Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States) (Merits)

Nicaragua (plaintiff) alleged the United States (defendant) violated customary international law and the U.N. Charter by attacking Nicaraguan oil facilities, ports, and airspace, and by training, arming, and financing counter-revolutionary forces seeking to overthrow Nicaragua's government; the United States withdrew from the proceedings but maintained it acted in collective self-defense of El Salvador and other Central American states it claimed were threatened by Nicaraguan support for armed opposition groups. The International Court of Justice found it lacked jurisdiction over Nicaragua's U.N. Charter claim but did have jurisdiction over the customary-international-law claims, and it considered the United States' collective self-defense justification.