Order of July 16, 2013 International Court of Justice, case 'Certain Activities carried out by Nicaragua in the Border Area' (Costa Rica vs. Nicaragua)

Resolution DateJuly 16, 2013
Issuing OrganizationInternational Court of Justice
Type of ProceedingsContentious Cases

16 JUILLET 2013

ORDONNANCE

CERTAINES ACTIVITÉS MENÉES PAR LE NICARAGUA DANS LA RÉGION FRONTALIÈRE

(COSTA RICA c. NICARAGUA)

CONSTRUCTION D’UNE ROUTE AU COSTA RICA LE LONG DU FLEUVE SAN JUAN

(NICARAGUA c. COSTA RICA)

DEMANDES TENDANT À LA MODIFICATION DE L’ORDONNANCE

EN INDICATION DE MESURES CONSERVATOIRES

DU 8 MARS 2011

___________

CERTAIN ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY NICARAGUA IN THE BORDER AREA

(COSTA RICA v. NICARAGUA)

CONSTRUCTION OF A ROAD IN COSTA RICA ALONG THE SAN JUAN RIVER

(NICARAGUA v. COSTA RICA)

REQUESTS FOR THE MODIFICATION OF THE ORDER OF 8 MARCH 2011 INDICATING PROVISIONAL MEASURES

16 JULY 2013
ORDER
INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
YEAR 2013
16 July
General List
Nos. 150 and 152
16 July 2013
CERTAIN ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY NICARAGUA IN THE BORDER AREA

(COSTA RICA v. NICARAGUA)

CONSTRUCTION OF A ROAD IN COSTA RICA ALONG THE SAN JUAN RIVER
(NICARAGUA v. COSTA RICA)

REQUESTS FOR THE MODIFICATION OF THE ORDER OF 8 MARCH 2011 INDICATING PROVISIONAL MEASURES

ORDER
Present: President TOMKA; Vice-President SEPÚLVEDA-AMOR; Judges OWADA, ABRAHAM, KEITH, BENNOUNA, SKOTNIKOV, CANÇADO TRINDADE, YUSUF, GREENWOOD, XUE, DONOGHUE, GAJA, SEBUTINDE, BHANDARI; Judges ad hoc GUILLAUME, DUGARD; Registrar COUVREUR.

The International Court of Justice,

Composed as above,

After deliberation,

Having regard to Article 41 of the Statute of the Court and Article 76 of the Rules of Court,

Makes the following Order:

Whereas:

1. By an Application filed in the Registry of the Court on 18 November 2010, the Government of the Republic of Costa Rica (hereinafter “Costa Rica”) instituted proceedings against the Government of the Republic of Nicaragua (hereinafter “Nicaragua”) for “the incursion into, occupation of and use by Nicaragua’s army of Costa Rican territory”, as well as for “serious damage inflicted to its protected rainforests and wetlands”, “damage intended [by Nicaragua] to the Colorado River” and “the dredging and canalization activities being carried out by Nicaragua on the San Juan River” (case concerning Certain Activities carried out by Nicaragua in the Border Area (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua), hereinafter “the Costa Rica v. Nicaragua case”).

2. On 18 November 2010, having filed its Application, Costa Rica also submitted a Request for the indication of provisional measures, under Article 41 of the Statute of the Court and Articles 73 to 75 of the Rules of Court.

3. By an Order of 8 March 2011 made in that case (hereinafter “the Order of 8 March 2011”), the Court indicated the following provisional measures to both Parties:

“(1) Each Party shall refrain from sending to, or maintaining in the disputed territory, including the caño, any personnel, whether civilian, police or security;

(2) Notwithstanding point (1) above, Costa Rica may dispatch civilian personnel charged with the protection of the environment to the disputed territory, including the caño, but only in so far as it is necessary to avoid irreparable prejudice being caused to the part of the wetland where that territory is situated; Costa Rica shall consult with the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention in regard to these actions, give Nicaragua prior notice of them and use its best endeavours to find common solutions with Nicaragua in this respect;

(3) Each Party shall refrain from any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute before the Court or make it more difficult to resolve;

(4) Each Party shall inform the Court as to its compliance with the above provisional measures.” (Certain Activities carried out by Nicaragua in the Border Area (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua), Provisional Measures, Order of 8 March 2011, I.C.J. Reports 2011 (I), pp. 27-28, para. 86.)

4. By an Order of 5 April 2011, the Court fixed 5 December 2011 and 6 August 2012 as the respective time-limits for the filing in the case of a Memorial by Costa Rica and a Counter-Memorial by Nicaragua. The Memorial and the Counter-Memorial were filed within the time-limits thus prescribed.
5. By an Application filed with the Registry of the Court on 22 December 2011, Nicaragua instituted proceedings against Costa Rica for “violations of Nicaraguan sovereignty and major environmental damages on its territory”, resulting from the extensive road construction works being carried out by Costa Rica in most of the border area between the two countries along the San Juan River, the opening-up of the Costa Rican bank of the said river to agriculture and the “uncontrolled industrial development taking place in the river basin” (case concerning the Construction of a Road in Costa Rica along the San Juan River (Nicaragua v. Costa Rica), hereinafter “the Nicaragua v. Costa Rica case”).

6. By an Order of 23 January 2012, the Court fixed 19 December 2012 and 19 December 2013 as the respective time-limits for the filing of a Memorial by Nicaragua and a Counter-Memorial by Costa Rica in this latter case. The Memorial was filed within the time-limit thus prescribed.

7. At the time of the filing of the said Memorial, Nicaragua requested the Court, inter alia, to “examine proprio motu whether the circumstances of the case require[d] the indication of provisional measures”. By letters dated 11 March 2013, the Registrar informed the Parties that the Court was of the view that the circumstances of the case, as they presented themselves to it at that time, were not such as to require the exercise of its power under Article 75 of the Rules of Court to indicate provisional measures proprio motu.

8. By two separate Orders dated 17 April 2013, the Court joined the proceedings in the Costa Rica v. Nicaragua and Nicaragua v. Costa Rica cases.

9. On 23 May 2013, Costa Rica filed with the Registry a request for the modification of the Order of 8 March 2011 (see paragraph 3 above). That request makes reference to Article 41 of the Statute of the Court and Article 76 of the Rules of Court.

The Registrar immediately communicated a copy of the said request to the Government of Nicaragua.

10. By letters dated 24 May 2013, the Registrar informed the Parties that the time-limit for the filing of any written observations that Nicaragua might wish to present on Costa Rica’s request had been fixed as 14 June 2013.

11. In its written observations, filed within the time-limit thus prescribed, Nicaragua asked the Court to reject Costa Rica’s request, while in its turn requesting the Court to modify or adapt the Order of 8 March 2011 on the basis of Article 76 of the Rules of Court.

A copy of Nicaragua’s written observations and request was immediately transmitted to Costa Rica, which was informed that the time-limit for the filing of any written observations that it might wish to present on the said request had been fixed as 20 June 2013.

Costa Rica filed such written observations within the time-limit thus rescribed.

*

12. At the end of its request for the modification of the Order of 8 March 2011, Costa Rica seeks the following measures:

“Pursuant to Article 76 of the Rules of Court, Costa Rica respectfully requests the Court as a matter of urgency to modify its Order on provisional measures...

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