Permanent Court of Arbitration

For other international tribunals in the Hague, see Hague Tribunal.

Permanent Court of Arbitration
Cour permanente d'arbitrage
Seal of the court
Established	1899
Country	Worldwide, 119 parties
Location	The Hague, Netherlands
Coordinates
Authorized by	Hague Peace Conference
Website	www.pca-cpa.org

Seat of the PCA: The Peace Palace ("Vredespaleis"), The Hague.

File:Permanent-Court-of-Arbitration-Members.svg

Parties of the Permanent Court of Arbitration

  according to the convention of 1907

  according to the convention of 1899

  not a party

File:Une des salles de réunion de la Cour permanente d'arbitrage.jpg

PCA courtroom.

File:Den Haag - Prinsegracht 71.JPG

Prinsegracht 71, The Hague, a building dating from about 1728, which was the seat of the PCA between 1901 and 1913, when the construction of the Peace Palace was completed.

File:North Atlantic Fisheries Arbitration, The Hague, 1910.jpg

North Atlantic Fisheries Arbitration at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, Prinsegracht 71, The Hague, 1910.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is an international organization based in the Peace Palace, The Hague, the Netherlands. It is not a court, does not have permanent judges, and should not be confused with the International Court of Justice, a separate institution also in the Peace Palace. The PCA is a permanent bureaucracy that assists temporary tribunals to resolve disputes among states (and similar entities), intergovernmental organizations, or even private parties arising out of international agreements. The cases span a range of legal issues involving territorial and maritime boundaries, sovereignty, human rights, international investment, and international and regional trade.

The court was established in 1899 by the first Hague Peace Conference. The Peace Palace was built for the Court in 1913 with funds from American steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. Since 1922, the building has also housed the separate Permanent Court of International Justice, which was replaced by the International Court of Justice in 1946.

Organization

The PCA is not a “court" in the conventional understanding of that term but an administrative organization with the object of having permanent and readily available means to serve as the registry for purposes of international arbitration and other related procedures, including commissions of enquiry and conciliation. The judges or arbitrators that hear cases are officially called "Members" of the Court.

The public at large is usually more familiar with the International Court of Justice than with the Permanent Court of Arbitration, partly because of the closed nature of cases handled by the PCA and also the small number of cases dealt with between 1946 and 1990. Sometimes even the decision itself is kept confidential at the request of the parties. Many decisions and related documents are available on the PCA's website. The court's caseload has increased since then.

History

The court is one of the oldest institutions for international dispute resolutions. The court was established in 1899 by the first Hague Peace Conference under Articles 20 to 29 of the 1899 Hague Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes. At the second Hague Peace Conference, the earlier Convention was revised by the 1907 Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes. The Conference was convened at the initiative of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia "with the object of seeking the most objective means of ensuring to all peoples the benefits of a real and lasting peace, and above all, of limiting the progressive development of existing armaments."

Parties

As of November 2015, 119 countries are party to one or both of the founding Conventions of the PCA. See List of parties to the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 for a full list of parties, past and present.

Cases

• Pious Fund of the Californias (1902)
• Savarkar Case (1911)
• Island of Palmas Case (1928)
• In the early 1980s, the PCA helped in setting up the administrative services of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal.
• Hanish Islands conflict (1998 and 1999)
• Decision Regarding Delimitation of the Border between The State of Eritrea and The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (2002) The Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission was organized through the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
• Iron Rhine (Belgium v. The Netherlands) (2005)
• Barbados v. Trinidad and Tobago (2006)
• Abyei Arbitration (2009)
• Hulley Enterprises Limited (Cyprus), Yukos Universal Limited (Isle of Man) and Veteran Petroleum Limited (Cyprus) v. The Russian Federation. (2014)
• Bay of Bengal Maritime Boundary (Bangladesh v. India) (2014)
• Yukos shareholders vs.Russia (July 18, 2014, total award of $50 billion)
• Mauritius v United Kingdom (18 March 2015, ruled that the Chagos Marine Protected Area was illegal)
• Philippines v. China (pending)
• Croatia–Slovenia border disputes (pending)
• Enrica Lexie case Italy V. India (pending)

Croatia–Slovenia border-disputes scandal

On 22 July 2015, a scandal occurred during the arbitration of Croatia–Slovenia border disputes. A Croatian daily newspaper reported that it had transcripts and audio recordings of a Slovenian judge on the arbitration panel consulting with a case representative of the Slovenian government, Simona Drenik. According to these documents, the Slovenian judge leaked secret communication to Slovenia and pressured the other panel members (Gilbert Guillaume (France), Bruno Simma (Germany) and Vaughan Lowe (UK)) to rule in Slovenia's favor. While there is some evidence that information was leaked (e.g. when the Slovenian minister of foreign affairs, Karl Erjavec, disclosed confidential information about a decision), the court's internal investigation showed no leak occurred. On 23 July 2015, Jernej Sekolec resigned, and a day later, Simona Drenik resigned. On 28 July 2015 Slovenia appointed Ronny Abraham, the president of International Court of Justice as its choice on arbitration panel. On 29 July 2015, the Croatian parliament voted unanimously to begin the cancellation of the arbitration agreement. Eight days later, Ronny Abraham also resigned from this arbitration case.

See also

• Ligue internationale de la paix
• International arbitration

Further reading

• - The relevant chapter includes information about a number of cases referred to the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

External links

• PCA website
  • Conventions regarding establishment of PCA
  • List of linked PCA cases
• Hague Justice Portal