Costa Rica, Nicaragua battle over sea boundary at UN court

PARIS – The International Court of Justice has begun hearings in a maritime and land boundary dispute between Costa Rica and Nicaragua involving their Pacific and Caribbean borders.

Costa Rica started presenting its case Monday, asking the U.N.’s highest court to define the borders between the two countries off both their eastern and western shores.

Nicaragua starts presenting its case Thursday at the court, based in The Hague, Netherlands.

The countries have been arguing for years notably over construction work near the remote mouth of the San Juan River that marks their Caribbean border. The U.N. court ruled in 2015 that Nicaragua violated Costa Rica’s territorial sovereignty by establishing a military camp and digging channels on a small chunk of land there.