Timor Gap Treaty

Timor Gap Treaty
Treaty between Australia and The Republic of Indonesia on the Zone of Cooperation in an area between the Indonesian province of East Timor and Northern Australia
The Timor Gap
The Zone of Cooperation was divided into Area A (Pink), Area B (Yellow) and Area C (Red)
TypeBilateral Treaty
Signed11 December 1989 (1989-12-11)
Effective9 February 1991
Expiry20 May 2002
Original
signatories		 Indonesia Ali Alatas
Parties

The Timor Gap Treaty was formally known as the Treaty between Australia and the Republic of Indonesia on the zone of cooperation in an area between the Indonesian province of East Timor and Northern Australia. It was a bilateral treaty between the governments of Australia and Indonesia, which provided for the joint exploitation of petroleum and hydrocarbon resources in a part of the Timor Sea Seabed.[1] The treaty was signed on 11 December 1989 and came into force on 9 February 1991.[2] The signatories to the treaty were then Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Gareth Evans and then Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas.[3]

The Treaty has been the centre of much controversy as it was signed during a period of political uncertainty in East Timor.[2] In 1991, Portugal challenged the validity of the Treaty in the International Court of Justice but no case could be brought due to the Court's lack of jurisdiction.[4] The United Nations replaced Indonesia as a treaty party in 2000 after East Timor gained independence from Indonesia.[3] In 2002, the Timor Gap Treaty was replaced by the Timor Sea Treaty between the Government of East Timor and the Government of Australia.[5] In 2019, the Timor Sea Treaty was replaced by the Treaty Between Australia and the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste Establishing Their Maritime Boundaries in the Timor Sea.[5]

  1. ^ "Treaty between Australia and the Republic of Indonesia on the Zone of Cooperation in an Area between the Indonesian Province of East Timor and Northern Australia". Australasian Legal Information Institute - Australian Treaty Series 1991. 1991. Retrieved 20 October 2008.
  2. ^ a b Martin, W. and Pickersgill, D (1991). "The Timor Gap Treaty". Harvard International Law Journal. 32 (2): 566–581.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b Australia. Parliament. Senate. Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee. (1999). East Timor : final report of the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee. The Committee. ISBN 0-642-71103-8. OCLC 755697210.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :8 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :10 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).