Barbados outsmarted us

Dear Mr Prime Minister: Were we out manouvered and outsmarted by Barbados in the recent Maritime dispute. Why were we misled to think that it was about fishing rights while Barbados had a different agenda that really had nothing to do with fish but a lot to deal with oil, gas and mineral rights? How could a whole Parliament, including the Opposition celebrate a “win” in the dispute when in reality we “lost” so much (See Below).

Is it that your government, the Parliament and the media were so mis-informed and ignorant about the facts of Barbados’ position and plan.

We need a full and frank explanation of the implications of the ruling. Do we have any legal recourse?

Here is a news item which appeared on and was taken from: http://www.lw.com/ Latham Successfully Represents Barbados in Landmark International Maritime Dispute. In the first ever maritime boundary arbitration award under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Latham and Watkins secured a highly successful outcome for Barbados in its dispute with Trinidad and Tobago. The case, which was heard before an arbitral tribunal constituted under Annex VII to UNCLOS and presided over by Judge Stephen Schwebel, former president of the International Court of Justice, resolved a long-running dispute between the two Caribbean States over the location of their common maritime boundary and access to the disputed area’s natural resources.

The Tribunal’s award promises to become a leading authority on the modern international law of maritime delimitation. It delimits both the water-column and sea-bed boundaries between the two states in a way that largely confirms the arguments advanced by Barbados in the arbitration.

In particular, Barbados secured around 99 percent of the maritime space that it had claimed in the negotiations prior to the arbitration, while Trinidad and Tobago secured only one percent of the area that it had claimed in the negotiations. Barbados also defeated Trinidad and Tobago in securing future Barbadian access to certain essential fisheries resources. The team was led by the head of Latham’s Public International Law team, Robert G Volterra, and senior associate Stephen Fietta.