South China sea dispute: Award on jurisdiction
By Moragodage Christopher Walter Pinto
The Award on jurisdiction recently issued by the Tribunal in the
claim brought by the Philippines against China pursuant to Part XV and
Annex ViI of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea shows the highest
level of scholarship and the dedication of the Members of the Tribunal,
and their assistants in producing a carefully reasoned and clearly
presented text.
Most impressive is the manner in which the Tribunal has sought to
clarify the issues and demonstrate that arguments, initially argued to
be rooted in claims of sovereignty over land territory, and delimitation
of over-lapping maritime entitlements, and thus excluded from the
Tribunal's jurisdiction by China's Declaration of 2006 under Article 298
of UNCLOS, were in fact merely disagreements concerning the meaning of
terms used to describe maritime features, and therefore to be within the
scope of the Tribunal's remit as disputes concerning the interpretation
and application of the Convention.
Moreover, notwithstanding China's resolute opposition to the
arbitration, the Tribunal meticulously considered China's arguments
published outside the arbitration and not directed to the Tribunal,
dealing with them in the Award even before setting out elements of the
Philippine claim against China as the State that initiated the
arbitration.
Arbitration
The Award also carefully examines other arguments by China against
the Philippine position, including, in particular, that the Philippines
had failed to abide by its undertaking given in the context of
conferences convened by ASEAN, that the Philippines would only seek
resolution of its disputes through negotiations with China or other
States directly concerned.
The Tribunal finds that the undertaking in question was a "political"
one, and was thus not one that was necessarily legally binding, and in
any event that it contained no express promise not to refer such
disputes for settlement by an independent third party.
Nor, in the opinion of the Tribunal, should the Philippines'
reference of its dispute with China to arbitration under Part XV of
UNCLOS be characterized as an abuse of legal process, a conclusion with
which most readers would agree.
Although the Tribunal has acted with care in the unusual
circumstances of this case, there are questions that need to be asked
regarding its decision to arbitrate the Philippine claim notwithstanding
the manifest and resolute opposition of China, which has been cast by
the Tribunal in the role of 'respondent' and repeatedly referred to as
one of the 'parties', despite China's rejection of the entire
proceeding.
A State's consent is essential to a tribunal's jurisdiction The
Permanent Court of International Justice declared in the Eastern Carelia
case
"It is well established in international law that no State can,
without its consent be compelled to submit its disputes with other
States either to mediation or to arbitration or to any other kind of
pacific settlement."
The International Court of Justice confirmed this rule in the
Interpretation of Peace Treaties case:
"The consent of States Parties to a dispute, is the basis of the
Court's jurisdiction in contentious cases". (ICJ Reports, 1950, p. 71.
See also Nottebaum case ICJ Reports, 1953 p. 122; Monetary Gold case,
ICJ Reports 1954, p. 32;Phosphates in Morocco case, PCIJ, Ser. A/B, No.
74, p. 24).
States Parties to a dispute come before the International Court of
Justice only if the parties to it agree to that process. Under Article
36 of the Statute of the Court, States may declare that they recognize
as "compulsory ipso facto and without special agreement", in relation to
any other State accepting the same obligation, the jurisdiction of the
Court in all legal disputes concerning certain specified subjects, (ICJ,
Article 36).
Of
some 195 Members of the Statute fo the ICJ, some 71 have made
declarations under Article 36, often subject to limitations of various
kinds. Some have made such declarations but have later withdrawn them
when they seemed unwarranted in the national political context.
Arbitration, itself a voluntary procedure, is only subject to rules
accepted by the parties to a dispute. Such rules may provide that in
situations of "default of appearance" by a party, the Tribunal may, at
the request of the other party to the dispute, decide to continue the
proceedings and make its award. Thus Article 9 of Annex VII of UNCLOS
entitled "Default of appearance" provides "If one of the parties to the
dispute does not appear before the tribunal or fails to present its
case, the other party may request the tribunal to continue the
proceedings and to make its award.
Absence of a party or failure of a party to defend its case shall not
constitute a bar to the proceedings. Before making its award, the
arbitral tribunal must satisfy itself not only that it has jurisdiction
over the dispute but also that the claim is well founded in fact and
law."
An arbitral tribunal may exercise the discretionary power granted to
it to "continue proceedings" in the event of "default of appearance" or
"absence" of either party to the dispute. But it may be necessary to
consider in greater depth the circumstance "failure to appear" when it
results, not from negligence or laxity, but from the fundamentally
different circumstance where the absence of a disputing state is caused
by publicly stated and manifest withholding of the vital element of
consent declared by the International Court of Justice to be the "basis
of the Court 's jurisdiction in contentious cases".
International Tribunal
Such circumstance is surely not to be treated a breach of procedural
rules of an arbitration merely as an instance of "Default of appearance"
in response to which a Tribunal may declare itself entitled to respond
by taking what might be considered "disciplinary action" to bridge the
consent gap in complying with the request of an understandably impatient
claimant State to "continue the proceedings". It is likely to be implied
in addition that the claimant State would offer to pay the entire
expenses of the Tribunal instead of only that share of the expenses
apportioned to it by the Tribunal if divided between the disputing
States in accordance with Article 7 of Annex VII - a situation which
could itself give rise to a variety of concerns.
The International Court of Justice has held that a non-appearing
State may nevertheless be treated as a party to proceedings (Nuclear
Tests, Australia v. France, Interim Protection, Order of 22 June 1973,
ICJ Reports 1973, p. 99); and in Military and Paramilitary Activities in
and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America) Merits,
Judgement ICJ Reports 1986, p. 14) declared that "A State which decides
not to appear must accept the consequences of its decision, the first of
which is that the case will continue without its participation; the
State which has chosen not to appear remains a party to the case, and is
bound by the eventual judgement in accordance with Article 59 of the
Statute".
Similar pronouncements by the Court in earlier cases, and more
recently by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (eg. in
the Arctic Sunrise case, Netherlands v. Russia) have emphasized that
non-participation by a State Party in any of the compulsory procedures
entailing binding decisions provided for in Section 2 of Part XV,
including arbitration, does not affect the jurisdiction of the court or
tribunal seized of the case.
It cannot be denied, however, that circumstances alter cases, and
that no court or tribunal has yet had to determine that a State Party to
a dispute that has taken an open and principled stand against the
assumption of jurisdiction and is not guilty of negligence or
deliberately lax behavior is nevertheless to be dealt with by issue of a
judgement against it in default, contrary to the basic principle
affirmed and re-affirmed by the International Court of Justice, that
"The consent of States parties to a dispute, is the basis of the Court's
jurisdiction in contentious cases."
In addition, it should be noted that UNCLOS in Section 3 of Part XV
(Settlement of Disputes) contains a quite specific condition protective
of the effect of a State Party's declaration under Article 298
"excepting" certain categories of dispute from the applicability of
Section 2 on compulsory procedures entailing binding decisions. Article
298 (2) gives the provision the appearance of a mirror image of Article
36 of the Statute of the ICJ.
Article 36 of the Statute of the ICJ offers an approach that would
enable a State to undertake, subject to conditions, including
reciprocity, the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court, UNCLOS offers
through Article 298 provisions which could be seen as a mirror image of
that approach: whereas Article 36 of the Statute of the ICJ invites
States, prior to any dispute arising, to recognize the compulsory
jurisdiction of the Court "*ipso facto* and without special agreement"
in all "legal disputes" as therein defined, *Section 2* (Compulsory
procedures entailing binding decisions) of Part XV of UNCLOS sets forth
the general rule that "any dispute concerning the interpretation or
application of this Convention shall, where no settlement has been
reached by recourse to *Section 1* [a list of dispute settlement
procedures], be submitted, at the request of any party to the dispute,
to the court or tribunal having jurisdiction under this section".
Special agreement
Whereas Article 36 of the ICJ Statute invites States at their option,
to declare that "they recognize as compulsory ipso facto and without
special agreement .... the jurisdiction of the Court", Section 3 of Part
XV of UNCLOS invites States to declare at their option, that they
EXCEPT, i.e. DO NOT ACCEPT any one or more of a list of categories of
disputes, as subject to "compulsory procedures entailing binding
decisions".
While a dispute not covered by a State's acceptance of compulsory
jurisdiction may only be brought before the ICJ by "special agreement"
between the States concerned, under UNCLOS a dispute "excepted" from the
operation of Section 2 of Part XV (Compulsory procedures entailing
binding decisions) may be subjected to those compulsory procedures only
if the "excepting" State were to *either* withdraw it declaration made
under Section 3, or *enter into an agreement to submit the dispute to
one or other of those procedures*
.. Did China withdraw its declaration made in 2006? Did China
conclude an agreement to submit to the Tribunal's jurisdiction? It
appears that no such "agreement to submit" was entered into with China
before that State was designated as a "Party" in the dispute before the
Tribunal administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and invited
to participate in an arbitral tribunal whose jurisdiction it had
publicly and repeatedly rejected, and from which more importantly, it
had deliberately withheld its consent to jurisdiction. The issues thus
arising give rise to concern.
Guided negotiation
It may be useful for those State which do not always favour
adversarial approaches to dispute resolution, to develop ways and means
of establishing dispute-settlement procedures more nuanced and able to
attract the consent of States more generally. Article 298 of UNCLOS in
its paragraph 1 itself offers the option of submitting agreed types of
disputes concerning the interpretation or application of specific
articles of the Convention to *conciliation under Anne V*. If
negotiations between States aimed at resolving a maritime dispute
encounter situations that seriously impede progress and undermine
confidence in the steps being followed, a procedure of what might be
termed "guided negotiation" might be considered whereby the parties
agree that jurists of their choice assist the disputing States in their
search for equitable and viable solutions. Under such a procedure, no
"decision" would be contemplated, only advice that could guide the
disputants in reaching agreed solutions.
Dispute resolution which commences with the aim of bringing parties
together, and only when that is not practical becomes an "arbitral
process", has been practiced in east Asia for centuries, and might be
studied with a view to more general adoption. The Permanent Court of
Arbitration, which has been most active in developing procedural rules
for adoption in different types of arbitration, could undertake, or be
given a mandate to develop other types of dispute resolution for States
that could offer alternatives to recourse to adversarial proceedings.
Perhaps the Administrative Council could consider converting the
Permanent Court of Arbitration into a World Dispute Resolution
Organization* equipped to advise States, and States only, on ways to
resolve their disputes, not merely "peacefully", but also "amicably".
The methods of a new World Dispute Resolution Organization would consist
of discreet and confidential guidance through the applicable law,
conferring, where necessary, with both governments' officials legal
advisers, and keeping the national media from moving into football fan
mode.
It would not be the aim of the World Dispute Resolution Organization
to produce a "winner", but instead two States ready to agree on a
solution they both consider equitable as the foundation for friendly
relations in the future.
The writer is an arbitrator in a number of international
andinterstate arbitrations and a Member of the Institut de droit
international. He formerly served as Secretary-General of the Iran-US
Claims Tribunal; Legal Advisor to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence and
External Affairs and Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany;
Chairman of the Sri Lankan delegation to the Third UN Conference on the
Law of the Sea and Chairman of its Negotiating Group on the Seabed
beyond national jurisdiction; and Member and Chair, UN International Law
Commission. |