Any changes to this territory require a law passed by a two thirds majority of the total number of parliament members.
Any changes affecting the Maldives’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) can only be implemented following a public referendum, the parliamentary committee has unanimously passed.
Currently, Article III of the Constitution defines the territory of the Maldives as the air, sea, and underwater area within the archipelagic baselines drawn in accordance with the law, along with the territorial sea beyond those baselines.
Any changes to this territory require a law passed by a two thirds majority of the total number of parliament members.
Hulhudhoo MP Mohamed Shahid, on behalf of the government, submitted the amendment to add clause (b) to Article III.
The proposed amendment stipulates that any alteration or impairment of the Maldives’ maritime territory including the archipelagic sea, surrounding sea area, the territory beyond it, and the EEZ, must be approved by an Act passed by at least two thirds of parliament members.
The amendment was passed and sent to a parliamentary committee for review. Baarah MP Ibrahim Shujau submitted an amendment stating that changes to the Maldives' special economic zone can be approved by a three fourths majority in parliament. The amendment passed with 78 votes in favour.
Additionally, MP Shujau proposed a constitutional amendment requiring any decision on changes to the sea area to be subject to a public referendum. This amendment was unanimously approved by the parliamentary committee today.
Mauritius submitted a dispute to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) regarding the separation of the Chagos Islands from the disputed waters between the Maldives and Mauritius. ITLOS ruled that the UK has no jurisdiction over the Chagos Islands and called for the delimitation of the maritime boundary between Mauritius and the Maldives. Consequently, part of the Maldives’ previously defined EEZ had been lost.
President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has sent a letter to Mauritius, following the UK’s agreement to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands located 500 kilometers south of the Maldives to Mauritius, expressing that transferring sovereignty of the islands to the Maldives would have been a preferable outcome.
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