Urgent Proceedings before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea

An important aspect of the history to date of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea is the role of urgent proceedings. Of the fifteen cases submitted to the Tribunal from 1997 until the end of 2008, thirteen have related to urgent proceedings, especially proceedings for prompt release of vessels and crews (under article 292 of the UN Law of the Sea Convention), and proceedings for the request of provisional measures, pending constitution of an arbitral tribunal (under article 290, par. 5, of the convention). This article considers the maritime and environmental issues that have come before the Tribunal, with discussion of how urgent proceedings in the cases at issue have responded to the needs of the international community; and it examines other areas of dispute, including maritime boundary delimitation, in which urgent proceedings can be a useful tool for potential litigants.