Maritime Delimitation and Territorial Questions between Qatar and Bahrain (Qatar v. Bahrain) - Court to deliver its Judgment on Friday 16 March 2001 at 3 p.m.

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF ruSTICE
Peace Palace, 2517 KJ The Hague. Tel: +31 (0)70 302 23 23. Cables: Intercourt,

The Hague. Fax: +31 (0)70 364 99 28. Telex: 32323. E-mail address:
[email protected]. Internet address: http://www .icj-cij.org.

Press Release

Unofficîal

No. 2001/6

8 March 2001

Maritime Delimitation and Territorial Questions between Qatar and Babrain
(Qatar v. Bahrain)

Court to deliver ifs Judgment on Friday 16 March 2001 at 3 p.m.

THE HAGUE, 8 March 2001. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), principaljudicial
organ of the United Nations, will on Friday 16 March 2001 deliver its Judgment in the case

concerning Maritime Delimitation and Territorial Questions between Qatar and Bahrain (Qatar v.
Bahrain), the longest everin its history.

A public sitting will take place at 3 p.m. in the Peace Palace in The Hague, at which the
President of the Court, Judge Gilbert Guillaume, will read the Court's Judgment, which is binding

and not subject to appeal.

History of the proceedings and Parties' submissions

On 8 July 1991, Qatar filed in the Registry of the Court an Application instituting -

proceedings against Bahrain "in respect of certain exîsting disputes between them relating to
sovereignty over the Hawar Islands, sovereign rights over the shoals of Dibal and Qit'at Jaradah,
and the delimitation of the maritime areas". According to Qatar, these disputes bad arisen
following decisions taken by the British Government during the timeof its presence in Bahrain and

Qatar (which ended in 1971).

In its Application, Qatar founded the jurisdiction of the Court upon certain agreements
which, itclaimed, were concluded by the Parties in 1987 and 1990. In July 1991, Bahrain
contested the bases_ofjurisdiction invoked by Qatar. The Presidentof the Court then decided, after

consultations with the Parties, that the proceedings should first address the issuehe jurisdiction
of the Court and the admissibility of the Application. Written pleadings were 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 Qatar, dated 19 and 21 December 1987,
and between the King of Saudi Arabia and the Emir of Bahrain, dated 19 and 26 December 1987,
as weil 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 international 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 oftheir dispute. Having noted that it bad only an
Application from Qatar, the Court decided to afford thearties the opportunity to submit the whole
of the dispute joint!y to it.

On 15February 1995, the Çourt delivered a further Judgment by which, in the absence of an
agreement between the Parties to submit the dispute to it jointly, it found that it bad jurisdiction to
adjudicate upon the dispute and that the Application of Qatar (as formulated by that State on '
t-
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30 November 1994 and presented by a separate act) was admissible. Accordingly, the dispute
submitted to the Court included the following matters: the Hawar Islands, including the island of
Janan; Fasht ad Dibal and Qit'atJaradah; the archipelagic baselines; Zubarah; the areas for fishing

for pearls and for fish and any other matters connected wîth maritime boundaries.

After thefiling of a Memorial by each ofthe Parties on 30 September 1996, the President of
the Court fixed31 December 1997 as the time-limit for the filing oftheir Counter-Memorials.

By a letter dated 25 September 1997, accompanied by various expert reports, Bahrain

challenged the authenticity of 81 documents presented by Qatar as annexes to its Memorial.
During a meeting held on 25 November 1997 with the President of the Court, the Parties agreed
that the Counter-Memorials would not touch on the problem of the authenticity of the documents
and that Replies wou id be filed, either consecutively or simultaneously. Qatar indicated its
intention to include in its Reply or append to its Reply a detailed response to Bahrain's allegations.

In a subsequent letter, Bahrain pointed out that Qatar bad, in its Counter-Memorial filed on
23 December 1997, continued to rely on the challenged documents, and urged the Court to decide
the question of their authenticity as a preliminary issue.By a letter dated 26 March 1998 and
accompanied by expert reports, Bahrain also challenged the authenticity of a document annexed to
Qatar'sCounter-Memorial.

By an Order dated 30 March 1998, the Court, having regard to the views of the Parties
expressed at a further meeting held, on 17 March 1998, between the President of the Court and the
Agents, fixed30 September 1998 as the time-limit for the filing by Qatar of an interim report, to be
as comprehensive and specifie as possible, on the question of the authenticity of each of the
documents challenged by Bahrain. In the sarneOrder, the Court directed the submission of a Reply
on the merits by each of the Parties, with that of Qatar containing its detailed and definitive

position on the questionof the authenticity of each of the documents challenged by Bahrain and
thatof Bahrain containing its observations on the interim report of Qatar. Finally, the Court fixed
30 March 1999as the time-limit for the filing ofthese pleadings.

On 30 September 1998, Qatar filed its interim report on the question of the authenticity of
the documents challenged by Bahrain; that report was accompanied by four expert reports. Citing

inter alia differing views between the respective expertsthe Parties and among its own experts,
Qatar stated that it would not rely for the purposesthe present case on the disputed documents,
"so as to enable the Court to address the merits of the case without further procedural
complications". By a letter dated 27 November 1998, Bahrain acknowledged receipt of, and
commented on, Qatar's interim report. The Agent of Qatar responded by a letter dated
15 December 1998, expressing its regret at the situation that bad arisen.

•
By an Order dated 17 February 1999, the Court placed on record Qatar's decision to
disregard, for purposes of the case, the 82 documents challenged by Bahrain and decided that the
Replies would not rely on those documents. At Qatar's request it also extended by two months,
to30 May 1999,the time-limit for the submission ofthose Replies.

After filing their Replies within the extended time-limit, Qatar and Bahrain submitted, with
the approval of the Court, certain additional expert reports and historical documents.

Public hearings at which the Parties presented their oral arguments were held from 29 May
to 29 June 2000. At the close of the oral proceedings, the Parties presented the following
submissions to the Court: - 3 -

For Qatar:

"The State of Qatar respectfully requests the Court, rejecting ali contrary daims
and submîssions:

1. To adjudge and declare in accordance with international law:

A. (1) that the State of Qatar bas sovereignty over the Hawar Islands;
(2) that Dibal and Qit'at Jaradah shoals are low-tide elevations which are under Qatar's
sovereignty;

B. (1) that the State of Bahrain has no sovereignty over the island of Janan;
(2) that the State of Bahrain bas no sovereignty over Zubarah;
(3) that any claim by Bahrain conceming archipelagic baselines and areas for fishing for
pearls and swimming fish would be irrelevant for the purpose of maritime
delimitation in the present case;

II. To draw a single maritime boundary between the maritime areas of seabed, subsoil
and superjacent waters appertaining respective!to the State of Qatar and the State
of Bahrain on the basis that Zubarah, the Hawar Islands and the island of Janan
• appertain to the State of Qatar and not to the State of Bahrain, that boundary

starting from point 2 of the delimitation agreement concluded between Bahrain and
Iran in 1971 (51o 05' 54" E and 27° 02' 47" N), thence proceeding in a southerly
direction up to BLV (50° 57' 30" E and 26° 33' 35" N), then following the line of
the British decision of23 December 1947 up to NSLB (50° 49' 48" E and 26° 21'
24" N) and up to point L (50° 43' 00" E and 25° 47' 27''N), thence proceeding to
point SI of the delimitation agreement concluded by Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in

1958 (50° 31' 45" E and 25° 35' 38" N)."

For Bahrain:

"May it please the Court, rejecting ali contrary daims and submissions, to

adjudge and declare that:

(1) Bahrain is sovereign over Zubarah.
(2) Bahrain is sovereignover the Hawar Islands, including Janan and Hadd Janan.

In view of Bahrain's sovereignty over ali the insular and other features,

including Fasht ad Dibal and Qit'at Jaradah, comprising the Bahraini archipelago, the
maritime boundary between Bahrain and Qatar is as described in Part Two of
Bahrain's Memorial."

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NOTE FOR THE PRESS

1. The public sitting will be held in the Great Hall 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 removed.

2. Members ofthe Press will be entitled to attend on presentation of a press card. The tables
reserved for them are situated on the far left ofthe public entrance of the courtroom. -4-

3. Photographs may be taken for a few minutes at the opening and at the end of the sitting.
Television crews may film the whole sitting, but advance notice should be given to the Information
Office (see paragraph 8).

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

5. At the end of the sitting, a press release, a summary of the Court's Judgment and the full
textof the Judgment will be distributed in the Press Room.

6. The above-mentioned documents will be simultaneously available on the Court's website
(http://www .icj-cij .org).

7. Members of the Press who wish 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.

8. 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 a•y
requests for information or arrangements for television coverage.

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