British Overseas Territories: Seas and Oceans

(asked on 27th May 2021) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, which maritime boundary or rights disputes the UK and its Overseas Territories have engaged in directly or indirectly in the last five years; and what the status is of each of those disputes.


Answered by
Nigel Adams Portrait
Nigel Adams
This question was answered on 12th July 2021

We are not aware of any maritime boundary or rights disputes the UK or its Overseas Territories have engaged directly or indirectly in the last five years aside from the UK’s commitment to working with Mauritius to explore all aspects of its interests in relation to the British Indian Ocean Territory’s (BIOT) Marine Protected Area (MPA) and implementation of the 2015 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) Arbitral Award. The Government is aware of the judgment of 28 January by the Special Chamber of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) formed to deal with a dispute concerning delimitation of a maritime boundary claimed by Mauritius to exist between Mauritius and Maldives in the Indian Ocean. The UK is not a party to these proceedings, which can have no effect for the UK or for maritime delimitation between the United Kingdom (in respect of BIOT) and the Republic of the Maldives.

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