Can ‘Compulsory Conciliation’ Resolve the Cambodia-Thailand Maritime Border Dispute?

On Tuesday, Cambodia’s government announced that it had launched a compulsory conciliation process under international maritime law aimed at resolving a ‌long-running maritime boundary dispute with Thailand.

The move came after Thailand’s government unilaterally cancelled a 2001 agreement with Cambodia over joint offshore energy exploration and the demarcation of maritime boundaries in the Gulf of Thailand.

In an address broadcast on state television, Prime Minister Hun Manet announced that his government had commenced the process of compulsory conciliation under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and had informed both the U.N. Secretary General and the Thai government about the decision.

“We have taken this step to protect Cambodia’s sovereignty and maritime rights in accordance with international law,” ​ Hun Manet said, as per the government-aligned media outlet FreshNews.

“This is not unilateral action,” he added. “It is an effort to resolve the dispute peacefully, through international law, and in good faith.”