Legal Journals

ICJ Settles Black Sea Border Dispute

By sdoyle

The International Court of Justice resolved a dispute on Tuesday regarding a border in the Black Sea between Romania and Ukraine. The boundary has been disputed for the last 40 years, and there have been 24 rounds of failed negotiations between the two nations. The region was so highly contested because it is rich in natural resources, including an estimated 10 million tons of oil and billions of cubic meters of natural gas. Although the decision has been praised by both countries as a fair compromise, the ICJ did not mention in the final judgment how these valuable resources are to be divided.

In order to decide how to create the boundary, the Court first drew a provisional equidistant line.  It then looked for other factors including disproportion in the lengths of the coasts, any division already affected in the reason, the conduct of the parties (including fishing rights and natural resource rights) and security considerations. Finally, the Court verified that the new line would not lead to inequitable results for either party.

Both countries submitted arguments and maps showing how they thought the line should be drawn and submitted “base points” that they thought the line should follow. Ultimately, the ICJ largely discounted the arguments of both sides in drawing their final boundary. Romania was given a larger share of the disputed area, but Ukraine was given a large part of the northeast side of Romania’s original claim.

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Full post as published by Harvard International Law Journal Digest on February 06, 2009 (boomark / email).