International Court rejects claims of Costa Rica against Nicaragua
March 8, 2011, 12:56 Managua, March 8 (PL) The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Tuesday rejected a lawsuit filed by Costa Rica to Nicaragua to stop the dredging of the San Juan River, part of its length serves as a common border.
According to the judges of the ICJ can not conclude that dredging the river are causing environmental damage to the territory of Costa Rica, says the text published today in The Hague and played in the capital.
That ruling is consistent with the absolute sovereignty of Nicaragua has on the waterway, ratified even by the international court based in the Dutch city, and reaffirms the right of the authorities in Managua to continue cleaning the river, with views to restore its original flow.
The ICJ was more Solomonic ruling that both Nicaragua and Costa Rica should not send military personnel into the territory in dispute until they definitively resolve the dispute.
Costa Rica claims as its own a tiny piece of sandy land located at the mouth of San Juan, which surfaced over the loss of river flow, but insists that Nicaragua is part of its territory.
Nicaragua sovereign rights over that waterway settle in the border treaty Jerez-Cañas, 1858, and its subsequent instruments, awards and Cleveland Alexander, all ratified in July 2009 by the ICJ.
The ICJ, on the other hand, gave Costa Rica the possibility of sending civilians to the area where dredging is performed if necessary to avoid environmental damage to its territory, but always after informing the Nicaraguan authorities of their intentions and in consultation with the Ramsar Convention.
Finally, the ICJ stated that each party should refrain from any action that might aggravate the current situation, and the two countries should inform the high court's compliance with the above measures, according to the text of the report released here.
Among the first reactions to the decision of the ICJ, the representative of Nicaragua in The Hague, Carlos Argüello, described it as a great victory, which opens doors to his country "to launch its own offensive against Costa Rica."
Meanwhile, Mauricio Herdocia, international law expert who has closely followed the dispute, adding that the most positive thing for Nicaragua is that it has stopped the dredging of river.
The verdict has been positive for both countries, quite balanced, with a heavy dose of caution on the part of the ICJ and in a line, "I think very correct", he said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment