“The Prolonged Continental Shelf in Nicaragua v Colombia: Figuring out a Customary Rule Primarily based on CLCS Submissions?“
Holly Leung (PCLL Graduate)
Ocean Improvement & Worldwide Legislation (Quantity 55, 2024 – Difficulty 1-2)
Revealed on-line: 25 July 2024
Summary: In Nicaragua v Colombia, the Worldwide Court docket of Justice (ICJ) recognized a rule in customary worldwide legislation which prohibited a state from asserting an prolonged continental shelf (ECS) that encroaches on maritime areas inside 200 nautical miles (NM) of one other state. Whereas the ICJ reached this conclusion based mostly on the apply of states events’ submissions to the Fee on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), through which a overwhelming majority of states events had shunned asserting an ECS that extends inside the 200 M line of one other state, the ICJ’s strategy seems flawed. On an inductive examination of the prevailing CLCS submissions, it’s evident that whereas plenty of states have exercised restraint when asserting their ECS, the CLCS submissions don’t point out sufficiently widespread and uniform state apply nor opinio juris supporting the identification of a customary rule as asserted by the ICJ.
