MEETING OF EXPERTS ON MARITIME DELIMITATION HELD AT HEADQUARTERS FROM 7 TO 9 APRIL
Press Release
SEA/1613
MEETING OF EXPERTS ON MARITIME DELIMITATION HELD AT HEADQUARTERS FROM 7 TO 9 APRIL
19990422 (Delayed in transmission.)NEW YORK, 21 April (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) -- In its efforts to assist States in the implementation of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and to facilitate better understanding and consistent application of its provisions, the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea of the Office of Legal Affairs convened a meeting of experts on maritime delimitation from 7 to 9 April. The group considered the practical aspects of the delimitation process, including how to prepare for, and conduct negotiations on, maritime boundaries, to draft delimitation agreements, and to prepare possible submissions for third-party adjudication. The group also discussed other legal and scientific issues relating to delimitation. The background paper, which was the focus of the discussion, was prepared by the Division with the assistance of a consultant, Richard Meese of France.
The delimitation of maritime boundaries has always been an important and complex process. Over the past several years, it has gained increasing importance as a result of the entry into force of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the efforts of States to implement its provisions. Recent developments in technology, which allow exploitation of hydrocarbon resources at ever-greater ocean depths, an increase in the utilization of both living and non-living marine resources, and the rapid development of coastal areas, require the precise definition of maritime zones to allow the sustainable use and management of increasingly important oceanic resources.
The following experts attended the meeting in their personal capacities: Yutaka Arima (Japan), Takashi Ariyoshi (Japan), Chris Carleton (United Kingdom), Guadalupe Lopez Chavez (Mexico), Tertius de Wet (South Africa), Scott B. Edmonds (United States), Rolf Einar Fife (Norway), Gianpiero Francalanci (Italy), Zhiguo Gao (China), David H. Gray (Canada), Neil Guy of the International Hydrographic Organization, Deborah Blake Hamman (South Africa), Keith Highet (United States), José Luís Jesus (Cape Verde), Richard Meese (France), Djamchid Momtaz (Iran), Jean-François Pulvenis (Venezuela), Raymond Ranjeva of the International Court of Justice, Habib Slim (Tunisia),
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and Robert Smith (United States). The experts were either nominated or endorsed by their respective governments, or, in certain cases, were invited by the Division due to their extensive experience in either the preparation of maritime boundary agreements, or in resolving maritime boundary disputes.
The various aspects of the issues discussed during the meeting are being considered by the Division, with a view to preparing a study on the maritime delimitation process to be published as a United Nations document.
Previous studies have dealt with such matters as the establishment of baselines from which the limits of the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf of States are measured; the regime for marine scientific research in areas under national jurisdiction; the regime for high seas fisheries; and the definition of the continental shelf. Those studies were also prepared with the assistance of a representative group of experts who are specialists in the topic under consideration.
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