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Abstract

One of the most prominent features of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is the recognition of the archipelagic State concept, embodied under Part IV of the Convention. Since the entry into force of the Convention, more than 20 countries have claimed archipelagic State status, all of which are developing countries. Despite the considerable number of archipelagic States and a universal recognition of the concept, judicial jurisprudence remains very limited, if not non-existent, with respect to practices of archipelagic States pertaining to maritime boundaries delimitation. Up to the writing of this abstract, only two maritime boundary delimitation cases involving an archipelagic State were presented before an adjudication tribunal, namely the 2006 Barbados/Trinidad and Tobago Arbitration and the 2023 Mauritius/Maldives Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary in the Indian Ocean. This paper aims to review and analyze, in spite of the limited jurisprudence, how tribunals interpret and apply the provisions of maritime boundary delimitation to an archipelagic State. Mindful of such limitations, this paper does not aim to provide a conclusive review of today’s state of archipelagic State concept. It views the limited jurisprudence as evidence that issues pertaining to maritime boundary delimitation of an archipelagic State are largely unexplored and require further sanctioning through State practices and through judicial decisions.

References

Journal Articles and Periodicals

Charney, Jonathan. “Progress in International Maritime Boundary Delimitation Law.” The American Journal of International Law 88, no. 2. (1994): 230.

Olorundami, Fayokemi. “Objectivity versus Subjectivity in the Context of the ICJ’s Three Stage Methodology of Maritime Boundary Delimitation.” The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law 32 (2017): 36-53.

Qureshi, Waseem Ahmad. “State Practices of Straight Baselines Institute Excessive Maritime Claims.” Southern Illinois University Lae Journal 42, no. 3. (2018): 44-47.

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Chen-Fu, Kuen. Equitable Ocean Boundary Delimitation. Taipei: Taiwan National University, 1989.

Lando, Massimo. Maritime Delimitation as a Judicial Process. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019.

Nordquist, Myron et.al. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 A Commentary Vol. II. Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff, 1985.

Rothwell, Donald. Islands and International Law. Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2022.

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Fietta, Stephen and Robin Cleverly. “The Creeping Subjectivity of Base-Point Selection: A Lurch Toward a ‘Four-Stage Approach’ (or a Return to Equitable Principles)?” in Practitioner’s Guide to Maritime Boundary Delimitation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.

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Arbitral Tribunal Constituted Pursuant to Article 287 UNCLOS between Guyana and Suriname, Permanent Court of Arbitration, 2007.

Continental Shelf (Tunisia/Libyan Arab Jamahiriya), Judgment, ICJ Reports 1982.

Continental Shelf (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya), Judgment, ICJ Reports 1985.

Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, 516 UNTS 205 (signed 29 April 1958, entered into force 10 September 1964).

Convention on the Continental Shelf, 499 UNTS 311 (signed 29 April 1958, entered into force 10 June 1964).

Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary in the Gulf of Maine Area, Judgment, ICJ Reports 1984.

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Indonesia. Peraturan Pemerintah tentang Daftar Koordinat Geografis Titik-Titik Garis Pangkal Kepulauan Indonesia. PP No. 38 Tahun 2002. (Government Regulation on The List of Geographical Coordinates of Indonesian Archipelagic Basepoints, Government Regulation No. 38 Year 2002).

Maritime Boundary Arbitration between Barbados and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Award, Permanent Court of Arbitration, 2006.

Maritime Delimitation and Territorial Questions between Qatar and Bahrain (Qatar v. Bahrain), Merits, Judgment, ICJ Reports 2001.

Maritime Delimitation in the Area between Greenland and Jan Mayen (Denmark v. Norway), Judgment, ICJ Reports 1993.

Maritime Delimitation in the Black Sea (Romania v. Ukraine), Judgment, ICJ Reports 2009.

Maritime Delimitation in the Indian Ocean (Somalia v. Kenya), Judgment, ICJ Reports 2021.

North Sea Continental Shelf, Judgment, ICJ Reports 1969.

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United States Department of State. Limits in the Seas No. 126, Maldives Maritime Claims and Boundaries (2005). [].

Web Sources

International Court of Justice. “Cases.” Accessed 30 June 2023. https://icj-cij.org/contentious-cases.

International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. “List of Cases.” Accessed 30 June 2023. https://www.itlos.org/en/main/cases/list-of-cases/.

Permanent Court of Arbitration. “Cases.” Accessed 30 June 2023. https://pca-cpa.org/cases/.

Interviews and Personal Communications

Ambassador Bebeb Djundjunan (Indonesia’s Chief Negotiator on Maritime Boundary Delimitations 2016 – 2021), interview with author, July 2023.

Others

Agusman, Damos. “Indonesia’s Perspective.” Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting 112 (2018): 285 – 88. DOI: 10.1017/amp.2019.28.

International Law Association. Final Report: Baselines Under International Law of the Sea. 2012.

Malintoppi, Loretta. “Trends and Perspectives of Settlement of Law of the Sea Disputes in Southeast Asia.” Proceedings of the Annual Meeting (American Society of International Law) 107 (2013): 56-60. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5305/procannmeetasil.107.0056.

United Nations. Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, Documents of the Conference First and Second Sessions Vol. III.

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