>Chris Carleton wrote this morning:
"This dispute is being referred to an ad hoc arbitration not ITLOS." This
is my understanding too. However, I see from admittedly rather garbled
press reports from Barbados (you know what journalists are like) that
there is talk of seeking interim measures under Art. 290 of the Law of the
Sea Convention. Article 290(5) provides - broadly - that pending the
constitution of an arbitral tribunal, ITLOS can prescribe interim measures
prior to a tribunal or court being formally seised of a dispute, if it
considers that the arbitral tribunal is likely to have jurisdiction and
that the matter is urgent. My understanding is that the tribunal is not
yet constituted - only Barbados has appointed its arbitrator; in which case
reports of the irrelevance of ITLOS may be premature.
However, Chris may have inside information.
Regards,
Maurice Mendelson
-----Original Message-----
From: International boundaries discussion list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Martin Pratt
Sent: 18 February 2004 09:11
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: First boundary case for ITLOS?
The government of Barbados has announced that it is referring its
maritime boundary dispute with Trinidad & Tobago to the International
Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).
Barbados has stated that the 1990 maritime boundary agreement between
Trinidad & Tobago and Venezuela "purports unilaterally to appropriate to
Venezuela and Trinidad & Tobago an enormous part of Barbados's and
Guyana's maritime territory". The dispute has had practical implications
in terms of fishing rights, and Barbadian fishermen operating south of
the 1990 line have been arrested and fined by Trinidad & Tobago
authorities.
Barbados is taking the dispute to ITLOS under the binding dispute
resolution procedures set out in the 1982 United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea. It will be the first boundary case heard by the
Tribunal. The two governments are meeting today (18 February) "to
determine whether both parties may want to vary, by mutual agreement,
any of the procedural rules of Annex VII of UNCLOS and, further, to make
every effort to enter into provisional arrangements of a practical
nature, without prejudice to the final delimitation, relating to
traditional fishing as conducted by Barbadians to the north of the
territorial sea of the island of Tobago".
(Summarised from a report by the Caribbean Media Corporation news
agency, Bridgetown [BBC Mon LA1 LatPol j])
m a r t i n
t
Maurice Mendelson, Q.C.
Blackstone Chambers Barristers
Blackstone House
Temple, London EC4Y 9BW,
England.
Tel. +44 20 7583 1770; fax +4420 7822 7350; email
[log in to unmask]
website www.blackstonechambers.com
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