Nicholas,

Thank you for drawing attention to this.

A couple of examples spring to mind, both from matters in which I was professionally involved. 

1.    The Río Protocol of 1942 established the boundary between Peru and Ecuador.  Some of its provisions required interpretation, which was done by arbitration.  One of the provisions required the boundary in the Cordillera del Condor to follow the watershed between the Santiago and Zamora Rivers, but in about 1947 it was discovered that there was a river between them, the Cenepa, which was more extensive than had previously been thought.  Ecuador declared the provisions ‘inejecutable’ – impossible to execute.  (In addition, Ecuador  later claimed that the whole agreement was procured by duress and void.) This and other matters in dispute were finally settled by agreement in 1992.

2.   Immediately following the Judgment of the ICJ in Cameroon-Nigeria, the President of Nigeria (I seem to recall it was) declared that, ‘as a country governed by the rule of law’, Nigeria could not comply with the Judgment (or at least that part relating to the Bakassi Peninsula), which would violate its constitution.  It took a great deal of effort on the part of the UN Secretary-General and others to procure compliance with the Judgment.

There are also quite a few examples of arbitral awards (and the like) settling boundaries being challenged by the losing party, on the grounds of manifest error, bias, procedural defects, etc.  And more generally, there is of course a record of states repudiating third party decisions that they do not like.

I hope this helps.

Maurice Mendelson, Q.C.

Blackstone Chambers Barristers

Blackstone House

Temple

London EC4Y 9BW

England.

Tel. +44 20 7583 1770; fax +4420 7822 7350; email [log in to unmask]

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From: International boundaries discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nicolas Boeglin
Sent: 11 September 2013 00:14
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Subject: [INT-BOUNDARIES] Colombia / Nicaragua: ICJ decision of Noc 2012 "not applicable"

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