Top UN court rejects Nicaragua's case in a long-running maritime dispute with Colombia

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The United Nations’ top court has rejected a case brought by Nicaragua in a decades-long dispute with Colombia over maritime borders and entitlements in the Caribbean

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The United Nations' top court on Thursday rejected a case brought by Nicaragua in a decades-long dispute with Colombia over maritime borders and entitlements in the Caribbean.

The International Court of Justice dismissed Nicaragua's bid to gain economic rights over an area of the Caribbean sea that lies more than 200 nautical miles (380 kilometers) from its shores.

Nicaragua wanted the international court to review the limits of its continental shelf, and determine new maritime boundaries for the Central American nation.

Colombia already claims exclusive economic rights in much of the area that lies to the east of Nicaragua’s 200 nautical mile boundary. Bogota argued that there is no precedent for extending a country’s 200-nautical-mile zone, when it clashes with that of another nation.

The area has long been claimed by both countries, and Nicaragua gained fishing rights over a big portion in a 2012 ruling by the world court in The Hague. But Colombia’s navy has continued to patrol the waters, which are also used by drug traffickers.

Colombia’s maritime claims are linked to its sovereignty over the San Andres and Providencia Archipelago, which lies about 700 kilometers (435 miles) north of Colombia’s Caribbean Coast but only 110 kilometers (68 miles) from Nicaragua’s coast.

The world court's president, Joan E. Donoghue, said that a country's right to claim a continental shelf beyond the 200-nautical-mile limit cannot “extend within 200 nautical miles from the baselines of another state.” The baselines are points on land from which