The UNCLOS ensures a peaceful delimitation process of the overlapping Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) and Continental Shelves (CS) throughout the provisions of articles 74 and 83. However, such a process presents several limits considering that marine spaces and habitats management is not per se easily settled in the State logic of delimitation. Thus, the delimitation process may fail, to some extent, to reconcile the legal fictio of marine delimitation, carried out in the coastal states’ interests, with the practical needs of human communities whose livelihood depends on the utilization of marine spaces and its resources.
In this context, the rise of increasingly urgent needs for the protection of the several national, individual and collective interests implied in every delimitation process and the demand for greater participation from the human communities located in coastal areas, open questions about the effectiveness of the current delimitation regulatory framework as established by international law.
According to the international jurisprudence and State practice, the current delimitation regulatory framework tends toward setting up strict and neutral criteria in order to reduce conflicts and to ensure an impartial management of the matter as much as possible.
However, this trend does not seem to always get the expected results, since the delimitation process remains rather discretionary and variable case by case. Therefore, this cannot completely avoid the risk of subsequent conflicts between the States concerned.
The main aim of the Workshop is to analyse the current delimitation regulatory framework and to verify its compatibility and sustainability with the relevant economic, environmental and geostrategic interests.
The proceedings of the Workshop will be peer reviewed and published by a well-known international publisher.
English is the only language of the Conference
The programme of the Conference will be posted on the website: www.marsafenet.org
3 December 2015
Welcome and introduction
14:30
Víctor L. Gutiérrez Castillo / Gemma Andreone
I SESSION
Maritime Delimitation Disputes
15.00 - 19.00
Chair: Juan Manuel de Faramiñán, University of Jaen, Spain
- Philippe Gautier, International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, United Nations
- Maja Sersic, University of Zagreb, Croatia
- Yessenia Fernández, Specialized Higher Education for the Diplomatic Training Institute (IEESFORD), El Salvador
- Virginie Tassin, Expert in Law of the Sea, France
4 December 2015
II SESSION
Economic, environmental and geostrategic aspects of maritime delimitation
9.30 - 13.30
Chair: Giuseppe Cataldi, University of Naples L’Orientale, Italy
- Vasco Becker-Weinberg, Universidade Nova Lisboa, Portugal
- Juan Louis Suarez de Vivero, University of Seville, Spain
- Suzette V. Suarez, Center for International Ocean Law, Germany
- Francisco Pereira, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal
III SESSION
Roundtable and conclusions
14.30-16.30
Chairs: Gemma Andreone, Italian National Research Council, Italy
Víctor L. Gutiérrez Castillo, International University of Andalucía, Spain
The roundtable will focus on new perspectives for maritime delimitation and aims at discussing emerging issues, new instruments and legal gaps with the relevant stakeholders, i.e. international organizations, government representatives.
Conclusions: José Juste, University of Valencia, Spain
