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 maritime boundary and
Venezuelan-administered Los Monjes islands near the Gulf of
Venezuela; Colombian-organized illegal narcotics and paramilitary
activities penetrate Venezuela's shared border region; in 2006, an
estimated 139,000 Colombians seek protection in 150 communities
along the border in Venezuela; US, France, and the Netherlands
recognize Venezuela's granting full effect to Aves Island, thereby
claiming a Venezuelan EEZ/continental shelf extending over a large
portion of the eastern Caribbean Sea; Dominica, Saint Kitts and
Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines protest
Venezuela's full effect claim
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
West Bank
West Bank and Gaza Strip are Israeli-occupied with current
status subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement -
permanent status to be determined through further negotiation;
Israel continues construction of a "seam line" separation barrier
along parts of the Green Line and within the West Bank; Israel
withdrew from four settlements in the northern West Bank in August
2005; since 1948, about 350 peacekeepers from the UN Truce
Supervision Organization (UNTSO), headquartered in Jerusalem,
monitor ceasefires, supervise armistice agreements, prevent isolated
incidents from escalating, and assist other UN personnel in the
region
Western Sahara
Morocco claims and administers Western Sahara, whose
sovereignty remains unresolved; UN-administered cease-fire has
remained in effect since September 1991, administered by the UN
Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), but attempts
to hold a referendum have failed and parties thus far have rejected
all brokered proposals
World
stretching over 250,000 km, the world's 329 international land
boundaries separate the 193 independent states and 73 dependencies,
areas of special sovereignty, and other miscellaneous entities;
ethnicity, culture, race, religion, and language have divided states
into separate political entities as much as history, physical
terrain, political fiat, or conquest, resulting in sometimes
arbitrary and imposed boundaries; maritime states have claimed
limits and have so far established over 130 maritime boundaries and
joint development zones to allocate ocean resources and to provide
for national security at sea; boundary, borderland/resource, and
territorial disputes vary in intensity from managed or dormant to
violent or militarized; most disputes over the alignment of
political boundaries are confined to short segments and are today
less common and less hostile than borderland, resource, and
territorial disputes; undemarcated, indefinite, porous, and
unmanaged boundaries, however, encourage illegal cross-border
activities, uncontrolled migration, and confrontation; territorial
disputes may evolve from historical and/or cultural claims, or they
may be brought on by resource competition; ethnic and cultural
clashes continue to be responsible for much of the territorial
fragmentation around the world; disputes over islands at sea or in
rivers frequently form the source of territorial and boundary
conflict; other sources of contention include access to water and
mineral (especially petroleum) resources, fisheries, and arable
land; nonetheless, most nations cooperate to clarify their
international boundaries and to resolve territorial and resource
disputes peacefully; regional discord today prevails not so much
between the armed forces of independent states as between stateless
armed entities that detract from the sustenance and welfare of local
populations, leaving the community of nations to cope with resultant
refugees, hunger, disease, impoverishment, and environmental
degradation
Yemen
Yemen protests Eritrea fishing around the Hanish Islands
awarded to Yemen by the ICJ in 1999; Saudi Arabia still maintains
the concrete-filled pipe as a security barrier along sections of the
border with Yemen in 2004 to stem illegal cross-border activities;
Yemen protests Saudi erection of a concrete-filled pipe as a
security barrier in 2004 to stem illegal cross-border activities in
sections of the boundary