Law of the Sea Reports, Vol. 3 (2012) No. 1
COLOMBIA AND ECUADOR AGREE TO THE STARTING POINT OF THEIR
INTERNATIONAL LAND BOUNDARY
Hernando Otero*
I. INTRODUCTION. – II. TERMS OF THE AGREEMENT. – III. TREATY
BACKGROUND. – IV. RELATED DEVELOPMENT.
I. Introduction
On June 13, 2012, the governments of Colombia and Ecuador ratified a Joint Declaration
establishing the point where the international land boundary of the two countries reaches the
sea.1 The Joint Declaration complements two preceding delimitation treaties and is a welcome
development between the two countries which broke diplomatic relations between March 2008
and November 2010 over a cross border incursion into Ecuador by Colombian armed forces
against a guerilla camp. The agreement is also an important milestone in bilateral efforts to
increase cooperation in a region that combines sparse governmental presence, illegal armed
group activities, and plentiful natural resources. Finally the negotiation of the Joint Declaration
coincided with Ecuador’s move to accede the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
(UNCLOS).
II. Terms of the Agreement
The preamble of the Joint Declarations begins by expressing, among others, the
signatories’ intent to “promote the development of the frontier region between the two countries
to the benefit of its inhabitants” and to “promote and facilitate the rational exploitation of natural
resources found on either side of the common border.2” The preamble also notes that the
Colombian-Ecuadorian Joint Standing Committee of Borders and the Technical bi-national
Commission of the Mouth of the Mataje River have undertaken studies of the border region that
This Article was received on August 1, 2012, and accepted for publication on August 6, 2012.
*
Hernando Otero is an international law and dispute resolution attorney with experience as counsel of record and as
arbitrator in international tribunal proceedings involving sovereigns. He is licensed to practice both in Colombia and
in New York State.
1
Colombia-Ecuador Joint Declaration, issued by foreign ministers on December 13, 2012, in San Lorenzo in the
Ecuadorean province of Esmeraldas, available at http://www.mmrree.gob.ec/eng/2012/bol0687.asp.
2
Joint Declaration, Preamble.
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Otero/Colombia and Ecuador Agree to Land Boundary Starting Point
determine the coordinates of the point at which the land boundary of the two countries reaches
the sea.3
In its operative portion, the Declaration provides that the Governments of Ecuador and
Colombia approve those joint studies determining coordinates of Latitude 01°28´10 .49˝ N and
Longitude 078° 52´07 .27” W (WGS-84) at the mouth of the Mataje River in the Pacific Ocean,
as the point at which the international land boundary between the two countries reaches the sea.4
The Declaration also provides for freedom of navigation for ships of either state along the
Mataje River.5 Thereafter the Declaration lists areas of cooperation where the two countries:
•
•
•
•
“Commit to adopt adequate measures to promote the sustainable development of artisanal
fishing by the riverside border communities in the area and, to that effect, will require the
competent authorities of the two States to act in close cooperation to achieve this goal.6”
“Agree to establish the broadest cooperation to promote culture, health, education and
employment of the inhabitants of the area.7”
“Agree to adopt adequate measures for the purpose of maintaining security in the area.8”
“Commit to promote the sustainable development of renewable and non renewable natural
resources, as well as programs designed for scientific investigation, protection and
preservation of the environment and the coastal zones of the region.9”
III. Treaty Background
Colombia and Ecuador share a 586 km boundary and have had a mostly amicable
diplomatic relationship since 1832. The relationship has resulted in a number of bilateral treaties
and mechanisms, and regional integration efforts within the Andean Community of Nations.10
However, Colombia and Ecuador are still at odds over the March 1, 2008, bombing by the
Colombian air force of a guerilla camp in Ecuadorean territory.11
Since reestablishing diplomatic relations after approximately a two-year hiatus in
November 2010, the two countries have been steadily working toward normalizing relations and
3
Id.
Id. Article 1.
5
Id. Article 2.
6
Id. Article 3.
7
Id. Article 4.
8
Id. Article 5.
9
Id. Article 6.
10
Available at http://www.cancilleria.gov.co/international/regions/america/south/ecuador.
11
Ecuador broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia as a result. An inter-state petition by Ecuador against
Colombia is pending before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights over the death of Ecuadorean
national Franklin Guillermo Aisalla Molina. See Inter-state Petition IP-02 (Ecuador-Colombia). Also on March 31,
2008, Ecuador filed an application to institute proceedings before the International Court of Justice against
Colombia for transboundary harm resulting from the aerial spraying of herbicides over illicit coca and poppy
plantations in the frontier area. See Aerial Herbicide Spraying (Ecuador v. Colombia).
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Law of the Sea Reports, Vol. 3 (2012) No. 1
improving cooperation in a number of areas.12 Indeed the Joint Declaration is the most recent of
a number of steps agreed upon in a December 2011 presidential summit in Quito, Ecuador.13 At
that summit, the resulting Joint Presidential Declaration of December 19, 2011, ordered the Joint
Committee of the two countries to determine the point at the mouth of the Mataje River at which
the land frontier between the two countries begins (numeral 9) by July 2012 at the latest (“a más
tardar”).14
The subsequent June 2012 Joint Declaration complements two preceding treaties. The
first is a 1916 delimitation treaty that stated the land boundary “begins at the mouth of the
Mataje River, in the Pacific Ocean.”15 The second is a 1975 treaty whereby the two countries
agreed “to designate the line of the geographical parallel traversing the point at which the
international land frontier between Ecuador and Colombia reaches the sea, as the boundary
between their respective marine and submarine areas…”16
The 1975 treaty between the two countries was also noteworthy because it recognized
“conditions for the current or future exercise by each of the two States of sovereignty,
jurisdiction or surveillance in the marine and submarine areas adjacent to their coasts up to a
distance of 200 nautical miles…”17 Both countries had also claimed a similar 200 nautical mile
area in the 1952 Declaration of the Maritime Zone (Santiago Declaration).18 This historical 200nautical mile claim by Ecuador lied at the heart of its previous reluctance to accede to the 1982
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).19 Finally, in the 1975 treaty,
Colombia and Ecuador recognized “the right of each of the two countries to establish the
baselines from which the width of the territorial sea is to be measured, using the system of
straight baselines connecting the outermost points on their coasts, and to abide by the provisions
which they have adopted or may adopt for that purpose.”20 Both Colombia and Ecuador
established straight baseline claims through internal legislation.21 Therefore the starting point of
12
The two countries reestablished diplomatic relations on November 26, 2010, during a heads of state meeting of
the Union of South American Nations (Unión de Naciones Suramericanas) in Georgetown-Guyana.
13
Joint Presidential Declaration of December 19, 2011, para. 9.
14
Id. para. 9.
15
Article 1. See Border Treaty between the Republic of Colombia and the Republic of Ecuador signed in Bogota,
Colombia, on July 15, 1916.
16
Article 1. See Agreement Concerning Delimitation of Marine and Submarine Areas and Maritime Cooperation
between the Republics of Colombia and Ecuador, signed in Quito-Ecuador on August 23, 1975; entered into force
December 22, 1975. See United Nations Treaty Series Online Collection, registration number I-14582.
17
Agreement Concerning Delimitation of Marine and Submarine Areas and Maritime Cooperation (1975), Article 3.
Fuller citation needed here.
18
Declaration on the Maritime Zone, 18 August 1952, executed by Chile, Ecuador and Peru. Colombia acceded to
the Declaration in April 1980, available at
http://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/TREATIES/CHL-ECUPER1952MZ.PDF.
19
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Dec. 10, 1982, 1833 U.N.T.S. 3. At the time of writing,
Colombia has not acceded to it.
20
Agreement Concerning Delimitation of Marine and Submarine Areas and Maritime Cooperation (1975), Article 4.
21
See Decree 1436 of 1984 (Colombia). See also Supreme Decree 959A, of June 28, 1971 (Ecuador).
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Otero/Colombia and Ecuador Agree to Land Boundary Starting Point
their land boundary agreed upon in the June 2012 Joint Declaration should be understood in
accordance with Colombia and Ecuador’s existing claims to lie in internal waters with no right of
innocent passage.
IV. Related Developments
The June 2012 agreement with Colombia is the latest of a number of notable international
developments for Ecuador. On May 2, 2011, Ecuador and Peru exchanged diplomatic notes
indicating their agreement on the delimitation of their maritime boundary in the Pacific Ocean.22
More recently, in May 22, 2012, Ecuador’s National Assembly approved the state’s accession to
the 1982 UNCLOS, and made a number of declarations under Articles 287, 298 and 310 of the
Convention;23 most notably, a statement referencing national legislation declaring a system of
straight baselines along its continental coast.24
22
Agreement by exchange of notes of identical content between the Republic of Peru and the Republic of Ecuador
of 2 May 2011 (with map). United Nations Treaty Series Online Collection, registration number I-48631. See also
“Peru and Ecuador Reach Agreement on their Maritime Boundary,” LOS Reports, Vol. 2 (2011).
23
National Assembly resolution of May 2, 2012; and Presidential Decree 1238 of July 15, 2012 (Official Gazette
No. 759, of August 2, 2012).
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