Maritime Delimitation Disputes and the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention

1) Introduction

For the purposes of the Manual, maritime delimitation disputes can be divided into three areas: those concerning

* the territorial sea and the contiguous zone;

* the exclusive economic zone;

* the continental shelf.

These areas are dealt with in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III). It will be recalled that in an earlier chapter it was suggested that there were three international treaties that have a particular relevance to maritime disputes, international investment disputes and international trade disputes generally: UNCLOS III, the International Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID Convention) and the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York Convention).

As in the case of territorial boundary disputes, the international dispute settlement bodies dealing with maritime boundary disputes are likely to include the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), both in The Hague. In addition, UNLCOS III set up a third international body dealing specifically with maritime disputes: the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).

While the concept of the freedom of the high seas is accepted internationally, it is similarly accepted that coastal states have rights in relation to the seas off their coasts and that the resources in the seas and on the seabed need to be exploited. This can lead to disputes concerning the delimitation of the territorial sea between States with opposite or adjacent coasts, disputes concerning the delimitation of the continental shelf and disputes concerning exclusive economic zones. What may well lie behind a maritime delimitation dispute, as with a land dispute, is the existence - or suspected existence - of an oil and/or gas field.

Various conferences have been held that sought to deal with these potentially conflicting areas of interest. These conferences led to the 1958 Conventions on the territorial sea and contiguous zone; the high seas; the continental shelf; and fishing and conservation of the living resources of the high seas, and then subsequently to UNCLOS III. The Preamble to the 1982 Convention sets the scene (see Box 5).

Box 5: Preamble to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

The States Parties to this Convention:

"Prompted by the desire to settle, in a spirit of mutual understanding and cooperation, all issues relating to the law of the sea and aware of the historic significance of this Convention as an important contribution to the maintenance of peace, justice ...

If you are already a vLex customer, Access Here