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II. Substantive International Law - Second Part
2. LAW OF THE SEA
2.2. Determination of Maritime Boundaries

¤ Case Concerning the Land and Maritime
Boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria
(Cameroon v. Nigeria: Equatorial Guinea Intervening)
Judgment of 10 October 2002

[pp. ] 244. The Court noted in its Judgment of 11 June 1998 (I.C.J. Reports 1998, p. 321, para. 107 and p. 322, para. 110) that negotiations between the Governments of Cameroon and Nigeria concerning the entire maritime delimitation up to point G and beyond were conducted as far back as the 1970s. These negotiations did not lead to an agreement. However, Articles 74 and 83 of the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention do not require that delimitation negotiations should be successful; like all similar obligations to negotiate in international law, the negotiations have to be conducted in good faith. The Court reaffirms its finding in regard to the preliminary objections that negotiations have indeed taken place. Moreover, if, following unsuccessful negotiations, judicial proceedings are instituted and one of the parties then alters its claim, Articles 74 and 83 of the Law of the Sea Convention would not require that the proceedings be suspended while new negotiations were conducted. It is of course true that the Court is not a negotiating forum. In such a situation, however, the new claim would have to be dealt with exclusively by judicial means. Any other solution would lead to delays and complications in the process of delimitation of continental shelves and exclusive economic zones. The Law of the Sea Convention does not require such a suspension of the proceedings.

245. As to negotiations with Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tome and Principe, the Court does not find that it follows from Articles 74 and 83 of the Law of the Sea Convention that the drawing of the maritime boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria presupposes that simultaneous negotiations between all four States involved have taken place.

The Court is therefore in a position to proceed to the delimitation of the maritime boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria in so far as the rights of Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tome and Principe are not affected.

[pp. ] 288. The Court has on various occasions made it clear what the applicable criteria, principles and rules of delimitation are when a line covering several zones of coincident jurisdictions is to be determined. They are expressed in the so-called equitable principles/relevant circumstances method. This method, which is very similar to the equidistance/special circumstances method applicable in delimitation of the territorial sea, involves first drawing an equidistance line, then considering whether there are factors calling for the adjustment or shifting of that line in order to achieve an “equitable result”.

289. Thus, in the case concerning Maritime Delimitation in the Area between Greenland and Jan Mayen (Denmark v. Norway), the Court, which had been asked to draw a single maritime boundary, took the view, with regard to delimitation of the continental shelf, that

“even if it were appropriate to apply . . . customary law concerning the continental shelf as developed in the decided cases, it is in accord with precedents to begin with the median line as a provisional line and then to ask whether ‘special circumstances’ require any adjustment or shifting of that line” (I.C.J. Reports 1993, Judgment, p. 61, para. 51).

In seeking to ascertain whether there were in that case factors which should cause it to adjust or shift the median line in order to achieve an “equitable result”, the Court stated:

“[i]t is thus apparent that special circumstances are those circumstances which might modify the result produced by an unqualified application of the equidistance principle. General international law, as it has developed through the case-law of the Court and arbitral jurisprudence, and through the work of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, has employed the concept of ‘relevant circumstances’. This concept can be described as a fact necessary to be taken into account in the delimitation process.” (Ibid., p. 62, para. 55.)

In the case concerning Maritime Delimitation and Territorial Questions between Qatar and Bahrain (Qatar v. Bahrain) the Court further stated that

“[f]or the delimitation of the maritime zones beyond the 12-mile zone it [would] first provisionally draw an equidistance line and then consider whether there [were] circumstances which must lead to an adjustment of that line” (I.C.J. Reports 2001, para. 230).

290. The Court will apply the same method in the present case.

Before it can draw an equidistance line and consider whether there are relevant circumstances that might make it necessary to adjust that line, the Court must, however, define the relevant coastlines of the Parties by reference to which the location of the base points to be used in the construction of the equidistance line will be determined.

As the Court made clear in its Judgment in the case concerning Maritime Delimitation and Territorial Questions between Qatar and Bahrain (Qatar v. Bahrain),

“[t]he equidistance line is the line every point of which is equidistant from the nearest points on the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial seas of each of the two States is measured.” (I.C.J. Reports 2001, para. 177.)

291. In the present case the Court cannot accept Cameroon’s contention, on the one hand, that account should be taken of the coastline of the Gulf of Guinea from Akasso (Nigeria) to Cap Lopez (Gabon) in order to delimit Cameroon’s maritime boundary with Nigeria, and, on the other, that no account should be taken of the greater part of the coastline of Bioko Island. First, the maritime boundary between Cameroon and Nigeria can only be determined by reference to points on the coastlines of these two States and not of third States. Secondly, the presence of Bioko makes itself felt from Debundsha, at the point where the Cameroon coast turns south-south-east. Bioko is not an island belonging to either of the two Parties. It is a constituent part of a third State, Equatorial Guinea. North and east of Bioko the maritime rights of Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea have not yet been determined. The part of the Cameroon coastline beyond Debundsha Point faces Bioko. It cannot therefore be treated as facing Nigeria so as to be relevant to the maritime delimitation between Cameroon and Nigeria (see below, p. 137, sketch-map No. 11).

292. Once the base points have been established in accordance with the above-mentioned principles laid down by the Court in the case concerning Maritime Delimitation and Territorial Questions between Qatar and Bahrain (Qatar v. Bahrain), it will be possible to determine the equidistance line between the relevant coastlines of the two States. As the Court has already had occasion to explain, this equidistance line cannot be extended beyond a point where it might affect rights of Equatorial Guinea. This limitation on the length of the equidistance line is unavoidable, whatever the base points used. In the present case the Court has determined that the land-based anchorage points to be used in the construction of the equidistance line are West Point and East Point, as determined on the 1994 edition of British Admiralty Chart 3433. These two points, situated respectively at 8° 16’ 38” longitude east and 4° 31’ 59” latitude north and 8° 30’ 14” longitude east and 4° 30’ 06” latitude north, correspond to the most southerly points on the low-water line for Nigeria and Cameroon to either side of the bay formed by the estuaries of the Akwayafe and Cross Rivers. Given the configuration of the coastlines and the limited area within which the Court has jurisdiction to effect the delimitation, no other base point was necessary for the Court in order to undertake this operation.

[pp. ] 293. The Court will now consider whether there are circumstances that might make it necessary to adjust this equidistance line in order to achieve an equitable result.

As the Court stated in the Continental Shelf (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya/Malta) case:

“the equidistance method is not the only method applicable to the present dispute, and it does not even have the benefit of a presumption in its favour. Thus, under existing law, it must be demonstrated that the equidistance method leads to an equitable result in the case in question.” (I.C.J. Reports 1985, p. 47, para. 63.)

294. The Court is bound to stress in this connection that delimiting with a concern to achieving an equitable result, as required by current international law, is not the same as delimiting in equity. The Court’s jurisprudence shows that, in disputes relating to maritime delimitation, equity is not a method of delimitation, but solely an aim that should be borne in mind in effecting the delimitation.

295. The geographical configuration of the maritime areas that the Court is called upon to delimit is a given. It is not an element open to modification by the Court but a fact on the basis of which the Court must effect the delimitation. As the Court had occasion to state in the North Sea Continental Shelf cases, “[e]quity does not necessarily imply equality”, and in a delimitation exercise “[t]here can never be any question of completely refashioning nature” (I.C.J. Reports 1969, p. 49, para. 91). Although certain geographical peculiarities of maritime areas to be delimited may be taken into account by the Court, this is solely as relevant circumstances, for the purpose, if necessary, of adjusting or shifting the provisional delimitation line. Here again, as the Court decided in the North Sea Continental Shelf cases, the Court is not required to take all such geographical peculiarities into account in order to adjust or shift the provisional delimitation line:

“[i]t is therefore not a question of totally refashioning geography whatever the facts of the situation but, given a geographical situation of quasi-equality as between a number of States, of abating the effects of an incidental special feature from which an unjustifiable difference of treatment could result” (I.C.J. Reports 1969, p. 50, para. 91).

296. Cameroon contends that the concavity of the Gulf of Guinea in general, and of Cameroon’s coastline in particular, creates a virtual enclavement of Cameroon, which constitutes a special circumstance to be taken into account in the delimitation process.

Nigeria argues that it is not for the Court to compensate Cameroon for any disadvantages suffered by it as a direct consequence of the geography of the area. It stresses that it is not the purpose of international law to refashion geography.

297. The Court does not deny that the concavity of the coastline may be a circumstance relevant to delimitation, as it was held it to be by the Court in the North Sea Continental Shelf cases and as was also so held by the Arbitral Tribunal in the case concerning the Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Guinea and Guinea-Bissau, decisions on which Cameroon relies. Nevertheless the Court stresses that this can only be the case when such concavity lies within the area to be delimited. Thus, in the Guinea/Guinea-Bissau case, the Arbitral Tribunal did not address the disadvantage resulting from the concavity of the coast from a general viewpoint, but solely in connection with the precise course of the delimitation line between Guinea and Guinea-Bissau (ILM, Vol. 25 (1986), p. 295, para. 104). In the present case the Court has already determined that the coastlines relevant to delimitation between Cameroon and Nigeria do not include all of the coastlines of the two States within the Gulf of Guinea. The Court notes that the sectors of coastline relevant to the present delimitation exhibit no particular concavity. Thus the concavity of Cameroon’s coastline is apparent primarily in the sector where it faces Bioko.

Consequently the Court does not consider that the configuration of the coastlines relevant to the delimitation represents a circumstance that would justify shifting the equidistance line as Cameroon requests.

[pp. ] 298. Cameroon further contends that the presence of Bioko Island constitutes a relevant circumstance which should be taken into account by the Court for purposes of the delimitation. It argues that Bioko Island substantially reduces the seaward projection of Cameroon’s coastline. Here again Nigeria takes the view that it is not for the Court to compensate Cameroon for any disadvantages suffered by it as a direct consequence of the geography of the area.

299. The Court accepts that islands have sometimes been taken into account as a relevant circumstance in delimitation when such islands lay within the zone to be delimited and fell under the sovereignty of one of the parties. This occurred in particular in the case concerning the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the French Republic (RIAA, Vol. XVIII, p. 3), on which Cameroon relies. However, in that case, contrary to what Cameroon contends, the Court of Arbitration sought to draw a delimitation line and not to provide equitable compensation for a natural inequality.

In the present case Bioko Island is subject to the sovereignty of Equatorial Guinea, a State which is not a party to the proceedings. Consequently the effect of Bioko Island on the seaward projection of the Cameroonian coastal front is an issue between Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea and not between Cameroon and Nigeria, and is not relevant to the issue of delimitation before the Court. The Court does not therefore regard the presence of Bioko Island as a circumstance that would justify the shifting of the equidistance line as Cameroon claims.

[pp. ] 300. Lastly, Cameroon invokes the disparity between the length of its coastline and that of Nigeria in the Gulf of Guinea as a relevant circumstance that justifies shifting the delimitation line towards the north-west.

For its part, Nigeria considers that Cameroon fails to respect the criteria of proportionality of coastline length, which would operate rather in Nigeria’s favour.

301. The Court acknowledges, as it noted in the cases concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary in the Gulf of Maine Area (Canada/United States of America) (I.C.J. Reports 1984, p. 336, paras. 221-222) and Maritime Delimitation in the Area between Greenland and Jan Mayen (Denmark v. Norway) (I.C.J. Reports 1993, p. 34, para. 68), that a substantial difference in the lengths of the parties’ respective coastlines may be a factor to be taken into consideration in order to adjust or shift the provisional delimitation line. The Court notes that in the present case, whichever coastline of Nigeria is regarded as relevant, the relevant coastline of Cameroon, as described in paragraph 291, is not longer than that of Nigeria. There is therefore no reason to shift the equidistance line in favour of Cameroon on this ground.

[pp. ] 302. Before ruling on the delimitation line between Cameroon and Nigeria, the Court must still address the question raised by Nigeria whether the oil practice of the Parties provides helpful indications for purposes of the delimitation of their respective maritime areas.

303. Thus Nigeria contends that State practice with regard to oil concessions is a decisive factor in the establishment of maritime boundaries. In particular it takes the view that the Court cannot, through maritime delimitation, redistribute such oil concessions between the States party to the delimitation.

Cameroon, for its part, maintains that the existence of oil concessions has never been accorded particular significance in matters of maritime delimitation in international law.

304. Both the Court and arbitral tribunals have had occasion to deal with the role of oil practice in maritime delimitation disputes. In the case concerning the Continental Shelf (Tunisia/Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) (I.C.J. Reports 1982, p. 18), the Court examined for the first time the question of the significance of oil concessions for maritime delimitation. On that occasion the Court did not take into consideration “the direct northward line asserted as boundary of the Libyan petroleum zones” (I.C.J. Reports 1982, p. 83, para. 117), because that line had “been found ... to be wanting in those respects [that would have made it opposable] to the other Party” (ibid.); however, the Court found that close to the coasts the concessions of the parties showed and confirmed the existence of a modus vivendi (ibid., p. 84, para. 119). In the case concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary in the Gulf of Maine Area (Canada/United States of America) the Chamber of the Court underlined the importance of those findings when it stressed that in that case there did not exist any modus vivendi (I.C.J. Reports 1984, pp. 310-311, paras. 149-152). In that case the Chamber considered that, notwithstanding the alleged coincidence of the American and Canadian oil concessions, the situation was totally different from the Tunisia/Libya case. In the case concerning the Continental Shelf (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya/Malta (I.C.J. Reports 1985, p. 13) the Court considered that the indications given by the parties could not be viewed as evidence of acquiescence (ibid., pp. 28-29, paras. 24-25). As to arbitration, the Arbitral Tribunal in the Guinea/Guinea Bissau case declined to take into consideration an oil concession granted by Portugal (ILM, Vol. 25 (1986), p. 281, para. 63). The Arbitral Tribunal in the case concerning Delimitation of Maritime Areas between Canada and the French Republic (St. Pierre et Miquelon) accorded no importance to the oil concessions granted by the parties (ILM, Vol. 31 (1992), pp. 1174-1175, paras. 89-91). Overall, it follows from the jurisprudence that, although the existence of an express or tacit agreement between the parties on the siting of their respective oil concessions may indicate a consensus on the maritime areas to which they are entitled, oil concessions and oil wells are not in themselves to be considered as relevant circumstances justifying the adjustment or shifting of the provisional delimitation line. Only if they are based on express or tacit agreement between the parties may they be taken into account. In the present case there is no agreement between the Parties regarding oil concessions.

The Court is therefore of the opinion that the oil practice of the Parties is not a factor to be taken into account in the maritime delimitation in the present case.

[pp. Decl. Oda] 24. Cameroon’s obvious error in unilaterally submitting to the Court the issue of the maritime boundary in the “outer sea” as the object of a “legal dispute” merits further examination. Unlike land boundaries (including that of the territorial sea), which relate essentially to the question of territorial sovereignty, the boundary of the continental shelf in the “outer sea”, not being the subject of a legal dispute, cannot, in principle, be determined simply by applying a legal rule or principle. No legal rule or principle mandates recognition of a given line as the only one acceptable under international law. The concrete boundary line may be chosen by negotiation from among the infinite number of possibilities falling within the bounds of equity. This is the view I propounded, after an extensive analysis of the issues and the travaux préparatoires, in my separate opinion appended to the Court’s Judgment in the case concerning Maritime Delimitation in the Area between Greenland and Jan Mayen (I.C.J. Reports 1993, p. 109).

25. Article 6 of the 1958 Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf provides “the boundary of the continental shelf . . . shall be determined by agreement between [the parties].” It is important to note that even at the time of its adoption, this rule was fundamentally different from that applicable to the territorial sea, where recourse to the median line is the governing principle1 (1958 Geneva Convention on the Territorial Sea, Art. 12). The basic principle that the continental shelf boundary should be agreed upon by negotiation was carried over into the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Art. 83).

26. It is certainly true that a provision simply stating that the boundary should be agreed upon by negotiation does not identify any precise boundary line and, in fact, the outcome of negotiations concerning the continental shelf boundary is dictated by the relative bargaining power of the parties. But the 1958 Convention did offer a guiding principle where negotiations fail: “[i]n the absence of agreement, and unless another boundary line is justified by special circumstances, the boundary is the median line [in the case of opposite coasts]” and “the boundary shall be determined by application of the principle of equidistance [in the case of adjacent coasts]” (Art. 6, paras. 1 and 2). This so-called “equidistance (median) line + special circumstances” rule could have been applied in various ways aiming at an “equitable solution”.

27. Having realized that this provision did not lay down any objective criteria for drawing the boundary, the drafters of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea attempted to formulate such criteria but, after much effort over several years, could do no better than come to the compromise solution now found in the 1982 Convention:

“1. The delimitation of the continental shelf . . . shall be effected by agreement on the basis of international law . . . in order to achieve an equitable solution.

2. If no agreement can be reached within a reasonable period of time, the States concerned shall resort to the procedures provided for in Part XV [settlement of disputes].” (Art. 83.)

28. I am afraid that great misunderstanding prevails in academic circles regarding interpretation of these provisions. I must state, first, that the provisions of Article 83, paragraph 2, do not constitute a compromissory clause such as is referred to in Article 36, paragraph 1, of the Court’s Statute; secondly, the fact that boundary negotiations have failed does not in itself mean that a “(legal) dispute” has arisen; and, thirdly, the provisions of Article 83, paragraph 2, should not be interpreted as conferring compulsory jurisdiction on those institutions listed in Article 287 of Part XV. Notwithstanding the title of Section 2 (“Compulsory Procedures entailing Binding Decisions”) of Part XV of the 1982 Convention, it is clear that Section 2, when read in conjunction with Section 3 (“Limitations and Exceptions to Applicability of Section 2”), does not provide for such procedures in a boundary delimitation case referred to any of those institutions, including this Court.

1The comments below concerning the continental shelf apply in general to the exclusive zone as well.