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In re Chagos Marine Protected Area (Mauritius v. United Kingdom)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David A. Colson  and
Brian J. Vohrer
Brian J. Vohrer
Affiliation:
District of Columbia
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Extract

On March 18, 2015, an arbitral tribunal (Tribunal) constituted in accordance with Annex VII to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Convention) under the auspices of the Permanent Court of Arbitration handed down its award in a proceeding brought by Mauritius in 2010 challenging the United Kingdom’s establishment of a marine protected area (MPA) around the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, which are claimed by Mauritius. The Tribunal held that it did not have jurisdiction under the Convention to address whether the United Kingdom or Mauritius has the rights of a coastal state regarding the Chagos Islands. Nevertheless, the Tribunal also held that, in creating the MPA by unilateral declaration, the United Kingdom had failed to take into account certain legitimate interests of Mauritius and had thereby breached its obligations under Articles 2(3), 56(2), and 194(4) of the Convention.

Keywords

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seamarine protected arearights of coastal statesjurisdictionterritorial disputes vs. maritime issuesprotection of living resources vs. environmental matters
Type
International Decisions
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 109 , Issue 4 , October 2015 , pp. 845 - 851
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 2015

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References

1 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, opened for signature Dec. 10, 1982, 1833 UNTS 397, available at http://www.un.org/depts/los/.

2 In re Chagos Marine Protected Area (Mauritius v. Uk), PCA Case No. 2011-3 (Unclosannex VII Arb. Trib. Mar. 18, 2015), at http://www.pca-cpa.org [hereinafter Award]. The Tribunal was composed of the following members: Ivan Shearer (president), Christopher Greenwood, Albert Hoffmann, James Kateka, and Rüdiger Wolfrum.

3 E.g., Republic of the Philippines v. People’s Republic of China, PCA Case No. 2013-19 (unclos Annex VII Arb. Trib. filed Jan. 22, 2013), at http://www.pca-cpa.org.

4 See Award, para. 77, where the Tribunal quotes in full the final record of a meeting held at Lancaster House on September 23, 1965. Points (i)–(viii) of paragraph 22 of that record are what the Tribunal refers to as the Lancaster House Undertakings.

5 The parties agreed that neither the automatic exceptions to jurisdiction set forth in Article 297 nor those provided for in Article 298 were applicable to the questions posed by the first and second submissions. Award, para. 206.

6 The Tribunal did not rule out that in some cases there might be minor issues of territorial sovereignty ancillary to a dispute concerning the interpretation or application of the Convention that would not preclude jurisdiction under Part XV. Thus, the award does not seem to contradict the Guyana-Suriname award, which dealt with a land boundary issue in the context of determining the starting point of the maritime boundary. Guyana v. Suriname (UNCLOS Annex VII Arb. Trib. Sept. 17, 2007), at http://www.pca-cpa.org.

7 Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 Relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, opened for signature Dec. 4, 1995, S. Treaty Doc. No. 104-24 (1996), 2167 UNTS 3, available at http://www.un.org/depts/los/.

8 Award, Dissenting and Concurring Opinion: Judge James Kateka and Judge Rüdiger Wolfrum.

9 Id., para. 45.

10 See U.S. Embassy London, HMG Floats Proposal for Marine Reserve Covering (May 15, 2009), at http://www.theguardian.com/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/207149.