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Dispute over continental shelf claim: Sri Lanka must engage with India, says Law of the Sea expert
View(s):By Chandani Kirinde
A midst a continuing diplomatic spat over Sri Lanka’s right to claim an extended continental shelf beyond the 200 nautical miles Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) a local expert has called for a Task Force of knowledgeable persons to make representations on behalf of the country at relevant international forums.
Speaking to the Sunday Times he underscored the importance of working with India to secure its maritime claims.
Sri Lanka was allowed to make the claim for this offshore territory around the island after it successfully argued its case before the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and formally signed an agreement in 1982. The agreement was signed in Jamaica by Dr. Hiran W. Jayewardene, who at the time was Sri Lanka’s Special Representative on the Law of the Sea and Ocean Affairs. 
The UNCLOS appointed a sub-commission to consider Sri Lanka’s submission in 2016 and several rounds of discussions were held between the Sri Lanka delegations and the sub-commission.
However, since then Sri Lanka’s case remains deadlocked with India, the Maldives and Bangladesh submitting they too have claims to the area. In 2022, the Indian government informed the UN’s Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea Division that “consideration and qualification by the Commission of the submission made by Sri Lanka would prejudice the rights India over the parts of the continental shelf” while both the Maldives and Bangladesh have said both countries are in the process of making claims to the outer continental shelf in the Indian Ocean.
In January last year, the Government of India submitted a claim to the Jamaica based International Seabed Authority (ISA) seeking approval for a plan of work for the exploration for cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts covering a total area of 3,000km2 located in the Afanasy Nikitin seamount in the Central Indian Ocean to which Sri Lanka has objected.
In response, the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York, last July, informed the ISA that this area has already been claimed by Sri Lanka under its continental shelf submission to UNCLCS and is pending final recommendation.
The Permanent Mission requested that the consideration of the application by the ISA for exploration of the Afanasy Nikitin seamount be withheld until the final recommendations are made on Sri Lanka’s submission by the UNCLCS.
A Foreign Ministry official said that the consideration of Sri Lanka’s claim to an extended continental shelf remains deadlocked.
“As of now, the position stated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sri Lanka’s ongoing engagement with the UNCLCS and the ISA in July 2024 remains the same,’ the MFA official said.
The ISA which will have its next session in March will not take up India’s request for exploration rights in the disputed area but its Legal and Technical Commission is considering the application, the Sunday Times learns.
Despite the ongoing deadlock, Dr. Hiran Jayewardene underscored the importance of working with India to win Sri Lanka’s claims. “Sri Lanka needs to now work together with India as we did successfully at the Law of the Sea Conference and to muster the requisite scientific and technical skills,’ he told the Sunday Times.
If Sri Lanka wins its claim, it would give the country control of an area 20 times as large as the country’s land area in addition to a sea area extending up to 350 nautical miles – a general claim any country with a territorial sea can make. If successful, Sri Lanka stands to benefit economically as the new territory is believed to be rich in oil and other mineral resources.
A UN resolution recognises that “a state may establish the outer edge of its continental margin by straight lines not exceeding 60 nautical miles in length connecting fixed points, defined by latitude and longitude, at each of which the thickness of sedimentary rock is not less than one kilometre”.
The resolution also makes specific reference to this part of the world stating, “the conference requests the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf set up pursuant to Annex II of the Convention, to be governed by the terms of the Statement of Understanding concerning the specific method to be used in establishing the outer edge of the continental shelf, when making its recommendations on matters related to the establishment of the outer edge of the continental margins of these states in the southern part of the Bay of Bengal”.
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