Thailand has formally submitted its response to Cambodia’s 2 June notification to enter compulsory conciliation proceedings over their maritime boundary dispute under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), reaffirming its preference for maritime delimitation over joint development.

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).

It has become clear that the Thailand-Cambodia maritime demarcation dispute will be subject to an international mechanism as Cambodia has recently invoked UN-backed compulsory conciliation in response to Thailand’s unilateral cancellation of a 25-year-old maritime MoU. Here’s all you need to know about the long-standing maritime dispute and the compulsory conciliation process.

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.