Maritime Delimitation and Territorial Questions between Qatar and Bahrain (Qatar v. Bahrain) - Hearings on the merits of the dispute to open on Monday 29 May 2000 at 10 a.m.

INTERNATIONAL COURTOFJUSTICE
Peace Palace, 2517 KJ The Hague. Tel.(31-70-302 23 23). Cables: Intercourt. The Hague..

Telefax (31-70-364 99 28). Telex 32323. Internet address: http: Il www.icj-cij.org

Communiqué
unofficial
for immediaterelease

No. 2000/13

14 April 2000

Maritime Delimitation and Territorial Questions between Qatar and Bahrain
(Qatar v. Bahrainl

Hearings on the merits of the dispute to open
on Monday 29 May 2000 at 10 a.m.

THE HAGUE, 14April2000. Public hearings in the case conceming Maritime Delimitation and
Territor1al Questions between Qatar and Bahrain (Qatar v. Bahrain) wïll open on Monday

29 May 2000 at 10 a.m. before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of
the United Nations.

The hearings, whichwilllast five weekswilibe dedicated to the merits of the dispute between
the Parties. Theywillconstitute the fmal phase of the proceediînsthis case, which wiii have been

the longestn the Court's history.

The programme is as follows:

First round of oral arguments Second round of oral arguments

Monday 29 May Qatar Tuesday 20 June Qatar
Tuesday 30 May Qatar Wednesday 21 June Qatar
Wednesday 31 May Qatar Thursday 22 June Qatar
Monday 5 June Qatar Tuesday 27 June Bahrain
Tuesday 6 June Qatar Wednesday 28 June Bahrain

Thursday 8 June Bahrain Thursday 29June Bahrain
Friday 9 June Bahrain
Tuesday 13 June Bahrain
Wednesday 14 Bahrain
Thursday 15 June Bahrain

The hearings will be held from 10 a.m. tp.m. On Monday 5 June and Tuesday 13 June, they
will, exceptionally, takeace in the morning from 10 a.m. top.m. and in the aftemoon from 3 p.m.
to 6 p.m.

Background information

On 8 July 1991, Qatar filein the Registry of the Court an Application instituting proceedings
against Bahrain"in respect of certain existing disputes between them relating to sovereignty over the
Hawar Islands, sovereîgn rights over the shoals ofDibal and Qit'at Jaradah, and the delimitation of the

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maritime areas". According to Qatar, these disputes ba1 arisen following decisions taken by the British
Government during the time of its presence in Bahrain and ratar (which ended in 1971).

In its Application, Qatar founded the jurisdicti1n of the Court upon certain agreements which, it
claimed, were concluded by the Parties in 1987 and 1990. In July 1991, Bahrain contested the basis of
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jurisdiction invoked by Qatar.The President of the Court then decided, after consultations with the
Parties, that the proceedings should first address the isstie of the jurisdiction of the Court and the
adrnissibility of the ApplicatioWritten pleadings werJ exchanged and hearings were held from
28 February to 11 March 1994.

On 1 July 1994, the Court delivered a Judgment by which it found that the exchanges of letters
between the King of Saudi Arabia and the Emir of Qadr, dated 19 and 21 December 1987, and

between the King of Saudi Arabia and the Emir of Bahra~at 19eadd 26 Decernber 1987, as well as
the document headed "Minutes" and signed at Doba on 25 December 1990 by the Ministers for Foreign
Affairs of Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, were intebational agreements creating rights and

obligations for the Parties; and that by the terms of those !agreements, the Parties bad undertaken to
submit to the Court the whole of their dispute. Having noted that it bad only an Application from
Qatar, the Court decided to afford the Parties the opportunitY to submit the whole ofthe disputejointly

tait.

On 15 February 1995, the Court delivered a further Judgment by which, in the absence of an

agreement between the Parties to submit the dispute itjointly, it found thit had jurisdiction to
adjudicate upon the dispute and that the Application of Qatar (as fonnulated by that State on
30 November 1994 and presented by a separate act) wL admissible. Accordingly, the dispute
subrnitted ta the Court now includes the following rnatters: !the Hawar Islands, including the island of

Jana; Fasht al Dibal and Qit'at Jaradah; the archipelagic baselines; Zubarah; the areas for fishing for
pearls and for fish and any other matters connected with mar!itimeboundaries.

After the filing a Memorial by each of the Parties Jn 30 September 1996, the President of the
Court fixed 31 December 1997 as the time-limît forfile ofheir Counter-Memorials.
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By a letter dated 25 September 1997, Bahrain inforrned the Court that it challenged the
authenticity of 81 documents produced by Qatar as annexJs to its Memorial.Accordingly, Bahrain
announced that îtwould disregard the content of these dobuments for the purposes of preparinit<>

Counter-Memorial. 1 •

On 8 October 1997, Qatar stated that the objectionJ raised by Bahrain had come tao late to
answer them in its Counter-Memorial. Bahrain then stated that the use by Qatar of the challenged

documents gave rise to procedural difficulties that couldt the orderly development of the case. It
observed that the question of the authenticity of thesa iocuments was "logically preliminary
to ... the determination of their substantive effeAfter\ the filing of the Counter-Memorialson

23 December 1997, Bahrain also challenged the authenticityt of a further document annexed to Qatar's
Counter-Memorial. Furthermore itemphasized again the need for the Court to decide the question of
the documents' authenticity as a preliminary issue. 1

In view of this the Couby,an Order of30 March 1998, directed that each of the Parties submit
a Reply on the merits by 30 March 1999. It also decided tMt Qatar should file by 30 September 1998
an interim report, to be as comprehensive and specifie as pdssible, on the question of the authenticîty

of each of the disputed documents. The Court specifith Qaat~r's Reply should contain its detailed
and definitive positionn the question and that Bahrain's Reply should contain its observations on
Qatar's interim report. ,"'

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In the interim report that it submitted on 30 September 1998, Qatar announced thar for the
purposes of the case, it would not rely on the disputed documents. In that report, to which four experts'

reports were appended, Qatar stated on the one band that, on the question of the materîal authenticity of
the documents, there were differing views not only between the respective experts of the Parties, but
also between its own experts, and on the other that, as far as the historical consistency of the content of
those documents was concerned, the experts that it bad consulted considered that Bahrain's assertions
contained exaggerations and distortions of the facts. Qatar stated that it had taken its decision "so asto

enable the Court to address the merits of the case without further procedural complications".

By an Order dated 17 February 1999, the Court placed on record the decision of Qatar to
disregard the 82 documents annexed to its written pleadings which bad been challenged by Bahrain
and itaccordingly decided that the Replies yet to be filed by Qatar and by Bahrain would not rely on

these documents. The Court granted a two-month extension of the time-limit for the submission of
these Replies (whîch was accordingly set for 30 May 1999) following a request by Qatar, to which
Bahrain bad no objection.

After filing their Replies within the extended time-limit, QatarndBahrain have submîtted, with
the approval of the Court, certain additional expert reports and historie documents.

NOTE TO THE PRESS

1. The public sittingswillbe held in the Great Haii of Justice of the Peace Palace in The Hague,

Netherlands. Mobile telephones and beepers are allowed in the courtroom provided they are turned
off or set on silent mode. Any offending deviee will be temporarily retained.

2. Members of the Press will be entitled to attend on presentation of a press card. The tables
reserved for them are situated on the far left the public entrance ofthe courtroom.

3. Photographs may be taken for a few minutes at the opening and at the end of the sittings.
Television crews may film, but advance notice should be given to the Information Department (see
paragraph 7).

4. In the Press Room, located on the ground floor of the Peace Palace (Room 5), the Court's
proceedings will be relayed through a loudspeaker.

5. The verbatim records of the public sittings will be published daily on the Court's website

(http://www .icj-cij .org).

6. Members of the Press who wîsh to make telephone caUs may use the phone located in the
Press Room for collect calls or the public telephones in the Post Office in the basement of the Peace
Palace.

7. Mr. Arthur Witteveen, First Secretary of the Court (tel: + 31 70 302 2336), and
Mrs. Laurence Blairon, Information Officer (tel: + 31 70 302 2337), are available to deal with any
requests for information and for making arrangements for television coverage.