International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea facts for kids

Quick facts for kids International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea Tribunal international du droit de la mer  (French)
Official logo
Seat	Hamburg, Germany
Working languages	English French
Judges from	21 nations
Leaders
• President	Judge Albert Hoffmann
• Vice President	Judge Tomas Heidar
Establishment
• UNCLOS adopted	10 December 1982
• UNCLOS in force	16 November 1994

ITLOS seen from Elbchaussee, close to the River Elbe

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) is an intergovernmental organization created by the mandate of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. It was established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, signed at Montego Bay, Jamaica, on December 10, 1982. The Convention entered into force on November 16, 1994, and established an international framework for law over all ocean space, its uses and resources. The ITLOS is one of four dispute resolution mechanisms listed in Article 287 of the UNCLOS. Although the Tribunal was established by a United Nations convention, it is not an "organ" of the United Nations. Even so, it maintains close links with the United Nations and in 1997 the Tribunal concluded an Agreement on Cooperation and Relationship between the United Nations and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, which establishes a mechanism for cooperation between the two institutions.

The Tribunal is based in Hamburg, Germany. The Convention also established the International Seabed Authority, with responsibility for the regulation of seabed mining beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, that is beyond the limits of the territorial sea, the contiguous zone and the continental shelf. There are currently 168 signatories, 167 states plus the European Union. As of December 2022^[update], holdouts included the United States and Iran.

Composition

According to its founding statute, the Tribunal has a set of 21 judges who serve from a variety of states parties, "according to a method that intends to assure an equitable geographical representation".

At the request of Chile and the European Union, the Tribunal set up a special chamber composed of five judges to deal with the Case concerning the Conservation and Sustainable Exploitation of Swordfish Stocks in the South-Eastern Pacific Ocean (Chile/European Community).

By agreement of the parties Ghana and Ivory Coast, the Tribunal formed a special chamber composed of five judges to deal with the Dispute concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire in the Atlantic Ocean (Ghana/Côte d'Ivoire).

By agreement of the parties Mauritius and Maldives, the Tribunal formed a special chamber of seven permanent judges and two ad hoc judges to deal with the Dispute concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Mauritius and Maldives in the Indian Ocean (Mauritius/Maldives).

Seats

Disputes referred to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea or one of its chambers can be heard in Germany or in Singapore.

Current judges

Judges of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea

Country	Name	Inauguration	President	Vice president
Cape Verde	José Luís Jesus	1999	2008–2011
Poland	Stanisław Pawlak	2005
Japan	Shunji Yanai	2005	2011–2014
Tanzania	James Kateka	2005
South Africa	Albert J. Hoffmann	2005	2020–present	2011–2014
Algeria	Boualem Bouguetaia	2008		2014–2017
South Korea	Paik Jin-hyun	2009	2017–2020
Malta	David Attard	2011		2017–2020
Ukraine	Markiyan Kulyk	2011
Mexico	Alonso Gómez-Robledo	2014
Iceland	Tomas Heiðar	2014		2020–present
Paraguay	Óscar Cabello Sarubbi	2017
India	Neeru Chadha	2017
Thailand	Kriangsak Kittichaisaree	2017
Russia	Roman Kolodkin	2017
Netherlands	Liesbeth Lijnzaad	2017
Chile	María Teresa Infante Caffi	2020
Jamaica	Kathy-Ann Brown	2020
Italy	Ida Caracciolo	2020
Cameroon	Maurice Kamga	2020
China	Duan Jielong	2020

Former judges

Former judges of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea

Country	Name	Inauguration	Until
Bulgaria	Alexander Yankov	1996	2011
Russia	Anatoly Kolodkin	1996	2008
Brazil	Antonio Cachapuz de Medeiros	2016	2016
Croatia	Budislav Vukas	1996	2005
South Korea	Choon-ho Park	1996	2008
France	Jean-Pierre Cot	2002	2020
United Kingdom	David Heywood Anderson	1996	2005
Grenada	Dolliver Nelson	1996	2014
Belize	Edward Arthur Laing	1996	2001
China	Gao Zhiguo	2008	2020
China	Xu Guangjian	2001	2007
Iceland	Guðmundur Eiríksson	1996	2002
Austria	Helmut Türk	2005	2014
Argentina	Hugo Caminos	1996	2011
Lebanon	Joseph Akl	1996	2017
Tanzania	Joseph Warioba	1996	2008
Argentina	Elsa Kelly	2011	2020
Trinidad and Tobago	Lennox Fitzroy Ballah	2002	2003
Senegal	Tafsir Malick Ndiaye	1996	2020
China	Zhao Lihai	1996	2000
Trinidad and Tobago	Anthony Lucky	2003	2020
Cameroon	Paul Engo	1996	2008
India	P. Chandrasekhara Rao	1996	2017
Germany	Rüdiger Wolfrum	1996	2017
Japan	Soji Yamamoto	1996	2005
Ghana	Thomas Mensah	1996	2005
Italy	Tullio Treves	1996	2011
Brazil	Vicente Marotta Rangel	1996	2015
Russia	Vladimir Golitsyn	2008	2017

Cases

Cases of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea

Name	Applicant	Respondent	Case began	Case ended	Disposition
The M/V "Saiga" Case	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Guinea	13 November 1997	4 December 1997	Judgment on prompt release
The M/V "Saiga" (No. 2) Case	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Guinea	13 January 1998	1 July 1999	Judgment on merits
Southern Bluefin Tuna Cases	New Zealand	Japan	30 July 1999	27 August 1999	Order on provisional measures
	Australia
The "Camouco" Case	Panama	France	17 January 2000	7 February 2000	Judgment on prompt release
The "Monte Confurco" Case	Seychelles	France	27 November 2000	18 December 2000	Judgment on prompt release
Case concerning the Conservation and Sustainable Exploitation of Swordfish Stocks in the South-Eastern Pacific Ocean	Chile /  European Union		19 December 2000	16 December 2009	Terminated at request of parties
The "Grand Prince" Case	Belize	France	21 March 2001	20 April 2001	Judgment on prompt release
The "Chaisiri Reefer 2" Case	Panama	Yemen	3 July 2001	13 July 2001	Terminated at request of parties
The MOX Plant Case	Ireland	United Kingdom	9 November 2001	3 December 2001	Order on provisional measures
The "Volga" Case	Russia	Australia	2 December 2002	23 December 2002	Judgment on prompt release
Case concerning Land Reclamation by Singapore in and Around the Straits of Johor	Malaysia	Singapore	5 September 2003	8 October 2003	Order on provisional measures
The "Juno Trader" Case	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Guinea-Bissau	18 November 2004	18 December 2004	Judgment on prompt release
The "Hoshinmaru" Case	Japan	Russia	6 July 2007	6 August 2007	Judgment on prompt release
The "Tomimaru" Case	Japan	Russia	6 July 2007	6 August 2007	Judgment on prompt release
Dispute concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the Bay of Bengal	Bangladesh /  Myanmar		14 December 2009	14 March 2012	Judgment on merits
Responsibilities and Obligations of States Sponsoring Persons and Entities with Respect to Activities in the Area	International Seabed Authority		14 May 2010	1 February 2011	Advisory opinion
The M/V "Louisa" Case	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Spain	24 November 2010	28 May 2013	Judgment on merits
The M/V "Virginia G" Case	Panama /  Guinea-Bissau		4 July 2011	14 April 2014	Judgment on merits
The "ARA Libertad" Case	Argentina	Ghana	14 November 2012	15 December 2012	Order on provisional measures
Request for an Advisory Opinion submitted by the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC)	Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission		28 March 2013	2 April 2015	Advisory opinion
The "Arctic Sunrise" Case	Netherlands	Russia	21 October 2013	22 November 2013	Order on provisional measures
Dispute concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire in the Atlantic Ocean	Ghana /  Ivory Coast		3 December 2014	23 September 2017	Judgment on merits
The "Enrica Lexie" Incident	Italy	India	21 July 2015	24 August 2015	Order on provisional measures
The M/V "Norstar" Case	Panama	Italy	17 December 2015	10 April 2019	Judgment on merits
Case concerning the Detention of Three Ukrainian Naval Vessels	Ukraine	Russia	16 April 2019	25 May 2019	Order on provisional measures
The M/T "San Padre Pio" Case	Switzerland	Nigeria	21 May 2019	6 July 2019	Order on provisional measures
Dispute concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Mauritius and Maldives in the Indian Ocean	Mauritius /  Maldives		24 September 2019	Ongoing
The M/T "San Padre Pio" (No. 2) Case	Switzerland /  Nigeria		17 December 2019	29 December 2021	Terminated at request of parties
The M/T "Heroic Idun" Case	Marshall Islands	Equatorial Guinea	10 November 2022	15 November 2022	Terminated at request of applicant
Request for an Advisory Opinion submitted by the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law	Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law		12 December 2022	Ongoing