Fiji, Oct. 26 -- Vanuatu has launched international arbitration proceedings against France over competing maritime claims involving reefs, atolls and small islands between Vanuatu and New Caledonia.
The proceedings, brought under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), seek an independent ruling on the legal status of features including Umaenupne (Matthew), Umaeneg/Leka (Hunter), Walpole Island and other reefs and atolls.
Vanuatu argues that under international law, features unable to sustain human habitation or an economic life of their own, as well as low-tide elevations, cannot generate extensive maritime zones.
France claims the features entitle it to maritime zones that include rights over fisheries and seabed ...