074- Border and Trans-border Armed Actions (Nicaragua vs Honduras)
On July 28th, 1986, Nicaragua filed before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) an application instituting proceedings against Honduras. It accused the latter of alleged violations of international law, in particular as a result of military activities carried out against the Nicaraguan authorities by the “contras”, operating from Honduras.
Nicaragua based the jurisdiction of the Court (which was also contested by Honduras) on various international instruments, namely, on the one hand, the American Treaty on Peaceful Settlement (known as the “Pact of Bogotá”) of 1948 in its article XXXI and on the other hand the declarations of acceptance of the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court made by the Parties pursuant to article 36, paragraph 2 of the Statute.
After rejecting all the preliminary objections regarding the lack of jurisdiction raised by Honduras, the ICJ in its judgment of December 20th, 1988 founded its jurisdiction on the basis of the Pact of Bogotà (Article XXXI). In the same judgment, it also rejected the pleas relating to the inadmissibility of the application.
However, the agent of Nicaragua, in May 1992, informed the Court that the Parties had reached an out-of-court agreement. Taking note of that withdrawal, the Court, by order of 27 May 1992, struck the case off the roll.
This summary is provided for informational purposes only, does not involve the responsibility of Dome and should in no way be used as a substitute for a careful reading of the judgment and order of the case.
