Indonesia will Support the Best Qualified and Honest ITLOS Judge Candidate

JAKARTA - Indonesia will support the candidate for judge at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) whose election will be held this week, following Indonesia's withdrawal from the nomination, said the spokesperson for the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yvonne Mewengkang.

The election of ITLOS judges will be held in the framework of the "36th Meeting of States Parties" of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which will be held on 15-19 June 2026 in New York, United States.

Originally, Indonesia nominated Ambassador Professor Dr. Eddy Pratomo SH., MH., as one of the candidates for the 2026-2035 period, before he died on April 29.

"Indonesia has officially withdrawn from the candidacy for ITLOS judges. Currently, there are three candidates from the Asia Pacific region, namely India, Thailand, and Vietnam, who are competing to fill the two available positions," Yvonne explained in a statement to VOI.id, Monday (15/6).

"The process of providing support and voting is confidential," he added.

Quoted from the ITlOS website, currently there are 10 candidates from a number of countries who will compete for the seven positions of ITLOS judges whose term of office will expire on September 30, 2026.

"Indonesia will support candidates who have the best capacity and integrity, and share views with Indonesia in upholding the principles and provisions of UNCLOS as the basis for international maritime legal governance," explained Yvonne.

Previously, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia Arif Havas Oegroseno announced Professor Eddy as a candidate for ITLOS judges, along with the nomination of Professor Hikmahanto Juwana SH, LL.M, Ph.D as a member of the International Law Commission (ILC) on May 9, 2025.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Havas, explained that Professor Eddy's nomination was inseparable from Indonesia as a state party to the international law of the sea convention UNCLOS 1982. However, since ITLOS was established in the same year, Indonesia has never had a judge sitting in the international maritime law court.

"On the other hand, Indonesia wants to reflect on developing countries, from the ASEAN region which must have representation. Moreover, Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world, it would be ideal, if the interests of developing countries, island countries can be reflected in the composition of international maritime law judges," he explained in a press statement at that time.

Meanwhile, Professor Eddy, who was also a Professor of Law at UNDIP at that time, said that representing Indonesia's view as the largest archipelago in the world and a very large sea, it is important to be conveyed in ITLOS.

He explained, Indonesia is a big country in the maritime sector, with two-thirds of its territory being the sea, and has the principle of an island nation.

He explained, Indonesia's position in the border line negotiations with neighboring countries, seeks to withdraw the line using archipelagic baselines. Unlike non-archipelago countries.

"The representation of Indonesian views, in my opinion, needs to contribute this thinking to ITLOS," he explained.

He explained, Indonesia wants to contribute to the creation of an advisory opinion (on international maritime law).

He said that although ITLOS is relatively less well known than the International Court of Justice (ICJ), it handles about 30 cases of disputes between countries. Later, ITLOS has a correlation with the current situation. Last year, ITLOS delivered an advisory opinion on climate change, sea level rise.

According to him, ITLOS must become a think-tank in the field of maritime legal problems. All negotiations, all maritime affairs, already have their constitution.

"The Basic Law at ITLOS is UNCLOS (1982), we are a party to UNCLOS and we are an island country, we have a special chapter, Chapter IV in UNCLOS on island countries," he said.

He added that if elected, he will later represent the Asia Pacific region which has about 4-5 judges in ITLOS. There are a total of 21 judges from around the world, including Latin America, Europe, America, Africa and Asia Pacific.