Australia and Timor-Leste border dispute: can Conciliation help good neighbours stay good friends

Australia and Timor-Leste's dispute over rights to the oil and gas rich reserves of the Timor Sea is now before a Conciliation Commission in the Hague.  Timor-Leste wants to have its maritime boundaries with Australia officially delineated, despite having signed a treaty that puts a 50 year stop on deciding the boundary in 2006.  

Timor-Leste and Australia commenced conciliation proceedings under Article 298 and Annex V of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) , to which both are a signatory. This is the first ever Conciliation process under Article 298 and Annex V of UNCLOS.  The result of this process is likely to have ramifications for Australia's border negotiations with Indonesia. 

Conciliation is one of the methods available under UNCLOS for resolution of disputes.  
Conciliation is a process of dispute resolution, similar to mediation.  It is a voluntary and flexible, interest based process (like mediation)  through which the parties seek to reach an amicable dispute settlement with the assistance of the conciliator, who acts as a neutral third party.

It is not a formal process, (like Arbitration) with arguments being put before a Tribunal, leading to a legally binding decision. In disputes between individuals conciliation is a way of resolving things without the need to go to court. It involves an independent third party (a mediator) who helps both sides come to an agreement. 

For this dispute between countries a Conciliation Commission has been set up of mutually acceptable experts.  The Commission engages with the parties to resolve the issues in question and it may make proposals and recommendations. Australia and Timor-Leste appointed two commissioners each, who  then chose the Chair.  Ambassador Peter Taksøe-Jensen, of Denmark was chosen to Chair, and the other Commissioners are Rosalie Balkin from Australia, Abdul G. Korma of Sierra Leone, Canadian Donald McRae and Rüdiger Wolfram of Germany.  

The Timorese argue that the 2006 treaty should be scrapped on the grounds that it was disadvantaged during the negotiations because Australia had bugged Timorese cabinet rooms during negotiations.

Australia and Timor-Leste: a brawl between neighbours or rules-based international order?

The debate about Australia's border dispute with Timor-Leste continues to entice bloggers, reporters, experts and others to put forward emotional positions.

These are based on imagination and occasionally rational thought and sometimes (very rarely) on principles of international law.  

Australia says it is committed to rules-based international order, according to Prime Minister Turnbull.  Unilateral actions are in nobody’s interest. They are a threat to the peace and good order of the region on which the economic growth and national security of all our neighbours depend. These differences should be resolved by international law.  

He might have been talking about the border dispute with Timor-Leste.

Allastar Cox says that Australia's treaties with Timor-Leste in fact form part of the Government's commitment to a rules-based international system.