Last week, on September 17, the arbitral tribunal constituted pursuant to Article 287 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea rendered its award in the Guyana/Suriname arbitration concerning the delimitation of Guyana’s maritime boundary with Suriname. The members of the tribunal were: Dolliver Nelson (President), Thomas Franck, Hans Smit, Ivan Shearer, and Kamal Hossain. The Permanent Court of Arbitration's press release, dated September 20, is here. An excerpt:The boundary for the most part follows the equidistance line between Guyana and Suriname. However, in the territorial sea, the boundary follows a N10°E line from the starting point to the three nautical mile limit, and then a diagonal line, from the intersection of the N10°E line and the three nautical mile limit, to the intersection of the twelve nautical mile limit and the equidistance line.
The Arbitral Tribunal describes the boundary in the territorial sea as follows:
The delimitation line commences at Point 1, being the intersection of the low water line of the west bank of the Corentyne River and the geodesic line of N10°E which passes through Marker "B" established in 1936. . . . The Tribunal holds that the 10° Line is established between the Parties from the starting point to the 3 nm limit. [Thereafter,] the Tribunal arrives at a line continuing from the seaward terminus of the N10°E line at 3 nm, and drawn diagonally by the shortest distance to meet the line adopted . . . to delimit the Parties' continental shelf and exclusive economic zone.
The line adopted by the Tribunal to delimit the Parties' continental shelf and exclusive economic zone follows an unadjusted equidistance line.
The Arbitral Tribunal additionally held that both Guyana and Suriname violated their obligations under the 1982 Convention to make every effort to enter into provisional arrangements of a practical nature and not to hamper or jeopardize the reaching of a final agreement. Moreover, Suriname was found to have acted unlawfully when it expelled a drilling rig licensed by Guyana from the disputed area.
