thursday is not intended to change the limits.

During his visit to Providencia, in which he delivered some works that were overdue, the president assured that this ruling would be applied as long as a treaty is made with the Central American nation.

“Our Constitution is very clear, it defines in article 101 that Colombia's limits can only be modified through international treaties ratified by Congress. And something very important, there was a pronouncement by the Constitutional Court in 2014 that also indicated that this axial axis of territoriality is first recognized and that the limits are only modifiable by treaties,” said the head of state.

To resolve this dispute, the Court of The Hague convened several oral hearings — both face-to-face and virtual — between September 20 and October 1 of last year. On behalf of Colombia, in addition to the defense lawyers, the Vice President and Foreign Minister, Marta Lucia Ramírez, the governor of the department of San Andrés and Providencia, Everth Hawkins Sjogreen, the National Navy and the representative of the Raizal community Kent Francis James spoke.

The team that intervened in defense of Colombia advocated the traditional fishing rights of the raizal community — whose schools of fish fell outside the 12 nautical miles stipulated in the previous ruling — the alleged violation of Nicaragua's rights towards Colombia with respect to the Caribbean Sea, the protection of sovereignty the protection of the marine ecosystem and the war on drugs.

For its part, Nicaragua is expected to have shown the evidence it has on the alleged violations of maritime space that Colombia has committed since the issuance of the judgment in November 2012

The anthropologist Maria Catalina García, a PhD candidate in Geography and International Development at the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands), analyzed the socio-legal implications of the case being carried out before The Hague.

According to his research, released by the National University of Colombia, the daily life around the sea of the San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina Archipelago has changed during the conflict and has impacted both the livelihoods of the communities involved and their environment.

“The consequences left by more than two decades of the border conflict between Colombia and Nicaragua translate into changes in the spatial dynamics between the populations of the ethnic territory, impacts on the economic livelihood of the raizales due to the implications for artisanal fishing, as well as disadvantages in the implementation of concrete actions to preserve the marine environment of the Seaflower Biosphere Reserve”, they indicated in addition to the study.

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