Compliance with Decisions of the Dispute Settlement Bodies of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea

Abstract

Abstract The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (‘UNCLOS’) not only establishes a suite of maritime zones and sets out the rights and duties of States therein, but it is also one of the few multilateral treaties that includes a complex dispute settlement regime creating compulsory jurisdiction for disputes relating to its interpretation or application. Given that the UNCLOS dispute settlement regime has now been in operation for close to 30 years, it is timely to consider whether the cases instituted under the regime are resulting in decisions with which the parties comply. This study is the first to examine compliance in relation to all judgments issued pursuant to the UNCLOS compulsory dispute settlement regime to date.