Maritime Disputes with Myanmar

Dhaka sends documents to int'l court to end disputes

30 June 2010, 18:00 PM

Rezaul Karim

Bangladesh has sent necessary documents to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) for settlement of maritime disputes in the Bay of Bengal with Myanmar. "We have sent the memorial to the Hamburg-based ITLOS as the deadline for submission is July 1," a foreign ministry high-up said yesterday, preferring anonymity. Myanmar is due to submit its counter-memorial by December 1, 2010. The official said Bangladesh made the claims on the basis of the "equity system". Bangladesh sought UN arbitration to settle maritime disputes with Myanmar and India in December 2009. Bangladesh and Myanmar will turn in reply and rejoinder by March 15 and July 1 next year. There will be 23 judges -- 21 from ITLOS and one each nominated by Bangladesh and Myanmar -- during the hearing of Bangladesh's objection to Myanmar's claim. According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), any coastal country can have first 12 nautical miles from its baseline as territorial sea, 24 nautical miles as contiguous zone, and next adjoining 200 nautical miles as exclusive economic zone. International law says sea boundaries of the states opposite to each other will be delimited as per "equidistance" formula while those of adjacent states through "equitable sharing of the sea" principle. It is difficult in cases of Bangladesh, India, and Myanmar, as their coasts follow a curve creating overlap of territories. Bangladesh favours a principle based on equity, which creates an area of overlap, while India and Myanmar favours line-based equidistance system to get bigger maritime areas. Settlement of maritime disputes with Myanmar and India will take a long time because of their nature and complexity, said a source at the UNCLOS Wing.