ICJ: Costa Rica Seeks Stop to Canal Project

On 24 September 2013, the Republic of Costa Rica filed in the Registry of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) a document entitled “Request for the Indication of New Provisional Measures” in the case concerning Certain Activities carried out by Nicaragua in the Border Area, announced icj-cij.org.

Costa Rica claims that its request is prompted by Nicaragua’s continued presence on Costa Rica’s territory, the recent and ongoing construction by Nicaragua of two new artificial channels (or caños) in the “disputed territory” which is the subject of the Court’s Order of 8 March 2011 on provisional measures and related dredging and dumping activities by Nicaragua affecting that territory and detrimentally impacting upon its ecology.

Costa Rica contends that the construction of these “new channels”, which it states are located on the right bank of the San Juan River and close to the mouth of that river, commenced between June and September 2013; that it “first became aware of potential activity in the disputed territory at the end of August [2013]”; and that it obtained satellite images on 13 September 2013 confirming the construction of these two new artificial caños.

[mappress]

Press Release, October 15, 2013