Bernard Oxman ’65 Named Judge for International Maritime Dispute

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New York, Sept. 24, 2010—Bernard Oxman ’65 has been named judge ad hoc to the  International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to preside over an arbitration to resolve a  maritime boundary dispute between Myanmar and Bangladesh in the energy-rich Bay of Bengal.
 
Oxman, currently a professor at the University Of Miami School Of Law, also edits the American Journal of International Law, with Lori Damrosch, the Hamilton Fish Professor of International Law and Diplomacy and Henry L. Moses Professor of Law and International Organization.
 
The journal is generally regarded as the pre-eminent juried publication in its field.
 
Oxman is an internationally recognized expert on the Law of the Sea, and previously served on the tribunal, a body of the United Nations, for a case between Singapore and Malaysia involving land reclamation in and around the Straits of Jahore.
 
The latest dispute was sparked in 2008 when Myanmar began oil and gas exploration in a part of the Bay of Bengal claimed by Bangladesh, which sent a naval patrol to the area. Myanmar responded in kind. Myanmar later withdrew its exploration team and agreed to resolve the issue through negotiations. Bangladesh brought the case to the U.N.
 
The U.N. convention that governs the Law of the Sea—to which both countries are signatories--requires arbitration to resolve maritime boundary disputes. All parties are required to accept the final ruling, which could take three to four years to resolve, according to Foley Hoag, the Boston-based law firm representing Bangladesh.
 
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