History
The world is watching with great interest the new life of an independent East Timor.
Australia has played an important role in supporting East Timor – working closely with the people and the United Nations to end the violence and secure the transition to democracy. The commitment of defence and peacekeeping forces, not to mention the provision of much-needed aid and development funding, is something Australians view with great pride.
In these early days of nationhood, East Timor is seeking to establish permanent maritime boundaries that would provide great er access to the resources of the Timor Sea.
East Timor’s claim on the oil and gas reserves has intensified as the United Nations prepares to scale down its presence from May 2004, and the Government seeks a future free from over-reliance on aid funding.
In his recent special report on East Timor, Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the Security Council to extend the UN peace-keeping mission to East Timor for another year with the aim of consolidating the country’s justice, administrative and policing systems. However, a decline in development assistance and an unexpected shortfall in domestic revenues means the establishment of a solid economic base is also a vital aspect of East Timor’s development that must be addressed immediately.
Disputed boundaries
The recent history of agreements relating to the Timor Sea provides a backdrop to East Timor’s claims for permanent maritime boundaries.
In 1972, Australia negotiated with Indonesia a seabed boundary running roughly 200km off the coast of Timor, and about 400km from Australia. In 1989, Australia and Indonesia came to a resource-sharing agreement through the Timor Gap Treaty.
As East Timorese independence approached, the Australia Government began to negotiate a new agreement. On May 20, 2002 Australia and East Timor signed the Timor Sea Treaty.
The treaty established the Joint Petroleum Development Area (JPDA) under which East Timor would gain 90 per cent of revenues. But under a related arrangement concerning the large Greater Sunrise Field Z (on the border of the development area), East Timor would receive only 18 per cent of revenues when this field goes into production.
East Timor has received nothing of the significant revenue already being generated from Laminaria and Corallina fields, which fall outside the JPDA.
The Timor Sea Treaty is a resource-sharing agreement on a restricted area. It covers about one third of the total resources of the Timor Sea.
The treaty does not establish a permanent maritime boundary and it does not prevent the settlement of one. Even at the time this treaty was signed there were divergent views about the appropriateness of the established boundaries of the JPDA, the economic value of the JPDA for East Timor, and Australia’s mining of other fields which fall just outside the development area. According to the principles outlined in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, East Timor is entitled to a boundary that entails greater access to oil and gas reserves than that afforded in the Timor Sea Treaty.
This claim is based on a boundary half-way between (or “equidistant” from) both nations’ coastlines. The lateral boundaries of the development area covered by the Timor Sea treaty would also be widened (see map).The overlap of claims by East Timor and Australia involves a large part of the Timor Sea, including the area covered by the current reality.
Under international law, both nations could seek the independent arbitration of a special tribunal on maritime boundaries of the International Court of Justice regarding areas where claims overlap.
But in March 2002, two months before East Timor’s independence, Australia withdrew from the jurisdiction of the ICJ and the Tribunal for the Law of the Sea – removing an important avenue of appeal. East Timor has had no option but to enter bilateral negotiations with Australia.
The countries met last November to begin negotiations on boundaries. While such negotiations are usually protracted, the Government of East Timor was hoping both parties could meet on a monthly basis to resolve this issue within three to five years. But Australia is prepared to meet only twice each year, with the next meeting being held in April 2004.
Sovereignty and need
East Timor’s claim is based on the establishment of sovereign rights over the Timor Sea and the need to secure a stable economic base for the development of a nation.
Its Government estimates that its claim would increase expected revenue over the coming decade from $US4.4 billion (under the Timor Sea Treaty) to $US12 billion. In 2003 the United Nations Development Program rated the fledgling nation as the poorest country in Asia and among the 20 poorest nations worldwide.
It has minimal industry and commerce and more than 80 per cent of the population survive on subsistence agriculture and farming.
With a current annual budget of only $120 million, the East Timorese Government sees increased revenue from oil and gas reserves as a basis for economic independence and development.
The Timor Sea offers the only significant natural resources for the country’s future.
Information above reprinted courtesy of Australian Catholic Social Justice Council Justice Trends No 112 March, 2004
