Thailand has formally appointed two former presidents of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea as its conciliators for its maritime dispute proceedings with Cambodia. The move marks the latest step in a compulsory conciliation process that emerged after Thailand moved to terminate the maritime MoU that had long served as the framework for bilateral negotiations. Prachatai brings together the key facts on how Thailand's push to scrap the maritime MoU with Cambodia led the two countries to compulsory conciliation under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Thailand has resolved to unilaterally cancel the 2001 maritime MoU with Cambodia, moving forward with international mechanisms to address the maritime disputes. Cambodia swiftly responded, reaffirming its commitment to pursue “compulsory conciliation” under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The National Security Council of Thailand (NSC) has backed the unilateral cancellation of the bilateral maritime MoU with Cambodia. Thailand will instead negotiate with its counterpart through other mechanisms to settle long-standing Thai-Cambodian maritime disputes.

The Thai Navy has seized a Cambodian fishing boat and arrested its crew after they were allegedly found to have entered Thai waters illegally, prompting a protest from Cambodia that the act, in an area that Cambodia claimed as its territory, was illegitimate. The maritime boundary is one of the simmering tensions on the Thai-Cambodian land border.