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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) applauds the 13th anniversary of the International Court of Justice's decision in The Hague (ICJ) in the case concerning maritime delimitation in the Black Sea on February 3, "a notable diplomatic success for Romania".
"This legal process, which took place over more than four years, is a notable diplomatic success for Romania, with our country receiving 9,700 square kilometers of continental shelf and exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea, namely almost 80 percent of the surface disputed at the ICJ, The ICJ ruling of February 3, 2009 represented for Romania the first and only extension of sovereign jurisdiction and sovereign rights of our country after the Greater Union of 1918. It was also the first ruling in the history of the International Court of Justice pronounced unanimously by the ICJ judges, after more than 40 years in which this complex bilateral political dispute could not be resolved through bilateral negotiations," reads a MAE press release sent on Thursday to AGERPRES.
According to the cited source, the decision has become a point of reference for the peaceful settlement of international disputes in the field of maritime delimitations, being cited over time in the jurisprudence of the ICJ and other international courts, as well as in the doctrine of international law.
Romania's team in The Hague trial was led, during its duration (2004-2009) by the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, as Romania's Agent before the International Court of Justice. The Romanian team included diplomats and experts from the MAE, as well as specialists from the Ministry of National Defense and the National Agency for Mineral Resources. In total, the team consisted of 20 members, including three foreign advisers, experts in international law, including Australian professor James Crawford, a renowned specialist in international law, who died on 31 May 2021, Agerpres.ro informs.
"Romania accepted the mandatory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice in 2015 and has, over time, made sustained efforts to promote the jurisdiction of the ICJ, including through an international campaign, that I had the initiative to start in 2021, whereby we encourage as many states as possible to follow our example. Peaceful dispute resolution is the only way allowed by international law, which provides tools, resources and answers to all states that, even when faced with complex situations, put the common good, stability, security and democratic values above all else," the head of the Romanian diplomacy states, as cited in the release.
Bogdan Aurescu launched, on November 3, 2021, in New York, the Declaration on the promotion of the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, with the support of a core group of states composed of Switzerland, Japan, Liechtenstein, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Spain and Poland. Romania invited all UN member states to endorse the Declaration, by sending a verbal note to the Permanent Mission of Romania to New York, being the "depository" of the initiative on behalf of the core group.
To date, the Declaration has been endorsed by 30 states in all geographical areas.
