Jump to content

International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea

Coordinates: 53°33′04″N 9°51′03″E / 53.55111°N 9.85083°E / 53.55111; 9.85083
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Zntrip (talk | contribs) at 05:35, 25 May 2020 (→Cases: added "The M/T 'San Padre Pio' (No. 2) Case"). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

International Tribunal
for the Law of the Sea
Tribunal international du
droit de la mer (French)
Official logo of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
Official logo
  • Dark blue: States with judges in the ITLOS
  • Dark green: States formerly with judges in the ITLOS
  • Light green: Other UNCLOS parties
SeatGermany Hamburg, Germany
Working
languages
Judges from21 nations
Leaders
• President
Jin-Hyun Paik
• Vice President
David Joseph Attard
Establishment
• UNCLOS adopted
10 December 1982
• UNCLOS in force
16 November 1994
Website
http://www.itlos.org
ITLOS seen from Elbchaussee, close to the River Elbe

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) is an intergovernmental organization created by the mandate of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. It was established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, signed at Montego Bay, Jamaica, on December 10, 1982. The Convention entered into force on November 16, 1994, and established an international framework for law over "all ocean space, its uses and resources". The ITLOS is one of four dispute resolution mechanisms listed at Article 287 of the UNCLOS.[1]

The tribunal is based in Hamburg, Germany. The Convention also established the International Seabed Authority, with responsibility for the regulation of seabed mining beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, that is beyond the limits of the territorial sea, the contiguous zone and the continental shelf. There are currently 168 signatories, 167 states plus the European Union. As of 2012, holdouts included the United States[2] and the Islamic Republic of Iran.[3]

Composition

According to its founding statute, the Tribunal has a set of 21 judges who serve from a variety of states parties, "according to a method that intends to assure an equitable geographical representation".[4]

At the request of Chile and the European Union, the Tribunal set up a special chamber composed of 5 judges to deal with the Case concerning the Conservation and Sustainable Exploitation of Swordfish Stocks in the South-Eastern Pacific Ocean (Chile/European Community).

By agreement of the parties Ghana and Ivory Coast, the Tribunal formed a special chamber composed of 5 judges to deal with the Dispute concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire in the Atlantic Ocean (Ghana/Côte d'Ivoire).

By agreement of the parties Mauritius and Maldives, the Tribunal formed a special chamber of 7 permanent judges and 2 ad hoc judges to deal with the Dispute concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Mauritius and Maldives in the Indian Ocean (Mauritius/Maldives).[5]

Holdouts

Following a Reagan administration decision, the United States remained a holdout until at least 2012. Some concern was expressed in 2012 over the potential of the ITLOS to enforce its decisions related to greenhouse gas emissions.[2]

Iran is a signatory, but not a party, to the UNCLOS. In the case of the Stena Impero, a lawyer opined that:[3]

Iran are not signatories of UNCLOS and the only legal forum is ITLOS, but Iran would either not participate or would ignore any ruling in any event.

Current judges

Country Name Inauguration President Vice president
Senegal Senegal Tafsir Malick Ndiaye 1996
Cape Verde Cape Verde José Luis Jesus 1999 2008–2011
France France Jean-Pierre Cot 2002
Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago Anthony Amos Lucky 2003
Poland Poland Stanisław Pawlak 2005
Japan Japan Shunji Yanai 2005 2011–2014
Tanzania Tanzania James L. Kateka 2005
South Africa South Africa Albert J.Hoffmann 2005 2011–2014
China China Zhiguo Gao 2008
Algeria Algeria Boualem Bouguetaia 2008 2014–2017
South Korea South Korea Jin-Hyun Paik 2009 2017-
Argentina Argentina Elsa Kelly 2011
Malta Malta David Joseph Attard 2011 2017-
Ukraine Ukraine Markiyan Z. Kulyk 2011
Mexico Mexico Alonso Gómez-Robledo Verduzco 2014
Iceland Iceland Tomas Heidar 2014
Paraguay Paraguay Óscar Cabello Sarubbi 2017
India India Neeru Chadha 2017
Thailand Thailand Kriangsak Kittichaisaree 2017
Russia Russia Roman Kolodkin 2017
Netherlands Netherlands Liesbeth Lijnzaad 2017

Former judges

Country Name Inauguration Until
Lebanon Lebanon Joseph Akl 1996 2017
United Kingdom United Kingdom David Heywood Anderson 1996 2005
Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago Lennox Fitzroy Ballah 2002 2003
Cameroon Cameroon Paul Bamela Engo 1996 2008
Argentina Argentina Hugo Caminos 1996 2011
Brazil Brazil Antonio Cachapuz de Medeiros 2016 2016
India India P. Chandrasekhara Rao 1996 2017
Iceland Iceland Guðmundur Eiríksson 1996 2002
Russia Russia Vladimir Vladimirovich Golitsyn 2008 2017
Russia Russia Anatoly Lazarevich Kolodkin 1996 2008
Belize Belize Edward Arthur Laing 1996 2001
Brazil Brazil Vicente Marotta Rangel 1996 2015
Bulgaria Bulgaria Alexander Yankov 1996 2011
China China Guangjian Xu 2001 2007
China China Lihai Zhao 1996 2000
Croatia Croatia Budislav Vukas 1996 2005
Ghana Ghana Thomas A. Mensah 1996 2005
Italy Italy Tullio Treves 1996 2011
Japan Japan Soji Yamamoto 1996 2005
South Korea South Korea Choon-Ho Park 1996 2008
Tanzania Tanzania Joseph Sinde Warioba 1996 2008
Tunisia Tunisia Mohamed Mouldi Marsit 1996 2005
Austria Austria Helmut Türk 2005 2014
Grenada Grenada L. Dolliver M. Nelson 1996 2014
Germany Germany Rüdiger Wolfrum 1996 2017

Cases

No. Name Applicant Respondent Case began Case ended Disposition
1 The M/V "Saiga" Case  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  Guinea 13 November 1997 4 December 1997 Judgment on prompt release
2 The M/V "Saiga" (No. 2) Case  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  Guinea 13 January 1998 1 July 1999 Judgment on merits
3 Southern Bluefin Tuna Cases  New Zealand  Japan 30 July 1999 27 August 1999 Order on provisional measures
4  Australia
5 The "Camouco" Case  Panama  France 17 January 2000 7 February 2000 Judgment on prompt release
6 The "Monte Confurco" Case  Seychelles  France 27 November 2000 18 December 2000 Judgment on prompt release
7 Case concerning the Conservation and Sustainable Exploitation of Swordfish Stocks in the South-Eastern Pacific Ocean  Chile /  European Union[A] 19 December 2000 16 December 2009 Terminated at request of parties
8 The "Grand Prince" Case  Belize  France 21 March 2001 20 April 2001 Judgment on prompt release
9 The "Chaisiri Reefer 2" Case  Panama  Yemen 3 July 2001 13 July 2001 Terminated at request of parties
10 The MOX Plant Case  Ireland  United Kingdom 9 November 2001 3 December 2001 Order on provisional measures
11 The "Volga" Case  Russia  Australia 2 December 2002 23 December 2002 Judgment on prompt release
12 Case concerning Land Reclamation by Singapore in and Around the Straits of Johor  Malaysia  Singapore 5 September 2003 8 October 2003 Order on provisional measures
13 The "Juno Trader" Case  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  Guinea-Bissau 18 November 2004 18 December 2004 Judgment on prompt release
14 The "Hoshinmaru" Case  Japan  Russia 6 July 2007 6 August 2007 Judgment on prompt release
15 The "Tomimaru" Case  Japan  Russia 6 July 2007 6 August 2007 Judgment on prompt release
16 Dispute concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the Bay of Bengal  Bangladesh /  Myanmar 14 December 2009 14 March 2012 Judgment on merits
17 Responsibilities and Obligations of States Sponsoring Persons and Entities with Respect to Activities in the Area International Seabed Authority 14 May 2010 1 February 2011 Advisory opinion
18 The M/V "Louisa" Case  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  Spain 24 November 2010 28 May 2013 Judgment on merits
19 The M/V "Virginia G" Case  Panama /  Guinea-Bissau 4 July 2011 14 April 2014 Judgment on merits
20 The "ARA Libertad" Case  Argentina  Ghana 14 November 2012 15 December 2012 Order on provisional measures
21 Request for an Advisory Opinion submitted by the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC) Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission 28 March 2013 2 April 2015 Advisory opinion
22 The "Arctic Sunrise" Case  Netherlands  Russia 21 October 2013 22 November 2013 Order on provisional measures
23 Dispute concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire in the Atlantic Ocean  Ghana /  Ivory Coast 3 December 2014 23 September 2017 Judgment on merits
24 The "Enrica Lexie" Incident  Italy  India 21 July 2015 24 August 2015 Order on provisional measures
25 The M/V "Norstar" Case  Panama  Italy 17 December 2015 10 April 2019 Judgment on merits
26 Case concerning the Detention of Three Ukrainian Naval Vessels  Ukraine  Russia 16 April 2019 25 May 2019 Order on provisional measures
27 The M/T "San Padre Pio" Case   Switzerland  Nigeria 21 May 2019 6 July 2019 Order on provisional measures
28 Dispute concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Mauritius and Maldives in the Indian Ocean  Mauritius /  Maldives 24 September 2019 Ongoing
29 The M/T "San Padre Pio" (No. 2) Case   Switzerland /  Nigeria 17 December 2019 Ongoing
Notes
  1. ^ The European Union replaced and succeeded the European Community as a party to the case on 1 December 2009.

References

  1. ^ SM Mitchell; EJ Powell. "Forum Shopping for the Best Adjudicator: Conflict Management and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Itlos)" (PDF). APSA 2011 Annual Meeting Paper. American Political Science Association.
  2. ^ a b Groves, Steven (12 March 2012). "Accession to U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea Would Expose the U.S. to Baseless Climate Change Lawsuits". The Heritage Foundation. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012.
  3. ^ a b "Iran strikes in Strait of Hormuz as Middle East tanker tensions explode". Trade Winds. 22 July 2019.
  4. ^ García-Revillo, Miguel G. (2016). "3. International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS)". Yearbook of International Environmental Law. 27: 424–426. doi:10.1093/yiel/yvx077.
  5. ^ https://www.itlos.org/fileadmin/itlos/documents/press_releases_english/PR_293_en.pdf
Wikimedia Commons has media related to International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

53°33′04″N 9°51′03″E / 53.55111°N 9.85083°E / 53.55111; 9.85083

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=International_Tribunal_for_the_Law_of_the_Sea&oldid=958685204"