Martime Delimitation and Territorial Questions Between Qatar and Bahrain - Essay Example

The essay examined how the proceedings and judgments of the court worked to satisfy the involved states. The research paper aims to investigate the issues related with the case of maritime delimitation and territorial questions between Qatar and Bahrain. It discusses the factors that have affected the proceedings and judgements of the court and also describes the progression of the case from time to time in order to show how the dispute was evolved between these two states and what roles was played by the decisions of the International Court of Justice to settle their dispute.

Bahrain took the case of maritime delimitation and territorial questions between Qatar and Bahrain before the court in July 1991. The Foreign Affair Minister of Qatar filed an application in the registry of international court in which he made the request to institute the proceeding against state of Bahrain. The application requested the court to resolve the dispute between the two states regarding the sovereignty over the Hawar Island, rights of the states, over the shoals of Dibal and Qitat Jaradah and the delimitation of the maritime area of Qatar and Bahrain (Plant, 2002, p198).

The roots of the dispute between these two countries could be traced back to 1965 when the Qatar attempt to settle the issue by arbitration was declined by Bahrain. After the termination of the British presence in Bahrain and Qatar, the King Fahd of Saudi Arabia attempted to resolve the dispute in 1971. These efforts resulted in the establishment of set of Principles for the framework for reaching a settlement that was approved by the representatives of three involved parties Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain.

These principles were during the tri-parties meeting held in March 1983. These principles clarified that the disputing matters between the two states regarding the issue of sovereignty over the island, territorial