INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO PERMANENT COURT OF ARBITRATION (PCA): IN THE MATTER OF AN ARBITRATION BETWEEN: BARBADOS AND THE REPUBLIC OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

摘要

On 11 April 2006, an arbitral tribunal constituted pursuant to Part XV of the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention handed down its Award in the matter of the maritime boundary between Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. Barbados unilaterally initiated dispute settlement proceedings under the Convention on 16 February 2004. The arbitral tribunal, constituted in accordance with Annex VII of the Convention, was formed of the following members: Judge Stephen M. Schwebel, as President; Mr. Ian Brownlie CBE, QC; Professor Vaughan Lowe; Professor Francisco Orrego Vicuna; and Sir Arthur Watts KCMG, QC. This decision represents the first maritime boundary established under the compulsory dispute settlement mechanism provided by the Convention. Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago are small island nations and members of the Caribbean Community and Common Market ("CARICOM"). At the closest point, Barbados lies about 116 nautical miles northeast of Tobago. Any maritime boundary must necessarily divide the waters that lie between the opposite coasts of the two countries and extend, on the one hand, westward where it will meet the maritime jurisdiction claimed by a third state (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), and on the other hand, eastward into the Atlantic Ocean. In the years preceding the initiation of Annex VII proceedings, the parties conducted several unsuccessful rounds of maritime boundary and fisheries negotiations. Fishery issues were a key concern of Barbados, and both countries had an interest in resolving the boundary in a favorable way to provide certainty for oil and gas exploration and exploitation.