TT appoints top British QC to tribunal on maritime boundary dispute with Barbados

Trinidad and Tobago has appointed a leading Queen’s Counsel in public international law as a member of the arbitral tribunal on the pending arbitration between TT and Barbados. He is Professor Ian Brownlie, CBE, QC, FBA, of  Blackstone Chambers in London, who is recognised in the United Kingdom as “the dean” of public international law. He becomes a member of the tribunal to be constituted to settle the issue of the Delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf between Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados. Trinidad and Tobago has already notified the Government of Barbados, via Diplomatic Note, of Professor Brownlie’s appointment.

Prof Brownlie’s professional and educational background in the area of public international law is extensive. He has done legal work for at least 35 States. In addition he has published texts on International Law and the Use of Force by States as well as Principles of Public International Law. Professor Brownlie has also had various appointments as Arbitrator or Judge on several matters of international legal significance. Also, he was elected to the International Law Commission on the nomination of the Government of India and the UK in 1996, and was re-elected for a further five years in 2001, on the nomination of the UK, India and South Africa.

The Diplomatic Note to the Barbados Government has also stated that Attorney General John Jeremie has been appointed the Agent of Trinidad and Tobago while John Almeida of Messrs Charles Russell in the UK, the Co-Agent. They are authorised to deal with procedural and operational matters concerning the pending arbitration between Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados. Following these appointments, the next phase is for TT and Barbados to jointly appoint three other members who would constitute the arbitral tribunal under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The President of the tribunal will be chosen from these three appointees.

However, if TT and Barbados fail to agree on any or all of the three additional members, the President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea will make the appointments from the list of arbitrators drawn up and maintained by the Secretary General of the United Nations. According to a release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the appointment of the remaining three arbitrators is supposed to be completed within 60 days of the initiation of the proceedings. The proceedings were set in motion on February 16, 2004 when the Government of Barbados informed the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, that it had referred the matter of the Delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf appertaining to Trinidad and Tobago and to Barbados, to binding settlement under Article 286 and Annex VII of UNCLOS.