Abstract: the research considers an extremely actual territorial dispute between Mauritius and Maldives from the aspects of the science of modern international law. The issues of regulation in international law of the arbitral process initiated in June 2019 in the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea by Mauritius. The disputed area includes territorial waters of Mauritius overlapping the exclusive economic zone of the Republic of Maldives, namely the waters between the city of Addu and the Chagos Archipelago south of the Maldives. The situation is complicated by the decolonization of the territory from Britain and the rent of this territory for military purposes till 2036 for the establishment of the military base on the island of Diego Garcia together with the USA. The issue has already been scrutinized by the UN International Court, which decided in the advisory opinion of the recommendatory character that the separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius was illegal.
The article is devoted to the comparative legal analysis of the role of the Tribunal on the Law of the Sea in the process of the international regulation of the conflict situations. The special attention is paid to the composition of the special chamber formed for the dispute settlement. Maldives elected as a judge ad hoc Prof. Bernard Oxman from the University of Miami. It is a seldom case when the representative of the USA is appointed as a judge in the Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
The author reached the conclusion that the signature by the US of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea positively affects the credibility of the country in the international law. It is only the 28th case of the Tribunal, that’s why it seems that the indirect consequence of the considered dispute shall be the revitalization of the further activity of the Tribunal.
Keywords: delimitation; International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea; UN Convention on the Law of the Sea; territorial dispute; special chamber of the Tribunal; judge ad hoc; jurisdiction; state border; international customary law