United States
prolonged drought, population growth, and outmoded
practices and infrastructure in the border region strain
water-sharing arrangements with Mexico; the US has stepped up
efforts to stem nationals from Mexico, Central America, and other
parts of the world from crossing illegally into the US from Mexico;
illegal immigrants from the Caribbean, notably Haiti and the
Dominican Republic, attempt to enter the US through Florida by sea;
1990 Maritime Boundary Agreement in the Bering Sea still awaits
Russian Duma ratification; managed maritime boundary disputes with
Canada at Dixon Entrance, Beaufort Sea, Strait of Juan de Fuca, and
around the disputed Machias Seal Island and North Rock; US and
Canada seek greater cooperation in monitoring people and commodities
crossing the border; The Bahamas and US have not been able to agree
on a maritime boundary; US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay is leased
from Cuba and only mutual agreement or US abandonment of the area
can terminate the lease; Haiti claims US-administered Navassa
Island; US has made no territorial claim in Antarctica (but has
reserved the right to do so) and does not recognize the claims of
any other state; Marshall Islands claims Wake Island
United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges
none
Uruguay
uncontested dispute with Brazil over certain islands in the
Quarai/Cuareim and Invernada streams and the resulting tripoint with
Argentina
Uzbekistan
prolonged drought and cotton monoculture in Uzbekistan
and Turkmenistan creates water-sharing difficulties for Amu Darya
river states; delimitation with Kazakhstan complete with demarcation
underway; border delimitation of 130 km of border with Kyrgyzstan is
hampered by serious disputes around enclaves and other areas
Vanuatu
Matthew and Hunter Islands east of New Caledonia claimed by
Vanuatu and France
Venezuela
claims all of the area west of the Essequibo River in
Guyana, preventing any discussion of a maritime boundary; Guyana has
expressed its intention to join Barbados in asserting claims before
the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that
Trinidad and Tobago's maritime boundary with Venezuela extends into
their waters; dispute with Colombia over Los Monjes islands and
maritime boundary near the Gulf of Venezuela; Colombian-organized
illegal narcotics and paramilitary activities penetrate Venezuela's
shared border region resulting in several thousand residents
migrating away from the border; US, France, and the Netherlands
recognize Venezuela's claim to give full effect to Aves Island,
which creates a Venezuelan EEZ/continental shelf extending over a
large portion of the Caribbean Sea; Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis,
Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines protest
Venezuela's claim that Aves Island sustains human habitation and
other states' recognition of it
Vietnam
southeast Asian states have enhanced border surveillance to
check the spread of avian flu; Cambodia and Laos protest Vietnamese
squatters and armed encroachments along border; after years of
Cambodia claiming Vietnam had moved or destroyed boundary markers,
in 2005, after much domestic debate, Cambodia ratified an agreement
with Vietnam that settled all but a small portion of the land
boundary; establishment of a maritime boundary with Cambodia is
hampered by unresolved dispute over offshore islands; in 2004,
Laotian-Vietnamese boundary commission agrees to erect missing
markers in two adjoining provinces; demarcation of the China-Vietnam
boundary proceeds slowly and although the maritime boundary
delimitation and fisheries agreements were ratified in June 2004,
implementation has been delayed; China occupies Paracel Islands also
claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; involved in complex dispute with
China, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, and possibly Brunei over the
Spratly Islands; the 2002 "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in
the South China Sea" has eased tensions but falls short of a legally
binding "code of conduct" desired by several of the disputants;
Vietnam continues to expand construction of facilities in the
Spratly Islands; in March 2005, the national oil companies of China,
the Philippines, and Vietnam signed a joint accord to conduct marine
seismic activities in the Spratly Islands
Virgin Islands
none
Wake Island
claimed by Marshall Islands
Wallis and Futuna
none