Case concerning the Arbitral Award of 31 July 1989 (Guinea-Bissau v. Senegal)

In 1960 France and Portugal came to an agreement about the maritime boundary between the Portuguese province of Guinea-Bissau (plaintiff) and Senegal (defendant), which was still part of the French Communaute at that time. After both Guinea-Bissau and Senegal gained independence, a dispute arose regarding the delimitation of the maritime territories. In 1985, after failed negotiations, the countries entered into an arbitration agreement for submission of the dispute to a three-member arbitration panel. According to the terms of Article 2 of that agreement, the arbitral tribunal was asked to rule on the following twofold question: (1) Does the 1960 agreement between France and Portugal related to the maritime boundary have the force of law in the relations between the Republic of Guinea-Bissau and the Republic of Senegal? (2) In the event of a negative answer to the first question, what is the maritime boundary between the two territories? The arbitral tribunal issued its award, answering the first question affirmatively by a vote of two to one and then declining to answer the second question. Thereafter, Guinea-Bissau instituted proceedings before the International Court of Justice to have the arbitral award annulled. Guinea-Bissau argued that the arbitral tribunal failed to comply with the terms of the arbitration by failing to consider or answer the second question posed in Article 2 of the arbitration agreement. Guinea-Bissau also complained that the president of the arbitral tribunal, who had voted in the majority, made statements contradicting the majority position, demonstrating a lack of true majority in the decision.