Check out the ASIL Insight by Pieter H.F. Bekker and Ana Stanic respecting this month's judgment in which the International Court of Justice resolved a Central American boundaries dispute dating from decolonization 8 decades ago.Upon winning independence from Spain in 1821, Nicaragua and Honduras disagreed on the ownership of 4 islands. (map courtesy of ASIL Insights) Periodic arbitration efforts failed to resolve the matter. In this month's judgment, Case Concerning Territorial and Maritime Disputes between Nicaragua and Honduras in the Caribbean Sea (Nicaragua v. Honduras), the ICJ unanimously awarded sovereignty of the islands to the applicant, Nicaragua. Bekker and Stanic note that in so doing the court clarified the framework for settling such disputes -- and thus may ease resolution of pending cases involving Nicaragua and Colombia, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, Romania and Ukraine, Namibia and South Africa, and Japan and China.
