Maritime Delimitation in the Indian Ocean: Has the ICJ marginalized the geological and geomorphological criteria in favor of a distance related criteria?

Abstract

In Maritime Delimitation in the Indian Ocean (Somalia v. Kenya), the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was requested to establish the single maritime boundary between Somalia and Kenya in the Indian Ocean delimiting the territorial sea, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, including the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles (nm). This is the fourth time an international court or tribunal has delimited the continental shelf beyond 200 nm from the baselines. Although the Judgment seemingly follows a pattern established through previous delimitation cases, the separate opinions of several judges reveal ripples below the surface.<p> The purpose of this post is to take a closer look at the parts of the Judgment dealing with the outer continental shelf delimitation, and assess whether the ICJ in Somalia v. Kenya acted in accordance with previous judicial practice.<p>

<p>This commentary takes a particularly deep dive into the question of entitlement to the continental shelf beyond 200 nm as a prerequisite for delimitation and echoes some of Judge Robinsons’ concerns about the ICJ seemingly replacing the geological and geomorphological criteria with a simple distance criterion of a maximum of 350 nm