The International Court of Justice rejected Nicaragua's case in the maritime dispute with Colombia

The International Court of Justice in The Hague today dismissed Nicaragua's case in a decades-long dispute with Colombia over the acquisition of economic rights to an area of ​​the Caribbean Sea located more than 200 nautical miles (380 kilometers) from its shores.

Nicaragua wanted the international court to review the boundaries of its continental shelf and determine new maritime boundaries.

On the other hand, Colombia already claims exclusive economic rights to most of the area located east of the Nicaraguan border 200 nautical miles away. Bogotá argued that there was no precedent for expanding a country's 200 nautical mile zone.

Both countries have long claimed the area, and Nicaragua won fishing rights over much of it following a 2012 Hague court ruling. However, the Colombian Navy continued to patrol those waters, which are also used by drug traffickers.

Colombia's maritime claims are linked to its claim to sovereignty over the archipelago of San Andres and Providencia, located about 700 kilometers north of Colombia's Caribbean coast, but only 110 kilometers off the coast of Nicaragua.

World Court President Joan E. Donohue said a country's right to claim a zone beyond the 200-nautical-mile limit cannot "extend within 200 nautical miles of the baselines of another state."

The ruling means the world court does not have to review the maritime boundaries between Colombia and Nicaragua, which the court established in a 2012 ruling and which have been disputed in recent decades.

Under international law, coastal states have sovereignty over waters that extend 12 nautical miles beyond their coasts. They have exclusive economic and environmental rights over the seabed and waters extending up to 200 nautical miles from their coast.

In a 2012 ruling, the International Court of Justice sided with Nicaragua and redrew the maritime borders between the two countries. The new borders expanded Nicaragua's economic zone and deprived Colombia of about 80.000 square kilometers of territorial waters.