The International Court of Justice issued an order in the case between Nicaragua and Costa Rica regarding their joined disputes over certain activities allegedly carried out by Nicaragua in a border area and construction of a road in Costa Rica along the San Juan River.  The Court found, by fifteen votes to two, that "the circumstances, as they now present themselves to the Court, are not such as to require the exercise of its power to modify the measures indicated in the Order of 8 March 2011." In its March 8, 2011, Order (the Order) in the Certain Activities carried out by Nicaragua in the Border Area case (Certain Activities case), the Court had ordered, inter alia, that each Party "refrain from sending to, or maintaining in the disputed territory, including the caño, any personnel, whether civilian, police or security," and that "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." The Court reaffirmed those measures, particularly "the requirement that the Parties 'shall refrain from any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute before the Court or make it more difficult to resolve.'"
According to the press release, both parties requested modification of the Order.  Costa Rica requested further provisional measures, arguing that Nicaragua was sending a large number of people to the disputed area who were affecting the territory and its ecology.  The Court denied Costa Rica's request on the ground that, though a change had occurred in the situation, the conditions for modification of the measure of the Order had not been fulfilled.  Nicaragua requested modification of the Order because of the construction of a 160-km long road along the San Juan River, and because the Court had joined the proceedings in the case concerning the Construction of a Road in Costa Rica along the San Juan River.  The Court denied Nicaragua's request on the grounds that the Court had already determined that provisional measures were unnecessary in the San Juan River case, the construction of the road had no bearing on the Certain Activities case, and the joinder of the two proceedings had not brought about a change in the situation.
In his dissent, Judge Cançado Trindade argued that new provisional measures were necessary and that the majority suffered from an "ineluctable congruence," namely, that it recognized a change in the situation but saw no consequences for this change given that the conditions for modification of the Order had not been fulfilled.  He reasoned that the "changing circumstances" in the present cases warranted the Court's "exercise of its powers to indicate new provisional measures in order to face the new situation, which is one of urgency and of probability of irreparable harm, in the form of bodily injury or death of the persons staying in the disputed area."  In his separate dissent, Judge ad hoc Dugard wrote that "the Court should have acceded to Costa Rica's request for modification of the Order of 2011 to make it clear that the presence of [the Nicaraguan Guardabarranco Environment Movement] or similar bodies, belonging to either Nicaragua or Costa Rica, is contrary to the Order of 8 March 2011."