23 - Overcoming Violence in Maritime Conflicts with Provisional Arrangements

Summary

Provisional arrangements are a legal tool that provides states with an option for utilising fisheries and offshore hydrocarbon resources in a mutually acceptable way where they are unable to reach a maritime boundary agreement. The aim of this chapter is threefold: to illustrate that such arrangements are effective in preventing violent escalation of maritime disputes, to examine how provisional arrangements operate in practice, and to examine what legal issues may arise in reaching such arrangements. First, the chapter highlights several practical examples of incidents in and outside areas covered by provisional arrangements. It then argues that the obligation to negotiate and the obligation of restraint under Articles 74(3) and 83(3) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea are complementary and interrelated. Finally, the chapter examines the legal aspects of politically sensitive issues involved in negotiating provisional arrangements: the definition of the area for provisional arrangements and the question of excluding prejudice by the arrangement to the parties’ claims.