INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
Peace Palace, Carnegieplein 2, 2517 KJ The Hague, Netherlands
Tel.: +31 (0)70 302 2323 Fax: +31 (0)70 364 9928
Website: www.icj-cij.org
Press Release
Unofficial
No. 2011/40
22 December 2011
Nicaragua institutes proceedings against Costa Rica with regard to “violations
of Nicaraguan sovereignty and major environmental
damages to its territory”
THE HAGUE, 22 December 2011. Today, the Republic of Nicaragua instituted proceedings
against the Republic of Costa Rica with regard to “violations of Nicaraguan sovereignty and major
environmental damages to its territory”.
Nicaragua contends that Costa Rica is carryin g out major construction works along most of
the border area between the two countries with grave environmental consequences.
In its Application, Nicaragua claims inter alia that “Costa Rica’s unilateral actions...
threaten to destroy the San Juan de Nicaragua River and its fragile ecosystem, including the
adjacent biosphere reserves and internationally protected wetlands that depend upon the clean and
uninterrupted flow of the River for their survival”.
According to the Applicant, “[t]he most immediate threat to the River and its environment is
posed by Costa Rica’s construction of a road runni ng parallel and in extremely close proximity to
the southern bank of the River, and extending fo r a distance of at least 120kilometres, from
Los Chiles in the west to Delta in the east”.
Nicaragua contends that the construction wo rks “have already resulted in dumping in the
River of substantial volumes of sediments ⎯ soil, uprooted vegetation and felled trees ⎯ produced
by the clearing and levelling of the land that now ser ves as the road bed”. It adds that “the felling
of trees and the removal of topsoil and vegetation cl ose to the River bank facilitate erosion, and the
leeching of even greater amounts of sediments into the river”.
The Applicant states that “[t]he sedimentation of the River poses a clear and imminent
danger to water quality, to aquatic life (including several endangered species), and to rare and
diverse fauna and flora that populate the river banks on both sides, especially those areas that form
parts of the Biosphere Reserve I ndio Maiz, forming one of the most extensive biological nuclei of
the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor”.
Nicaragua claims that “[t]he road will have a major impact on the environment by further
degrading the soil already devastated by deforestati on due principally to agricultural and industrial
developments on Costa Rica’s territory and causing substantial damage and silting of the San Juan - 2 -
River as well as altering the landscape and threaten ing the biodiversity”. It is stated in the
Application that “[t]hese works have already caused and will continue to cause significant
economic damage to Nicaragua”.
Nicaraacuoardingly
“requests the Court to adjudge and declare that Costa Rica has breached:
(a) its obligation not to violate Nicaragua’s territorial integrity as delimited by the
1858 Treaty of Limits, the Cleveland Award of 1888 and the five Awards of the
Umpire EP Alexander of 30 September 1897, 20 December 1897, 22 March 1898,
26 July 1899 and 10 March 1900;
(b) its obligation not to damage Nicaraguan territory;
(c)its obligation under general internationa l law and the relevant environmental
conventions, including the Ramsar Conve ntion on Wetlands, the Agreement over
the Border Protected Areas between Ni caragua and Costa Rica (International
System of Protected Areas for Peace [SI-A-PAZ] Agreement), the Convention on
Biological Diversity and the Convention for the Conservation of the Biodiversity
and Protection of the Main Wild Life Sites in Central America.
Furthermore, Nicaragua requests the C ourt to adjudge and declare that Costa
Rica must:
(a) restore the situation to the status quo ante;
(b)pay for all damages caused including th e costs added to the dredging of the
San Juan River;
(c)not undertake any future development in the area without an appropriate
transboundary Environmental Impact Assessment and that this assessment must be
presented in a timely fashion to Nicaragua for its analysis and reaction.
Finally, Nicaragua requests the Court to adjudge and declare that Costa Rica
must:
(a)cease all the constructions underway that affect or may affect the rights of
Nicaragua;
(b) produce and present to Nicaragua an adequate Environmental Impact Assessment
with all the details of the works.”
As the basis for the jurisdiction of the Court, the Applicant invokes Article 36, paragraph 1,
of the Statute of the Court by virtue of the opera tion of ArticleXXXI of the American Treaty on
Pacific Settlement of 30April1948 (“Pact of Bogotá), as well as the declarations of acceptance
made by Nicaragua on 24 Sept ember 1929 (modified on 23October2001) and by Costa Rica on
20 February 1973, pursuant to Article 36, paragraph 2, of the Statute of the Court.
Nicaragua asserts that Costa Rica has repeatedly refused to give Nicaragua appropriate
information on the construction works it is undertaking and has denied that it has any obligation to
prepare and provide to Nicaragua an Environmental Impact Assessment, which would allow for an
evaluation of the works. The Applicant therefore requests the Court to order Costa Rica to produce
such a document and to communicate it to Nicaragua. It adds that “in all circumstances and
particularly if this request does not produce results, [it] reserves its right to formally request
provisional measures”. - 3 -
Nicaragua also states that as “the legal and factual grounds of the [Application] are
connected to the ongoing case concerning Certain Activities carried out by Nicaragua in the Border
Area (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua)”, it “reserves its rights to consider in a subsequent phase of the
present proceedings . . . whether to request that the proceedings in both cases should be joined”.
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The full text of the Application will be available shortly on the Court’s website
(www.icj-cij.org) .
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It was established by the United Nations Charter in June 1945 and began its activities in
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Information Department:
Mr. Andrey Poskakukhin, First Secretary of the Court, Head of Department (+31 (0)70 302 2336)
Mr. Boris Heim, Information Officer (+31 (0)70 302 2337)
Ms Joanne Moore, Associate Information Officer (+31 (0)70 302 2394)
Ms Genoveva Madurga, Administrative Assistant (+31 (0)70 302 2396)
Nicaragua institutes proceedings against Costa Rica with regard to “violations of Nicaraguan sovereignty and major environmental damages to its territory”