Male’, Maldives — The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea informed that the Special Chamber will be delivering its judgment on January 28 regarding the dispute between Maldives and Mauritius concerning the delimitation of the maritime boundary.
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea announced in a tweet that the Special Chamber will deliver its judgment on Thursday, 28 January 2021 regarding the dispute between Maldives and Mauritius.
The dispute between the Republic of Maldives and the South African country, Mauritius over delimitation of maritime boundaries has been ongoing since 2019. The two countries have lodged their complaints at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) as Mauritius claims that their territorial water is being overlapped with the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Maldives.
Maldives assertion is that the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) did not possess the jurisdiction to investigate the dispute concerning the delimitation of the maritime boundary between Mauritius and Maldives.
Earlier, questions were raised whether the dispute between Maldives and Mauritius is due to the UK-Mauritius dispute about Chagos Archipelago, the Attorney General of Maldives, Ibrahim Riffath clearly stated that the island nation does not wish to be a part of the dispute between Mauritius and UK.
It saddens me that Mauritius decided to settle the territorial disputed between UK and Mauritius by presenting the issues with Maldives to the tribunal. Maldives has been dragged into a matter that does not concern with it.
AG Riffath
The disputed area is between the southernmost atoll of Maldives, Addu City and the Chagos Archipelago approximately 500 kilometers from Addu City. Mauritius claiming the Chagos Archipelago could result in a potential reduction in the Maldives EEZ.
