Disputes – international

This entry includes a wide variety of situations that range from traditional bilateral boundary disputes to unilateral claims of one sort or another. Information regarding disputes over international terrestrial and maritime boundaries has been reviewed by the US Department of State. References to other situations involving borders or frontiers may also be included, such as resource disputes, geopolitical questions, or irredentist issues; however, inclusion does not necessarily constitute official acceptance or recognition by the US Government.

• Afghanistan

  Afghanistan-China: None identified
  
  Afghanistan-Iran: Afghan and Iranian commissioners have discussed boundary monument densification and resurvey; Iran protests Afghanistan's restricting flow of dammed Helmand River tributaries during drought
  
  Afghanistan-Pakistan: Pakistan has built fences in some portions of its border with Afghanistan which remains open in some areas to terrorist and other illegal activities. Their alignments may not always be in conformance with Durand Line and original surveyed definitions of the boundary.
  
  Afghanistan-Tajikistan: None identified
  
  Afghanistan-Turkmenistan: None identified
  
  Afghanistan-Uzbekistan: None identified. Boundary follows Amu Darya river as delimited in the Afghan-Soviet treaties and not by the river's current course. The boundary was delimited and possibly demarcated during Soviet times (pre-1991). No current negotiations between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan to redelimit the boundary have been identified. 
  
  Russia remains concerned about the smuggling of poppy derivatives from Afghanistan through Central Asian countries

• Albania

  none

• Algeria

  Algeria-Morocco: the Algerian-Moroccan land border remains closed; Algeria's border with Morocco remains an irritant to bilateral relations, each nation accusing the other of harboring militants and arms smuggling; the National Liberation Front's (FLN) assertions of a claim to Chirac Pastures in southeastern Morocco remain a dormant dispute
  
  Algeria-Libya: dormant dispute includes Libyan claims of about 32,000 sq km still reflected on its maps of southeastern Algeria
  
  Algeria-Mali: none identified
  
  Algeria-Mauritania: none identified
  
  Algeria-Niger: none identified
  
  Algeria-Tunisia: none identified

• American Samoa

  none identified

• Andorra

  Andorra-France: none identified
  
  Andorra-Spain: none identified

• Angola

  Angola-Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): DRC accuses Angola of shifting monuments
  
  Angola-Namibia: none identified
  
  Angola-Republic of Congo: (Kabinda Exclave) none identified
  
  Angola-Zambia: because the straight-line segments along the left bank (Zambian side) of the Cuando/Kwando River do not conform with the physical alignment of the unstable shoreline, Zambian residents in some areas have settled illegally on sections of shoreline that fall on the Angolan side of the boundary

• Anguilla

  none identified

• Antarctica

  the Antarctic Treaty freezes, and most states do not recognize, the land and maritime territorial claims made by Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the UK (some overlapping) for three-fourths of the continent; the US and Russia reserve the right to make claims

• Antigua and Barbuda

  none identified

• Arctic Ocean

  record summer melting of sea ice in the Arctic has renewed interest in maritime shipping lanes and sea floor exploration
  
  Canada-US: dispute how to divide the Beaufort Sea and the status of the Northwest Passage but continue to work cooperatively to survey the Arctic continental shelf
  
  Canada-Denmark (Greenland)-Norway: have made submissions to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental shelf (CLCS)
  
  Norway-Russia: signed a comprehensive maritime boundary agreement in 2010; Russia has augmented its 2001 CLCS submission

• Argentina

  Argentina-Bolivia: Contraband smuggling, human trafficking, and illegal narcotic trafficking are problems in the porous areas of the border with Bolivia
  
  Argentina-Brazil: Uncontested dispute between Brazil and Uruguay over Braziliera/Brasiliera Island in the Quarai/Cuareim River leaves the tripoint with Argentina in question.
  
  Argentina-Chile: The joint boundary commission, established by Chile and Argentina in 2001 has yet to map and demarcate the delimited boundary in the inhospitable Andean Southern Ice Field (Campo de Hielo Sur).
  
  Argentina-Paraguay: None identified
  
  Argentina-Uruguay: In 2010, the ICJ ruled in favor of Uruguay's operation of two paper mills on the Uruguay River, which forms the border with Argentina; the two countries formed a joint pollution monitoring regime. Isla de Martín Garcia situated in the Rio de la Plata estuary is wholly within Uruguayan territorial waters but up to its low tide mark, the island is Argentinian territory.  The island is accorded unrestricted access rights.
  
  Argentina-United Kingdom: Argentina continues to assert its claims to the UK-administered Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia, and the South Sandwich Islands in its constitution, forcibly occupying the Falklands in 1982, but in 1995 agreed to no longer seek settlement by force; UK continues to reject Argentine requests for sovereignty talks.

• Armenia

  local border forces struggle to control the illegal transit of goods and people across the porous, undemarcated Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Georgian borders
  
  Armenia-Azerbaijan: The dispute over the break-away Nagorno-Karabakh region and the Armenian military occupation of surrounding lands in Azerbaijan remains the primary focus of regional instability. Residents have evacuated the former Soviet-era small ethnic enclaves in Armenia and Azerbaijan.
  
  Armenia-Georgia: Georgians restrict Armenian access into Samtse-Javakheti ethnic Armenian areas. Armenia has made no claims to the region.
  
  Armenia-Iran: None identified
  
  Armenia-Turkey: In 2009, Swiss mediators facilitated an accord reestablishing diplomatic ties between Armenia and Turkey, but neither side has ratified the agreement and the rapprochement effort has faltered, in part due to resistance from Azerbaijan. The border has been closed since 1993, and no diplomatic relations established after Armenian independence. In 2022, Turkey and Armenia have agreed to move forward with efforts to normalize relations.
  Turkish authorities have complained that blasting from quarries in Armenia might be damaging the ruins of Ani, an ancient city on the high ridge overlooking the Arpaçay valley on the opposite shore. 

• Aruba

  none identified

• Ashmore and Cartier Islands

  Australia-Indonesia:  Australia has closed parts of the Ashmore and Cartier reserve to Indonesian traditional fishing; Indonesian groups challenge Australia's claim to Ashmore Reef

• Atlantic Ocean

  some maritime disputes (see littoral states)

• Australia

  Australia-Indonesia (Maritime Boundary): All borders between Indonesia and Australia have been agreed upon bilaterally, but a 1997 treaty that would settle the last of their maritime and EEZ boundary has yet to be ratified by Indonesia's legislature. Indonesian groups challenge Australia's claim to Ashmore Reef. Australia closed parts of the Ashmore and Cartier reserve to Indonesian traditional fishing.
  
  Australia-Timor-Leste (Maritime Boundary): In 2007, Australia and Timor-Leste agreed to a 50-year development zone and revenue sharing arrangement and deferred a maritime boundary.

• Austria

  none identified

• Azerbaijan

  Local border forces struggle to control the illegal transit of goods and people across the porous, undemarcated Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Georgian borders.
  
  Armenia-Azerbaijan: The dispute over the break-away Nagorno-Karabakh region and the Armenian military occupation of surrounding lands in Azerbaijan remains the primary focus of regional instability. Residents have evacuated the former Soviet-era small ethnic enclaves in Armenia and Azerbaijan.
  
  Azerbaijan-Georgia: A joint boundary commission agrees on most of the alignment, leaving only small areas at certain crossing points in dispute.  Consequently, the two states have yet to agree on a delimitation or demarcation of their common boundary. One area of contention is where the international boundary should run through the 6th-13th Century David-Gareja monastery complex.
  
  Azerbaijan-Iran: none identified
  
  Azerbaijan-Russia: Russia complains of cross-border smuggling.
  
  Azerbaijan-Turkey: none identified
  
  Caspian Sea (Maritime Boundary): Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia ratified the Caspian seabed delimitation treaties based on equidistance, while Iran continues to insist on a one-fifth slice of the sea. Bilateral talks continue with Turkmenistan on dividing the seabed and contested oilfields in the middle of the Caspian.

• Bahamas, The

  The Bahamas-US (Maritime Boundary): In declaring its archipelagic waters and 200 nm EEZ in 1993 legislation, The Bahamas did not delimit the outer limits of the EEZ; but in areas where EEZs overlap with neighbors, The Bahamas agreed to equidistance as a line of separation.  However, The Bahamas has yet to define maritime boundaries with any of its neighbors, including the United States, whose Florida coast lays about 70 nm from Grand Bahama Island.

• Bahrain

  none identified

• Bangladesh

  Bangladesh-Burma: Burmese border authorities are constructing a 200 km (124 mi) wire fence designed to deter illegal cross-border transit and tensions from the military build-up along border.
  
  Bangladesh-India: Bangladesh referred its maritime boundary claims with Burma and India to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea; Indian Prime Minister Singh's September 2011 visit to Bangladesh resulted in the signing of a Protocol to the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement between India and Bangladesh, which had called for the settlement of longstanding boundary disputes over un-demarcated areas and the exchange of territorial enclaves, but which had never been implemented.

• Barbados

  Barbados-Venezuela (Maritime Boundary): Barbados joins other Caribbean states and the United Kingdom to counter Venezuela's claim that Aves Island, a large sandbar with some vegetation, sustains human habitation or economic life, the criteria under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Article 121, which would permit Venezuela to extend its EEZ/continental shelf over a large portion of the eastern Caribbean Sea.  The dispute hampers hydrocarbon prospecting and creation of exploration blocks. 
  
  Barbados-Trinidad and Tobago (Maritime Boundary): Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago abide by the April 2006 Permanent Court of Arbitration decision delimiting a maritime boundary and limiting catches of flying fish in Trinidad and Tobago's exclusive economic zone.

• Belarus

  Belarus-Latvia: Boundary demarcated with Latvia.
  
  Belarus-Lithuania: Boundary demarcated with Lithuania.
  
  Belarus-Poland: As a member state that forms part of the EU's external border, Poland has implemented strict Schengen border rules to restrict illegal immigration and trade along its border with Belarus.

• Belgium

  none identified

• Belize

  Belize-Guatemala: Demarcated but insecure boundary due to Guatemala’s claims to more than half of Belizean territory.  Line of Adjacency operates in lieu of an international boundary to control influx of Guatemalan squatters onto Belizean territory. Smuggling, narcotics trafficking, and human trafficking for sexual exploitation and debt bondage are all problems. Belize lacks resources to detect and extradite impoverished Guatemalan peasants squatting in Belizean rain forests in the remote border areas. At present, Belize and Honduras 12-nm territorial sea claims close off Guatemalan access to Caribbean in the Bahia de Amatique. Maritime boundary remains unresolved pending further negotiation.
  
  Belize-Honduras: Honduras claims the Belizean-administered Sapodilla Cays off the coast of Belize in its constitution, but agreed to a joint ecological park around the cays should Guatemala consent to a maritime corridor in the Caribbean under the OAS-sponsored 2002 Belize-Guatemala Differendum.

  Belize-Mexico: Belize and Mexico are working to solve minor border demarcation discrepancies arising from inaccuracies in the 1898 border treaty. Transshipment of illegal narcotics, smuggling, human trafficking, illegal immigration, and the growing of marijuana in very low population areas are all issues in the region today.

• Benin

  Benin-Burkina Faso: Benin retains a border dispute with Burkina Faso near the town of Koualau/Kourou.
  
  Benin-Togo: Talks continue between Benin and Togo on funding the Adjarala hydroelectric dam on the Mona River.
  
  Benin-Niger: The location of Benin-Niger-Nigeria tripoint is unresolved.

• Bermuda

  none identified

• Bhutan

  Bhutan-China: Lacking any treaty describing the boundary, Bhutan and China continue negotiations to establish a common boundary alignment to resolve territorial disputes arising from substantial cartographic discrepancies, the most contentious of which lie in Bhutan's west along China’s Chumbi salient.
  
  Bhutan-India: none identified

• Bolivia

  Contraband smuggling, human trafficking, and illegal narcotic trafficking are problems in the porous areas of its border regions with all of its neighbors (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Peru).
  
  Bolivia-Chile: Despite tariff-free access to ports in southern Peru and northern Chile, Bolivia persists with its long-standing claims to regain sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean.
  
  Bolivia-Peru: Despite tariff-free access to ports in southern Peru and northern Chile, Bolivia persists with its long-standing claims to regain sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean. Smuggling of archaeological artifacts from Peru to Bolivia, illegal timber and narcotics smuggling, human trafficking, and falsified documents are current issues. 
  
  Bolivia-Brazil: The Roboré Accord of March 29, 1958 placed the long-disputed Isla Suárez/Ilha de Guajará-Mirim, a fluvial island on the Río Mamoré, between the two towns of Guajará-Mirim (Brazil) and Guayaramerin (Bolivia), under Bolivian administration but did not resolve the sovereignty dispute
  
  Bolivia-Argentina: Contraband smuggling, human trafficking, and illegal narcotic trafficking are problems in the porous areas of the border. 
  
  Bolivia-Paraguay: On April 27, 2009, the president of Argentina hosted the presidents of Bolivia and Paraguay together with representatives of the fiver other guarantor states -- Brazil, Chile, Peru, the United States, and Uruguay -- to the signing for the Final Record of the Boundary Commission in execution of the 1938 Peace Treaty between Bolivia and Paraguay.

• Bosnia and Herzegovina

  Bosnia and Herzegovina-Serbia: Serbia delimited about half of the boundary with Bosnia and Herzegovina, but sections along the Drina River remain in dispute.
  
  Bosnia and Herzegovina-Croatia: none identified
  
  Bosnia and Herzegovina-Montenegro: none identified

• Botswana

  none identified

• Bouvet Island

  none identified

• Brazil

  Brazil-Bolivia: The Roboré Accord of March 29, 1958 placed the long-disputed Isla Suárez/Ilha de Guajará-Mirim, a fluvial island on the Río Mamoré, between the two towns of Guajará-Mirim (Brazil) and Guayaramerin (Bolivia), under Bolivian administration but did not resolve the sovereignty dispute
  
  Brazil-Colombia: Contraband smuggling (narcotics and arms), illegal migration, trafficking in animals, plants, lumber, illegal exploitation of mineral resources, Colombian (FARC) insurgent incursions in the area remain problematic issues.
  
  Brazil-Uruguay: The uncontested boundary dispute between Brazil and Uruguay over over Arroyo de la Invernada triangle and sovereignty over Isla Brasilera leaves the tripoint with Argentina in question. Smuggling of firearms and narcotics continues to be an issue along the Uruguay-Brazil border.
  
  Brazil-Venezuela: Colombian-organized illegal narcotics and paramilitary activities penetrate Brazil's border region with Venezuela.

• British Indian Ocean Territory

  Mauritius and Seychelles claim the Chagos Islands; negotiations between 1971 and 1982 resulted in the establishment of a trust fund by the British Government as compensation for the displaced islanders, known as Chagossians, who were evicted between 1967-73; in 2001, the former inhabitants of the archipelago were granted UK citizenship and the right of return; in 2006 and 2007, British court rulings invalidated the immigration policies contained in the 2004 BIOT Constitution Order that had excluded the islanders from the archipelago; in 2008, a House of Lords' decision overturned lower court rulings, once again denying the right of return to Chagossians; in addition, the UK created the world's largest marine protection area around the Chagos islands prohibiting the extraction of any natural resources therein

• British Virgin Islands

  none

• Brunei

  per Letters of Exchange signed in 2009, Malaysia in 2010 ceded two hydrocarbon concession blocks to Brunei in exchange for Brunei's sultan dropping claims to the Limbang corridor, which divides Brunei; nonetheless, Brunei claims a maritime boundary extending as far as a median with Vietnam, thus asserting an implicit claim to Louisa Reef

• Bulgaria

  none

• Burkina Faso

  adding to illicit cross-border activities, Burkina Faso has issues concerning unresolved boundary alignments with its neighbors; demarcation is currently underway with Mali; the dispute with Niger was referred to the ICJ in 2010, and a dispute over several villages with Benin persists; Benin retains a border dispute with Burkina Faso around the town of Koualau/Kourou

• Burma

  over half of Burma's population consists of diverse ethnic groups who have substantial numbers of kin in neighboring countries; Bangladesh struggles to accommodate 912,000 Rohingya, Burmese Muslim minority from Rakhine State, living as refugees in Cox's Bazar; Burmese border authorities are constructing a 200 km (124 mi) wire fence designed to deter illegal cross-border transit and tensions from the military build-up along border with Bangladesh in 2010; Bangladesh referred its maritime boundary claims with Burma and India to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea; Burmese forces attempting to dig in to the largely autonomous Shan State to rout local militias tied to the drug trade, prompts local residents to periodically flee into neighboring Yunnan Province in China; fencing along the India-Burma international border at Manipur's Moreh town is in progress to check illegal drug trafficking and movement of militants; over 100,000 mostly Karen refugees and asylum seekers fleeing civil strife, political upheaval, and economic stagnation in Burma were living in remote camps in Thailand near the border as of May 2017

• Burundi

  cross-border conflicts persist among Tutsi, Hutu, other ethnic groups, associated political rebels, armed gangs, and various government forces in the Great Lakes region
  
  Burundi-Rwanda: Burundi's Ngozi province and Rwanda's Butare province dispute the two-kilometer-square hilly farmed area of Sabanerwa in the Rukurazi Valley where the Akanyaru/Kanyaru River shifted its course southward after heavy rains in 1965 around Kibinga Hill in Rwanda's Butare Province
  
  
  

• Cabo Verde

  none

• Cambodia

  Cambodia-Laos: Cambodia is concerned that Laos' extensive upstream dam construction will affect Cambodian waters downstream

  Cambodia-Thailand: Cambodia and Thailand have agreed to maintain peace along the border regardless of the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over territorial dispute near Cambodia's Preah Vihear Temple; the ICJ decision of 11 November 2013 determined that Cambodia had sovereignty over the whole territory of the promontory of Preah Vihear; the border disputes do not involve large amounts of territory, and most of the issues were settled by the Nov. 11, 2013 ICJ ruling

  Cambodia-Vietnam: issues include casinos built in Cambodia near the border (gambling and prostitution); narcotics (criminals, crime, and abuse); trafficking of women and children, petrol smuggling into Cambodia from Vietnam, illegal logging, and illegal migration; a positive development is the special economic Zone in Bavet, Svay Rieng Province, Cambodia that is being developed by the Manhattan (Svay Rieng) International Group of Taiwan

• Cameroon

  Joint Border Commission with Nigeria reviewed 2002 ICJ ruling on the entire boundary and bilaterally resolved differences, including June 2006 Greentree Agreement that immediately ceded sovereignty of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon with a full phase-out of Nigerian control and patriation of residents in 2008; Cameroon and Nigeria agreed on maritime delimitation in March 2008; sovereignty dispute between Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon over an island at the mouth of the Ntem River; only Nigeria and Cameroon have heeded the Lake Chad Commission's admonition to ratify the delimitation treaty, which also includes the Chad-Niger and Niger-Nigeria boundaries

• Canada

  managed maritime boundary disputes with the US at Dixon Entrance, Beaufort Sea, Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the Gulf of Maine, including the disputed Machias Seal Island and North Rock; Canada and the United States dispute how to divide the Beaufort Sea and the status of the Northwest Passage but continue to work cooperatively to survey the Arctic continental shelf; US works closely with Canada to intensify security measures for monitoring and controlling legal and illegal movement of people, transport, and commodities across the international border; sovereignty dispute with Denmark over Hans Island in the Kennedy Channel between Ellesmere Island and Greenland; commencing the collection of technical evidence for submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in support of claims for continental shelf beyond 200 nm from its declared baselines in the Arctic, as stipulated in Article 76, paragraph 8, of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea

• Cayman Islands

  none

• Central African Republic

  Central African Republic-South Sudan: periodic violent skirmishes persist among related pastoral populations along the border with South Sudan over water and grazing rights

  Central African Republic-Sudan: periodic violent skirmishes persist among related pastoral populations along the border with Sudan over water and grazing rights

• Chad

  since 2003, ad hoc armed militia groups and the Sudanese military have driven hundreds of thousands of Darfur residents into Chad; Chad wishes to be a helpful mediator in resolving the Darfur conflict, and in 2010 established a joint border monitoring force with Sudan, which has helped to reduce cross-border banditry and violence; only Nigeria and Cameroon have heeded the Lake Chad Commission's admonition to ratify the delimitation treaty, which also includes the Chad-Niger and Niger-Nigeria boundaries

• Chile

  Chile and Peru rebuff Bolivia's reactivated claim to restore the Atacama corridor, ceded to Chile in 1884, but Chile has offered instead unrestricted but not sovereign maritime access through Chile to Bolivian natural gas; Chile rejects Peru's unilateral legislation to change its latitudinal maritime boundary with Chile to an equidistance line with a southwestern axis favoring Peru; in October 2007, Peru took its maritime complaint with Chile to the ICJ; territorial claim in Antarctica (Chilean Antarctic Territory) partially overlaps Argentine and British claims; the joint boundary commission, established by Chile and Argentina in 2001, has yet to map and demarcate the delimited boundary in the inhospitable Andean Southern Ice Field (Campo de Hielo Sur)

• China

  China and India continue their security and foreign policy dialogue started in 2005 related to a number of boundary disputes across the 2,000 mile shared border; India does not recognize Pakistan's 1964 ceding to China of the Aksai Chin, a territory designated as part of the princely state of Kashmir by the British Survey of India in 1865; China claims most of the Indian state Arunachal Pradesh to the base of the Himalayas, but the US recognizes the state of Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory; Bhutan and China continue negotiations to establish a common boundary alignment to resolve territorial disputes arising from substantial cartographic discrepancies, the most contentious of which lie in Bhutan's west along China's Chumbi salient; Chinese maps show an international boundary symbol (the so-called “nine-dash line”) off the coasts of the littoral states of the South China Sea, where China has interrupted Vietnamese hydrocarbon exploration; China asserts sovereignty over Scarborough Reef along with the Philippines and Taiwan, and over the Spratly Islands together with Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Brunei; the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea eased tensions in the Spratlys, and in 2017 China and ASEAN began confidential negotiations for an updated Code of Conduct for the South China Sea designed not to settle territorial disputes but establish rules and norms in the region; this still is not the legally binding code of conduct sought by some parties; Vietnam and China continue to expand construction of facilities in the Spratlys and in early 2018 China began deploying advanced military systems to disputed Spratly outposts; China occupies some of the Paracel Islands also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands are also claimed by China and Taiwan; certain islands in the Yalu and Tumen Rivers are in dispute with North Korea; North Korea and China seek to stem illegal migration to China by North Koreans, fleeing privation and oppression; China and Russia have demarcated the once disputed islands at the Amur and Ussuri confluence and in the Argun River in accordance with their 2004 Agreement; China and Tajikistan have begun demarcating the revised boundary agreed to in the delimitation of 2002; the decade-long demarcation of the China-Vietnam land boundary was completed in 2009; citing environmental, cultural, and social concerns, China has reconsidered construction of 13 dams on the Salween River, but energy-starved Burma, with backing from Thailand, continues to consider building five hydro-electric dams downstream despite regional and international protests

• Christmas Island

  none

• Clipperton Island

  none

• Cocos (Keeling) Islands

  none

• Colombia

  in December 2007, ICJ allocated San Andres, Providencia, and Santa Catalina islands to Colombia under 1928 Treaty but did not rule on 82 degrees W meridian as maritime boundary with Nicaragua; managed dispute with Venezuela over maritime boundary and Venezuelan-administered Los Monjes Islands near the Gulf of Venezuela; Colombian-organized illegal narcotics, guerrilla, and paramilitary activities penetrate all neighboring borders and have caused Colombian citizens to flee mostly into neighboring countries; Colombia, Honduras, Nicaragua, Jamaica, and the US assert various claims to Bajo Nuevo and Serranilla Bank

• Comoros

  claims French-administered Mayotte and challenges France's and Madagascar's claims to Banc du Geyser, a drying reef in the Mozambique Channel; in May 2008, African Union forces assisted the Comoros military in recapturing Anjouan Island from rebels who seized it in 2001

• Congo, Democratic Republic of the

  heads of the Great Lakes states and UN pledged in 2004 to abate tribal, rebel, and militia fighting in the region, including northeast Congo, where the UN Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), organized in 1999, maintains over 16,500 uniformed peacekeepers
  
  Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC)-Republic of the Congo: the location of the boundary in the broad Congo River is indefinite except in the Pool Malebo/Stanley Pool area
  
  Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC)-Uganda: Uganda rejects the DRC claim to Margherita Peak in the Rwenzori mountains and considers it a boundary divide; there is tension and violence on Lake Albert over prospective oil reserves at the mouth of the Semliki River
  
  Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC)-Zambia: boundary commission continues discussions over Congolese-administered triangle of land on the right bank of the Lunkinda River claimed by Zambia near the DRC village of Pweto
  
  Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC)-Angola: DRC accuses Angola of shifting monuments

• Congo, Republic of the

  Republic of the Congo-Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC): the location of the boundary in the broad Congo River is indefinite except in the Pool Malebo/Stanley Pool area
  
  Republic of the Congo-Angola: (Kabinda Exclave) None identified

• Cook Islands

  none

• Coral Sea Islands

  none

• Costa Rica

  Costa Rica and Nicaragua regularly file border dispute cases over the delimitations of the San Juan River and the northern tip of Calero Island to the International Court of Justice (ICJ); in 2009, the ICJ ruled that Costa Rican vessels carrying out police activities could not use the river, but official Costa Rican vessels providing essential services to riverside inhabitants and Costa Rican tourists could travel freely on the river; in 2011, the ICJ provisionally ruled that both countries must remove personnel from the disputed area; in 2013, the ICJ rejected Nicaragua's 2012 suit to halt Costa Rica's construction of a highway paralleling the river on the grounds of irreparable environmental damage; in 2013, the ICJ, regarding the disputed territory, ordered that Nicaragua should refrain from dredging or canal construction and refill and repair damage caused by trenches connecting the river to the Caribbean and upheld its 2010 ruling that Nicaragua must remove all personnel; in early 2014, Costa Rica brought Nicaragua to the ICJ over offshore oil concessions in the disputed region

• Cote d'Ivoire

  disputed maritime border between Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana

• Croatia

  dispute remains with Bosnia and Herzegovina over several small sections of the boundary related to maritime access that hinders ratification of the 1999 border agreement; since the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, Croatia and Slovenia have each claimed sovereignty over Piranski Bay and four villages, and Slovenia has objected to Croatia's claim of an exclusive economic zone in the Adriatic Sea; in 2009, however Croatia and Slovenia signed a binding international arbitration agreement to define their disputed land and maritime borders, which led to Slovenia lifting its objections to Croatia joining the EU; Croatia joined the Schengen Zone on 1 January 2023

• Cuba

  US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay is leased to US and only mutual agreement or US abandonment of the facility can terminate the lease

• Cyprus

  hostilities in 1974 divided the island into two de facto autonomous entities, the internationally recognized Cypriot Government and a Turkish-Cypriot community (north Cyprus); the 1,000-strong UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) has served in Cyprus since 1964 and maintains the buffer zone between north and south; on 1 May 2004, Cyprus entered the EU still divided, with the EU's body of legislation and standards (acquis communitaire) suspended in the north; Turkey protests Cypriot Government creating hydrocarbon blocks and maritime boundary with Lebanon in March 2007

• Czechia

  none

• Denmark

  Iceland, the UK, and Ireland dispute Denmark's claim that the Faroe Islands' continental shelf extends beyond 200 nm; sovereignty dispute with Canada over Hans Island in the Kennedy Channel between Ellesmere Island and Greenland; Denmark (Greenland) and Norway have made submissions to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) and Russia is collecting additional data to augment its 2001 CLCS submission

• Djibouti

  Djibouti-Somalia: Djibouti maintains economic ties and border accords with "Somaliland" leadership while maintaining some political ties to various factions in Somalia;

  Djibouti-Eritrea: in 2008, Eritrean troops moved across the border on Ras Doumera peninsula and occupied Doumera Island with undefined sovereignty in the Red Sea; the Eritrean occupation of remote Doumeira Island and portions peninsula persists unabated as of September 2009; porous boundary over largely uninhabited areas provides access for smuggling and other illegal activities; as of 7 June 2010, Qatar was mediating Eritrea-Djibouti border dispute,

  Djibouti-Ethiopia: While Djibouti has had significant issues along its border with neighbors such as Somalia and Eritrea, the Ethiopia-Djibouti relationship has been relatively harmonious; diplomatic relations between the two countries were initially established in 1984; historically, there is co-ownership of the Addis Ababa-Djibout railways and acts as a symbol of the healthy bi-lateral partnership between both Ethiopia and Djibouti; in 1991 a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation was signed by the two countries; Ethiopia uses the Port of Djibouti as a major hub for export and import of goods since 1998; after establishing independence, there have been no major disputes along this border.

• Dominica

  Dominica is the only Caribbean state to challenge Venezuela's sovereignty claim over Aves Island and joins the other island nations in challenging whether the feature sustains human habitation, a criterion under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which permits Venezuela to extend its EEZ and continental shelf claims over a large portion of the eastern Caribbean Sea

• Dominican Republic

  Haitian migrants cross the porous border into the Dominican Republic to find work; illegal migrants from the Dominican Republic cross the Mona Passage each year to Puerto Rico to find better work

• Ecuador

  organized illegal narcotics operations in Colombia penetrate across Ecuador's shared border

• Egypt

  Sudan claims but Egypt de facto administers security and economic development of Halaib region north of the 22nd parallel boundary; Egypt no longer shows its administration of the Bir Tawil trapezoid in Sudan on its maps; Gazan breaches in the security wall with Egypt in January 2008 highlight difficulties in monitoring the Sinai border

• El Salvador

  El Salvador-Honduras: International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on the delimitation of "bolsones" (disputed areas) along the El Salvador-Honduras border in 1992 with final settlement by the parties in 2006 after an Organization of American States survey and a further ICJ ruling in 2003; the 1992 ICJ ruling advised a tripartite resolution to a maritime boundary in the Gulf of Fonseca with consideration of Honduran access to the Pacific; El Salvador continues to claim tiny Conejo Island, not mentioned in the ICJ ruling, off Honduras in the Gulf of Fonseca.

• Equatorial Guinea

  Equatorial Guinea-Cameroon: in 2002, ICJ ruled on an equidistance settlement of Cameroon-Equatorial Guinea-Nigeria maritime boundary in the Gulf of Guinea, but a dispute between Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon over an island at the mouth of the Ntem River and imprecisely defined maritime coordinates in the ICJ decision delayed final delimitation

  Equatorial Guinea-Gabon: UN urged Equatorial Guinea and Gabon to resolve the sovereignty dispute over Gabon-occupied Mbane and lesser islands and to create a maritime boundary in the hydrocarbon-rich Corisco Bay

• Eritrea

  Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to abide by 2002 Ethiopia-Eritrea Boundary Commission's (EEBC) delimitation decision, but neither party responded to the revised line detailed in the November 2006 EEBC Demarcation Statement; Sudan accuses Eritrea of supporting eastern Sudanese rebel groups; in 2008, Eritrean troops moved across the border on Ras Doumera peninsula and occupied Doumera Island with undefined sovereignty in the Red Sea

• Estonia

  Russia and Estonia in May 2005 signed a technical border agreement, but Russia in June 2005 recalled its signature after the Estonian parliament added to its domestic ratification act a historical preamble referencing the Soviet occupation and Estonia's pre-war borders under the 1920 Treaty of Tartu; Russia contends that the preamble allows Estonia to make territorial claims on Russia in the future, while Estonian officials deny that the preamble has any legal impact on the treaty text; Russia demands better treatment of the Russian-speaking population in Estonia; as a member state that forms part of the EU's external border, Estonia implements strict Schengen border rules with Russia

• Eswatini

  in 2006, Swati king advocated resorting to ICJ to claim parts of Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal from South Africa

• Ethiopia

  Ethiopia-Eritrea: Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to abide by the 2002 Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission's (EEBC) delimitation decision, but neither party responded to the revised line detailed in the November 2006 EEBC Demarcation Statement
  
  Ethiopia-Somalia: While border clashes continue in the al-Fashqa (Fashaga) area, the US views the 1902 boundary treaty between Ethiopia and Sudan as being in force; the undemarcated former British administrative line has little meaning as a political separation to rival clans within Ethiopia's Ogaden and southern Somalia's Oromo region; Ethiopian forces invaded southern Somalia and routed Islamist courts from Mogadishu in January 2007; "Somaliland" secessionists provide port facilities in Berbera and trade ties to landlocked Ethiopia; 
  
  Ethiopia-Sudan: Ethiopia's construction of a large dam (the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam) on the Blue Nile since 2011 has become a focal point of relations with Egypt and Sudan; as of 2020, four years of three-way talks between the three capitals over operating the dam and filling its reservoir had made little progress; Ethiopia began filling the dam in July 2020; civil unrest in eastern Sudan has hampered efforts to demarcate the porous boundary with Ethiopia

• European Union

  as a political union, the EU has no border disputes with neighboring countries, but Estonia has no land boundary agreements with Russia, Slovenia disputes its land and maritime boundaries with Croatia, and Spain has territorial and maritime disputes with Morocco and with the UK over Gibraltar; the EU has set up a Schengen area - consisting of 23 EU member states that have signed the convention implementing the Schengen agreements or "acquis" (1985 and 1990) on the free movement of persons and the harmonization of border controls in Europe; these agreements became incorporated into EU law with the implementation of the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam on 1 May 1999; in addition, non-EU states Iceland and Norway (as part of the Nordic Union) have been included in the Schengen area since 1996 (full members in 2001), Switzerland since 2008, and Liechtenstein since 2011 bringing the total current membership to 27; the UK (since 2000) and Ireland (since 2002) take part in only some aspects of the Schengen area, especially with respect to police and criminal matters; nine of the 13 new member states that joined the EU since 2004 joined Schengen on 21 December 2007; EU member state Croatia joined on 1 January 2023; of the three remaining EU states, Romania and Bulgaria are obligated to eventually join, while Cyprus' entry is held up by the ongoing Cyprus dispute

  
  
  note: three of Europe's microstates - Monaco, San Marino, and the Holy See (Vatican City) - maintain open borders for passenger traffic with their neighbors and are thus de facto members of the Schengen Area, since it is impossible to travel to or from them without transiting another Schengen member country

• Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)

  Argentina, which claims the islands in its constitution and briefly occupied them by force in 1982, agreed in 1995 to no longer seek settlement by force; UK continues to reject Argentine requests for sovereignty talks

• Faroe Islands

  because anticipated offshore hydrocarbon resources have not been realized, earlier Faroese proposals for full independence have been deferred; Iceland, the UK, and Ireland dispute Denmark's claim to UNCLOS that the Faroe Islands' continental shelf extends beyond 200 nm

• Fiji

  Fiji-Tonga: Fiji does not recognize Tonga’s 1972 claim to the Minerva Reefs and their surrounding waters; the Minerva Reefs’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone includes valuable fishing grounds

• Finland

  various groups in Finland advocate restoration of Karelia and other areas ceded to the former Soviet Union, but the Finnish Government asserts no territorial demands

• France

  Madagascar claims the French territories of Bassas da India, Europa Island, Glorioso Islands, and Juan de Nova Island; Comoros claims Mayotte; Mauritius claims Tromelin Island; territorial dispute between Suriname and the French overseas department of French Guiana; France asserts a territorial claim in Antarctica (Adelie Land); France and Vanuatu claim Matthew and Hunter Islands, east of New Caledonia

• French Polynesia

  none

• French Southern and Antarctic Lands

  French claim to "Adelie Land" in Antarctica is not recognized by the US;

  Bassas da India, Europa Island, Glorioso Islands, Juan de Nova Island (Iles Eparses): ; claimed by Madagascar; the vegetated drying cays of Banc du Geyser, which were claimed by Madagascar in 1976, also fall within the EEZ claims of the Comoros and France (Glorioso Islands); ;

  Tromelin Island (Iles Eparses): ; claimed by Mauritius

• Gabon

  UN urges Equatorial Guinea and Gabon to resolve the sovereignty dispute over Gabon-occupied Mbane Island and lesser islands and to establish a maritime boundary in hydrocarbon-rich Corisco Bay

• Gambia, The

  attempts to stem refugees, cross-border raids, arms smuggling, and other illegal activities by separatists from southern Senegal's Casamance region, as well as from conflicts in other west African states

• Gaza Strip

  according to the Oslo Accords, the status of the Gaza Strip is a final status issue to be resolved through negotiations; Israel removed settlers and military personnel from Gaza Strip in September 2005

• Georgia

  Russia's military support and subsequent recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia independence in 2008 continue to sour relations with Georgia

• Germany

  none

• Ghana

  disputed maritime border between Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire

• Gibraltar

  in 2002, Gibraltar residents voted overwhelmingly by referendum to reject any "shared sovereignty" arrangement; the Government of Gibraltar insists on equal participation in talks between the UK and Spain; Spain disapproves of UK plans to grant Gibraltar even greater autonomy

• Greece

  Greece and Turkey continue discussions to resolve their complex maritime, air, territorial, and boundary disputes in the Aegean Sea; the mass migration of unemployed Albanians still remains a problem for developed countries, chiefly Greece and Italy

• Greenland

  managed dispute between Canada and Denmark over Hans Island in the Kennedy Channel between Canada's Ellesmere Island and Greenland; Denmark (Greenland) and Norway have made submissions to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) and Russia is collecting additional data to augment its 2001 CLCS submission

• Grenada

  none

• Guam

  none

• Guatemala

  Guatemala-Belize: Demarcated but insecure boundary due to Guatemala’s claims to more than half of Belizean territory.  Line of Adjacency operates in lieu of an international boundary to control influx of Guatemalan squatters onto Belizean territory. Smuggling, narcotics trafficking, and human trafficking for sexual exploitation and debt bondage are all problems. Belize lacks resources to detect and extradite impoverished Guatemalan peasants squatting in Belizean rain forests in the remote border areas. Both countries agreed in April 2012 to hold simultaneous referenda, scheduled for 6 October 2013, to decide whether to refer the dispute to the ICJ for binding resolution, but this vote was suspended indefinitely. At present, Belize and Honduras 12-nm territorial sea claims close off Guatemalan access to Caribbean in the Bahia de Amatique. Maritime boundary remains unresolved pending further negotiation.
  
  Guatemala-Mexico: Mexico must deal with thousands of impoverished Guatemalans and other Central Americans who cross the porous border looking for work in Mexico and the US.

• Guernsey

  none

• Guinea

  Sierra Leone considers Guinea's definition of the flood plain limits to define the left bank boundary of the Makona and Moa Rivers excessive and protests Guinea's continued occupation of these lands, including the hamlet of Yenga, occupied since 1998

• Guinea-Bissau

  a longstanding low-grade conflict continues in parts of Casamance, in Senegal across the border; some rebels use Guinea-Bissau as a safe haven

• Guyana

  all of the area west of the Essequibo River is claimed by Venezuela preventing any discussion of a maritime boundary; Guyana has expressed its intention to join Barbados in asserting claims before UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that Trinidad and Tobago's maritime boundary with Venezuela extends into their waters; Suriname claims a triangle of land between the New and Kutari/Koetari Rivers in a historic dispute over the headwaters of the Courantyne

• Haiti

  since 2004, peacekeepers from the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti have assisted in maintaining civil order in Haiti; the mission currently includes 6,685 military, 2,607 police, and 443 civilian personnel; despite efforts to control illegal migration, Haitians cross into the Dominican Republic and sail to neighboring countries; Haiti claims US-administered Navassa Island

• Heard Island and McDonald Islands

  none

• Holy See (Vatican City)

  none

• Honduras

  Honduras-El Salvador: International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on the delimitation of "bolsones" (disputed areas) along the El Salvador-Honduras border in 1992 with final settlement by the parties in 2006 after an Organization of American States survey and a further ICJ ruling in 2003; the 1992 ICJ ruling advised a tripartite resolution to a maritime boundary in the Gulf of Fonseca with consideration of Honduran access to the Pacific; El Salvador continues to claim tiny Conejo Island, not mentioned in the ICJ ruling, off Honduras in the Gulf of Fonseca.
  
  Honduras-Belize: Honduras claims the Belizean-administered Sapodilla Cays off the coast of Belize in its constitution, but agreed to a joint ecological park around the cays should Guatemala consent to a maritime corridor in the Caribbean under the OAS-sponsored 2002 Belize-Guatemala Differendum

• Hong Kong

  Hong Kong plans to reduce its 2,800-hectare Frontier Closed Area (FCA) to 400 hectares by 2015; the FCA was established in 1951 as a buffer zone between Hong Kong and mainland China to prevent illegal migration from and the smuggling of goods

• Hungary

  bilateral government, legal, technical and economic working group negotiations continue in 2006 with Slovakia over Hungary's failure to complete its portion of the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros hydroelectric dam project along the Danube; as a member state that forms part of the EU's external border, Hungary has implemented the strict Schengen border rules

• Iceland

  Iceland, the UK, and Ireland dispute Denmark's claim that the Faroe Islands' continental shelf extends beyond 200 nm; the European Free Trade Association Surveillance Authority filed a suit against Iceland, claiming the country violated the Agreement on the European Economic Area in failing to pay minimum compensation to Icesave depositors

• India

  India-China: since China and India launched a security and foreign policy dialogue in 2005, consolidated discussions related to the dispute over most of their rugged, militarized boundary, regional nuclear proliferation, Indian claims that China transferred missiles to Pakistan, and other matters continue; Kashmir remains the site of the world's largest and most militarized territorial dispute with portions under the de facto administration of China (Aksai Chin), India (Jammu and Kashmir), and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas)

  India-Pakistan: India and Pakistan resumed bilateral dialogue in February 2011 after a two-year hiatus, have maintained the 2003 cease-fire in Kashmir, and continue to have disputes over water sharing of the Indus River and its tributaries; UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan has maintained a small group of peacekeepers since 1949; India does not recognize Pakistan's ceding historic Kashmir lands to China in 1964; to defuse tensions and prepare for discussions on a maritime boundary, India and Pakistan seek technical resolution of the disputed boundary in Sir Creek estuary at the mouth of the Rann of Kutch in the Arabian Sea; Pakistani maps continue to show its Junagadh claim in Indian Gujarat State

  India-Bangladesh: Prime Minister SINGH's September 2011 visit to Bangladesh resulted in the signing of a Protocol to the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement between India and Bangladesh, which had called for the settlement of longstanding boundary disputes over un-demarcated areas and the exchange of territorial enclaves, but which had never been implemented; Bangladesh referred its maritime boundary claims with Burma and India to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea

  India-Nepal: the Joint Border Committee with Nepal continues to examine contested boundary sections, including the 400 sq km dispute over the source of the Kalapani River; India maintains a strict border regime to keep out Maoist insurgents and control illegal cross-border activities from Nepal

• Indian Ocean

  some maritime disputes (see littoral states)

• Indonesia

  Indonesia has a stated foreign policy objective of establishing stable fixed land and maritime boundaries with all of its neighbors; three stretches of land borders with Timor-Leste have yet to be delimited, two of which are in the Oecussi exclave area, and no maritime or Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) boundaries have been established between the countries; all borders between Indonesia and Australia have been agreed upon bilaterally, but a 1997 treaty that would settle the last of their maritime and EEZ boundary has yet to be ratified by Indonesia's legislature; Indonesian groups challenge Australia's claim to Ashmore Reef; Australia has closed parts of the Ashmore and Cartier Reserve to Indonesian traditional fishing and placed restrictions on certain catches; land and maritime negotiations with Malaysia are ongoing, and disputed areas include the controversial Tanjung Datu and Camar Wulan border area in Borneo and the maritime boundary in the Ambalat oil block in the Celebes Sea; Indonesia and Singapore continue to work on finalizing their 1973 maritime boundary agreement by defining unresolved areas north of Indonesia's Batam Island; Indonesian secessionists, squatters, and illegal migrants create repatriation problems for Papua New Guinea; maritime delimitation talks continue with Palau; EEZ negotiations with Vietnam are ongoing, and the two countries in Fall 2011 agreed to work together to reduce illegal fishing along their maritime boundary

• Iran

  Iran-Afghanistan: Iran protests Afghanistan's limiting flow of dammed Helmand River tributaries during drought; Afghan and Iranian commissioners have discussed boundary monument densification and resurvey

  Iran-Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan-Russia: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia ratified a Caspian seabed delimitation treaty in 2018 based on equidistance, while Iran continues to insist on a one-fifth slice of the sea

  Iran-Iraq: Iraq's lack of a maritime boundary with Iran prompts jurisdiction disputes beyond the mouth of the Shatt al Arab in the Persian Gulf

  Iran-UAE: Iran and UAE dispute Tunb Islands and Abu Musa Island, which are occupied by Iran; the dispute was rehashed at the September 2021 UN General Assembly meeting; Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corp opened an airport on Greater Tunb in February 2022

• Iraq

  Iraq-Iran: Iraq's lack of a maritime boundary with Iran prompts jurisdiction disputes beyond the mouth of the Shatt al Arab in the Persian Gulf

  Iraq-Turkey: Turkey has expressed concern over the autonomous status of Kurds in Iraq

• Ireland

  Ireland-Denmark: Ireland, Iceland, and the UK dispute Denmark's claim that the Faroe Islands' continental shelf extends beyond 200 nm; Iceland, Norway, and the Faroe Islands signed an agreement in 2019 extending the Faroe Islands’ northern continental shelf area

• Isle of Man

  none identified

• Israel

  Israel-Gaza Strip: Israel withdrew its settlers and military from the Gaza Strip and from four settlements in the West Bank in August 2005

  Israel-Syria: Golan Heights is Israeli-controlled (Lebanon claims the Shab'a Farms area of Golan Heights); in March 2019, the US Government recognized Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights; since 1948, about 350 peacekeepers from the UN Truce Supervision Organization headquartered in Jerusalem monitor ceasefires, supervise armistice agreements, prevent isolated incidents from escalating, and assist other UN personnel in the region
  
  Israel-West Bank: West Bank is Israeli-occupied with current status subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement - permanent status to be determined through further negotiation; in 2002, Israel began construction of a "seam line" separation barrier along parts of the Green Line and within the West Bank; as of mid-2020, plans were to continue barrier construction

• Italy

  Italy's long coastline and developed economy entices tens of thousands of illegal immigrants from southeastern Europe and northern Africa

  Italy-Austria-Switzerland: borders are shifting because glacier peaks that had served as a natural boundary are melting

• Jamaica

  none identified

• Jan Mayen

  none identified

• Japan

  Japan-China-Taiwan: the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands (Diaoyu Tai) are also claimed by China and Taiwan; Senkaku-shoto is situated near key shipping lanes, rich fishing grounds, and possibly significant oil and natural gas reserves

  Japan-Russia: the sovereignty dispute over the islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, and Shikotan, and the Habomai group, known in Japan as the "Northern Territories" and in Russia as the "Southern Kuril Islands," occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945, now administered by Russia and claimed by Japan, remains the primary sticking point to signing a peace treaty formally ending World War II hostilities

  Japan-South Korea: Japan and South Korea claim Liancourt Rocks (Take-shima/Tok-do) occupied by South Korea since 1954

• Jersey

  none identified

• Jordan

  Jordan-Iraq: the two countries signed a border agreement in 1984; Jordan has ratified the treaty, but it has not been confirmed that Iraq has ratified it; as of 2010, the agreement had not been registered with the UN

  Jordan-Israel: none identified

  Jordan-Saudi Arabia: Jordan and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement to demarcate their maritime borders in 2007

  Jordan-Syria: the two countries signed an agreement in 2005 to settle the border dispute based on a 1931 demarcation accord; the two countries began demarcation in 2006

  Jordan-West Bank: none identified

• Kazakhstan

  Kazakhstan-China: in 1998, Kazakhstan and China agreed to split two disputed border areas nearly evenly; demarcation with China completed in 2002

  Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan: in January 2019, Kyrgyzstan ratified the 2017 agreement on the demarcation of the Kyrgyzstan-Kazakhstan border

  Kazakhstan-Russia: Russia boundary delimitation was ratified on November 2005; field demarcation commenced in 2007 and was expected to be completed by 2013

  Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan: Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan signed a treaty on the delimitation and demarcation process in 2001; field demarcation of the boundaries with Kazakhstan commenced in 2005; Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan agreed to their border in the Caspian Sea in 2014

  Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan: field demarcation of the boundaries with Kazakhstan commenced in 2004; disputed territory is held by Uzbekistan but the overwhelming majority of residents are ethnic Kazakhs; the two countries agreed on draft final demarcation documents in March 2022 and planned to hold another meeting in April 2022

• Kenya

  Kenya-Ethiopia: their border was demarcated in the 1950s and approved in 1970; in 2012, Kenya and Ethiopia agreed to redemarcate their boundary following disputes over beacons and cross-border crime

  Kenya-Somalia: Kenya works hard to prevent the clan and militia fighting in Somalia from spreading across the border, which has long been open to nomadic pastoralists; in 2021, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) gave Somalia control over a disputed ocean area where the seabeds are believed to hold vasts oil and gas deposits; the ICJ ruling gave Somalia the rights to several offshore oil exploration blocks previously claimed by Kenya; Kenya did not recognize the court’s decision

  Kenya-South Sudan: two thirds of the boundary that separates Kenya and South Sudan's sovereignty known as the Ilemi Triangle has been unclear since British colonial times; Kenya has administered the area since colonial times; officials from Kenya and South Sudan signed a memorandum of understanding on boundary delimitation and demarcation and agreed to set up a joint committee; as of July 2019, the demarcation process was to begin in 90 days, but was delayed due to a lack of funding

  Kenya-Sudan: Kenya served as an important mediator in brokering Sudan's north-south separation in February 2005

  Kenya-Tanzania: Kenya and Tanzania were conducting a joint reaffirmation process in November 2021 to ensure the border was visibly marked with pillars

  Kenya-Uganda: Kenya and Uganda began a joint demarcation of the boundary in 2021 

   

• Kiribati

  none identified

• Korea, North

  North Korea-China: risking arrest, imprisonment, and deportation, tens of thousands of North Koreans cross into China to escape famine, economic privation, and political oppression; North Korea and China dispute the sovereignty of certain islands in Yalu and Tumen Rivers

  North Korea-Japan: North Korea supports South Korea in rejecting Japan's claim to Liancourt Rocks (Tok-do/Take-shima)

  North Korea-South Korea: Military Demarcation Line within the 4-km-wide Demilitarized Zone has separated North from South Korea since 1953; periodic incidents in the Yellow Sea with South Korea which claims the Northern Limiting Line as a maritime boundary

• Korea, South

  South Korea-Japan: South Korea and Japan claim Liancourt Rocks (Tok-do/Take-shima), occupied by South Korea since 1954

  South Korea-North Korea: Military Demarcation Line within the 4-km-wide Demilitarized Zone has separated North from South Korea since 1953; periodic incidents with North Korea in the Yellow Sea over the Northern Limit Line, which South Korea claims as a maritime boundary

• Kosovo

  NATO-led Kosovo Force peacekeepers under UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo authority continue to ensure a safe and secure environment and freedom of movement for all Kosovo citizens

  Kosovo-Albania: none identified

  Kosovo-Montenegro: their 2015 demarcation agreement was ratified by Montenegro in December 2015 and by Kosovo in March 2018, but the actual demarcation has not been completed; as of March 2021, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin KURTI said that after the new Montenegrin government is formed, he would broach the subject of reopening the agreement

  Kosovo-North Macedonia: Kosovo and North Macedonia completed demarcation of their boundary in September 2008; both countries ratified the demarcation documents on October 17, 2009, after high-level consultations resolved the disputed section of border around Debelde/Tanusevci

  Kosovo-Serbia: Serbia with several other states protest the US’s and other countries’ recognition of Kosovo's declaration of its status as a sovereign and independent state in February 2008; ethnic Serbian municipalities along Kosovo's northern border challenge final status of Kosovo-Serbia boundary; Kosovo’s and Serbia’s temporary agreement on license plates expired on 21 April 2022; the two countries are meeting on 13 May to reach a permanent agreement

   

• Kuwait

  Kuwait-Iraq: no maritime boundary exists with Iraq in the Persian Gulf

  Kuwait-Saudi Arabia: their maritime boundary was established in 2000 and has a neutral zone but its extension to Iran’s maritime boundary has not been negotiated

   

• Kyrgyzstan

  Kyrgyzstan-China: a 2009 treaty settled a border dispute, with Kyrgyzstan receiving the Khan Tengri Peak and Kyrgyzstan ceding to China the Uzengi-Kush area

  Kyrgyzstan-Kazakhstan: in January 2019, Kyrgyzstan ratified the 2017 agreement on the demarcation of the Kyrgyzstan-Kazakhstan border

  Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan: as the last major Central Asian boundary dispute with lengthy undelimited sections, the lowland (NE part) of the Kyrgz-Tajik line seems intractable despite recent Kyrgyz-Uzbek compromises and agreements on delimitation and demarcation

  Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan: delimitation of approximately 15% or 200 km of border with Uzbekistan is hampered by serious disputes over enclaves and other areas; Kyrgyz and Uzbek officials signed an agreement in March 2021 on the final delimitation and demarcation of the Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan border; the accord included several land swaps that gave Kyrgyzstan more territory but was offset by Uzbekistan retaining use of reservoirs on Kyrgyz land; although a Kyrgyz official returned from the March 2021 meetings and said the decades-old border dispute was 100% resolved, his talks with residents in some affected areas showed that agreement had not been reached on all border segments

• Laos

  Laos-Burma: none identified

  Laos-Cambodia: in 2021, the two countries agreed to increase efforts to combat drug trafficking and other transnational crimes and to complete the last 14% of their border demarcation

  Laos-Cambodia-Vietnam: Cambodia and Vietnam are concerned about Laos' extensive plans for upstream dam construction and the potential harm it poses to fisheries and farming downstream

  Laos-China: concern among Mekong River Commission members that China's construction of eight dams on the Upper Mekong River and construction of more dams on its tributaries will affect water levels, sediment flows, and fisheries

  Laos-Thailand: talks continue as of 2018 on completion of demarcation with Thailand but disputes remain over islands in the Mekong River

  Laos-Vietnam: Laos and Vietnam completed border demarcation in 2016

   

   

• Latvia

  Latvia-Belarus: Belarus and Latvia signed joint demarcation map in September 2008

  Latvia-Estonia: demarcation reportedly completed in 1998

  Latvia-Lithuania: boundary demarcation was completed by the end of 1998; the Latvian parliament has not ratified its 1998 maritime boundary treaty with Lithuania, primarily due to concerns over oil exploration rights

  Latvia-Russia: Russia demands better Latvian treatment of ethnic Russians in Latvia; in March 2007, Latvia and Russia signed a border treaty, which includes Latvia withdrawing claims to a district now in Russia that was part of Latvia before WWII; the permanent demarcation of the boundary between Latvia and Russia was completed and came into force in April 2018; as a member state that forms part of the EU's external border, Latvia has implemented the strict Schengen border rules with Russia

• Lebanon

  Lebanon-Syria: lacking a treaty or other documentation describing the boundary, portions of the Lebanon-Syria boundary are unclear with several sections in dispute; in March 2021, Syria signed a contract with a Russian company for oil and gas exploration in a maritime area Lebanon claims as its own based on a 2011 map sent to the UN

  Lebanon-Israel: Lebanon has claimed Shab'a Farms area in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights; Lebanon and Israel resumed negotiations over their maritime border in 2020, but their efforts were derailed when Lebanon argued that the map the UN was using needed modifications

   

• Lesotho

  Lesotho-South Africa: South Africa has placed military units to assist police operations along the border of Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique to control smuggling, poaching, and illegal migration

   

• Liberia

  Liberia-Guinea: none identified

  Liberia-Sierra Leone: none identified

• Libya

  Libya-Algeria: dormant disputes include Libyan claims of about 32,000 sq km still reflected on its maps of southeastern Algeria
  
  Libya-Chad: various Chadian rebels from the Aozou region reside in southern Libya; Libyan forces clashed with Chadian rebels in September 2021

  Libya-Egypt: none identified

  Libya-Niger: the boundary is poorly defined but has never been disputed by either country

  Libya-Sudan: none identified

  Libya-Tunisia: none identified

• Liechtenstein

  none

• Lithuania

  Lithuania-Belarus: as of January 2007, ground demarcation of the boundary with Belarus was complete and mapped with final ratification documents in preparation

  Lithuania-Lativa: boundary demarcated with Latvia was completed in 1998

  Lithuania-Russia: Lithuania and Russia committed to demarcating their boundary in 2006 in accordance with the land and maritime treaty ratified by Russia in May 2003 and by Lithuania in 1999; Lithuania operates a simplified transit regime for Russian nationals traveling from the Kaliningrad coastal exclave into Russia, while still conforming, as a EU member state having an external border with a non-EU member, to strict Schengen border rules; in January 2018, demarcation of the Lithuania-Russia border was completed

• Luxembourg

  none identified

• Macau

  none identified

• Madagascar

  Madagascar-France: claims Bassas da India, Europa Island, Glorioso Islands, and Juan de Nova Island (all administered by France); the vegetated drying cays of Banc du Geyser, which were claimed by Madagascar in 1976, also fall within the EEZ claim of France

  Madagascar-Comoros: the vegetated drying cays of Banc du Geyser, which were claimed by Madagascar in 1976, also fall within the EEZ claim of the Comoros

• Malawi

  Malawi-Mozambique: the two countries have held exercises to reaffirm boundaries a number of times

  Malawi-Tanzania: dispute with Tanzania over the boundary in Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi) and the meandering Songwe River; Malawi contends that the entire lake up to the Tanzanian shoreline is its territory, while Tanzania claims the border is in the center of the lake; the conflict was reignited in 2012 when Malawi awarded a license to a British company for oil exploration in the lake

  Malawi-Zambia: border demarcation was completed in 2011; in 2018, the redemarcation exercise determined that some parts of Malawi actually belonged to Zambia

   

• Malaysia

  piracy remains a problem in the Malacca Strait

  Malaysia-Brunei: per Letters of Exchange signed in 2009, Malaysia in 2010 ceded two hydrocarbon concession blocks to Brunei; in 2009, the media reported that Brunei had dropped its claims to the Limbang corridor, but Brunei responded that the subject had never been discussed during recent talks between the two countries

  Malaysia-China-Philippines-Vietnam: while the 2002 "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea" has eased tensions over the Spratly Islands, it is not the legally binding "code of conduct" sought by some parties, which is currently being negotiated between China and ASEAN; Malaysia was not party to the March 2005 joint accord among the national oil companies of China, the Philippines, and Vietnam on conducting marine seismic activities in the Spratly Islands

  Malaysia-Indonesia: land and maritime negotiations with Indonesia are ongoing, and disputed areas include the controversial Tanjung Datu and Camar Wulan border area in Borneo and the maritime boundary in the Ambalat oil block in the Celebes Sea

  Malaysia-Philippines: Philippines retains a dormant claim to the eastern part of Malaysia's Sabah State in northern Borneo

  Malaysia-Singapore: disputes continue over deliveries of fresh water to Singapore, Singapore's land reclamation, bridge construction, and maritime boundaries in the Johor and Singapore Straits; in 2008, the International Court of Justice awarded sovereignty of Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh/Horsburgh Island) to Singapore, and Middle Rocks to Malaysia but did not rule on maritime regimes, boundaries, or disposition of South Ledge

  Malaysia-Thailand: in 2008, separatist violence in Thailand's predominantly Muslim southern provinces prompts Malaysia to take measures to close and to monitor the border with Thailand to stem terrorist activities

   

   

• Maldives

  none identified

• Mali

  Mali-Burkina Faso: demarcation is underway with Burkina Faso

   

• Malta

  none identified

• Marshall Islands

  Marshall Islands-US: claims US territory of Wake Island; the Marshall Islands put its claim on record with the UN in 2016

   

• Mauritania

  Mauritania-Algeria: none identified

  Mauritania-Mali: there are no border disputes, but the border has not been demarcated; talks on demarcation were reportedly being held in February 2022

  Mauritania-Morocco: Mauritanian claims to Western Sahara remain dormant; tensions arose in 2016 when Mauritanian soldiers were deployed to Lagouira, a city in the southernmost part of Morocco, and raised their flag

  Mauritania-Senegal: none identified

• Mauritius

  Mauritius and Seychelles claim the Chagos Islands (UK-administered British Indian Ocean Territory); claims French-administered Tromelin Island

  Mauritius-France: Mauritius has claimed French-administered Tromelin Island (part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands) since 1976
  
  Mauritius-UK: Mauritius and Seychelles claim the Chagos Islands (UK-administered British Indian Ocean Territory)

• Mexico

  Mexico-Belize: Mexico and Belize are working to solve minor border demarcation discrepancies arising from inaccuracies in the 1898 border treaty

  Mexico-Guatemala: Mexico must deal with thousands of impoverished Guatemalans and other Central Americans who cross the porous border looking for work in Mexico and the US

  Mexico-US: the US has intensified security measures to monitor and control legal and illegal persons, transport, and commodities across its border with Mexico

   

• Micronesia, Federated States of

  none identified

• Moldova

  Moldova-Romania: none identified

  Moldova-Ukraine: Ukraine and Moldova signed an agreement officially delimiting their border in 1999, but the border has not been demarcated due to Moldova's difficulties with the break-away region of Transnistria; Moldova and Ukraine operate joint customs posts to monitor the transit of people and commodities through Moldova's break-away Transnistria region, which remains under the auspices of an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe-mandated peacekeeping mission comprised of Moldovan, Transnistrian, Russian, and Ukrainian troops

• Monaco

  none identified

• Mongolia

  none identified

• Montenegro

  Montenegro-Albania: none identified

  Montenegro-Bosnia and Herzegovina: the two countries signed a border agreement in August 2015; sovereignty of the disputed Sutorina territory was given to Montenegro

  Montenegro-Croatia: the two countries in 2002 reached a temporary agreement designating the Prevlaka Peninsula as part of Croatia, in October 2020, a Montenegrin official resurrected the dormant dispute over the Prevlaka Peninsula by stating that Montenegro had a good chance of winning it through international arbitration

  Montenegro-Kosovo: a 2015 border agreement was ratified by Montenegro in 2015 and by Kosovo in 2018, but the actual demarcation has not been completed

  Montenegro-Serbia: The former republic boundary – when the two countries were one and called the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia – serves as the boundary until a line is formally delimited and demarcated

   

• Montserrat

  none identified

• Morocco

  Morocco-Algeria: Algeria's border with Morocco remains an irritant to bilateral relations, each nation accusing the other of harboring militants and arms smuggling

  Morocco-Mauritania: tensions arose in 2016 when Mauritanian soldiers were deployed to Lagouira, a city in the southernmost part of Morocco, and raised their flag

  Morocco-Spain: Morocco protests Spain's control over the coastal enclaves of Ceuta, Melilla, and Penon de Velez de la Gomera, the islands of Penon de Alhucemas and Islas Chafarinas, and surrounding waters; both countries claim Isla Perejil (Leila Island); discussions have not progressed on a comprehensive maritime delimitation, setting limits on resource exploration and refugee interdiction, since Morocco's 2002 rejection of Spain's unilateral designation of a median line from the Canary Islands; Morocco serves as one of the primary launching areas of illegal migration into Spain from North Africa

• Mozambique

  Mozambique-Eswatini: none identified

  Mozambique-Malawi:  the two countries have held exercises to reaffirm boundaries a number of times

  Mozambique-South Africa: South Africa has placed military units to assist police operations along the border of Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique to control smuggling, poaching, and illegal migration

  Mozambique-Tanzania: none identified

  Mozambique-Zambia: none identified

  Mozambique-Zimbabwe: none identified

• Namibia

  Namibia-Angola-Botswana: concerns from international experts and local populations over the Okavango Delta ecology in Botswana and human displacement scuttled Namibian plans to construct a hydroelectric dam on Popa Falls along the Angola-Namibia border

  Namibia-Botswana-Zambia-Zimbabwe: Namibia has supported, and in 2004 Zimbabwe dropped objections to, plans between Botswana and Zambia to build a bridge over the Zambezi River, thereby de facto recognizing a short, but not clearly delimited, Botswana-Zambia boundary in the river; the Kazungula Bridge opened to traffic in May 2021

  Namibia-South Africa: the governments of South Africa and Namibia have not signed or ratified the text of the 1994 Surveyor's General agreement placing the boundary in the middle of the Orange River; Namibia claims a median line boundary, while South Africa supports the northern bank of the river

   

• Nauru

  none identified

• Navassa Island

  Navassa Island (US)-Haiti: claimed by Haiti and is in Haiti’s constitution; the waters around Navassa island are a source of subsistence for Haitian fishermen

• Nepal

  Nepal-China: China may have constructed 11 buildings in Nepal’s Humla region in 2021

  Nepal-India: joint border commission continues to work on contested sections of boundary with India, including the 400 sq km dispute over the source of the Kalapani River; the Kalapani issue resurfaced in November 2019 when India issued a new map showing the contested area within India’s borders and then built a new road in the region through Lipulekh pass, an area controlled by India but claimed by Nepal; Nepal countered by amending its constitution and issuing its own map showing the disputed area within its borders; the countries prime ministers briefly discussed the border dispute in April 2022; India has instituted a stricter border regime to restrict transit of illegal cross-border activities

• Netherlands

  none identified

• New Caledonia

  New Caledonia-France-Vanuatu: Matthew and Hunter Islands east of New Caledonia claimed by France and Vanuatu

• New Zealand

  New Zealand-Antarctica: asserts a territorial claim in Antarctica (Ross Dependency)

• Nicaragua

  Nicaragua-El Salvador-Honduras: the 1992 ICJ ruling for El Salvador and Honduras advised a tripartite resolution to establish a maritime boundary in the Gulf of Fonseca, which considers Honduran access to the Pacific; the court ruled, rather, that the Gulf of Fonseca represents a condominium, with control being shared by El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua; the decision allowed for the possibility that the three nations could divide the waters at a later date if they wished to do so

  Nicaragua-Costa Rica: Nicaragua and Costa Rica regularly file border dispute cases with the ICJ over the delimitations of the San Juan River and the northern tip of Calero Island, virtually uninhabited areas claimed by both countries; there is an ongoing case in the ICJ to determine Pacific and Atlantic ocean maritime borders as well as land borders; in 2009, the ICJ ruled that Costa Rican vessels carrying out police activities could not use the river, but official Costa Rican vessels providing essential services to riverside inhabitants and Costa Rican tourists could travel freely on the river; in 2011, the ICJ provisionally ruled that both countries must remove personnel from the disputed area; in 2013, the ICJ rejected Nicaragua's 2012 suit to halt Costa Rica's construction of a highway paralleling the river on the grounds of irreparable environmental damage; in 2013, the ICJ, regarding the disputed territory, ordered that Nicaragua should refrain from dredging or canal construction and refill and repair damage caused by trenches connecting the river to the Caribbean and upheld its 2010 ruling that Nicaragua must remove all personnel; in early 2014, Costa Rica brought Nicaragua to the ICJ over offshore oil concessions in the disputed region; in 2018, the ICJ ruled that Nicaragua must remove a military base from a contested coastal area near the San Juan River, and that Costa Rica had sovereignty over the northern part of Isla Portillos, including the coast, but excluding Harbour Head Lagoon; additionally, Honduras was required to pay reparations for environmental damage to part of the wetlands at the mouth of the San Juan River

  Nicaragua-Colombia: Nicaragua filed a case with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Colombia in 2013 over the delimitation of the Continental shelf beyond the 200 nautical miles from the Nicaraguan coast, as well as over the alleged violation by Colombia of Nicaraguan maritime space in the Caribbean Sea, which contains rich oil and fish resources; as of September 2021, Colombia refuses to abide by the ICJ ruling

  Nicaragua-Honduras: none identified

• Niger

  Niger-Benin-Nigeria: location of Niger-Benin-Nigeria tripoint is unresolved

  Niger-Burkina Faso: the dispute with Burkina Faso was referred to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2010; the ICJ ruled in 2013 that 786 sq km should go to Burkina Faso and 277 sq km to Niger; the ruling was implemented in 2015 and 2016, with Burkina Faso gaining 14 towns and Niger 4

  Niger-Cameroon-Nigeria: only Nigeria and Cameroon have heeded the Lake Chad Commission's admonition to ratify the delimitation treaty that also includes the Chad-Niger and Niger-Nigeria boundaries

  Niger-Libya: Libya claims about 25,000 sq km in a currently dormant dispute in the Tummo region

• Nigeria

  Nigeria-Benin: none identified

  Nigeria-Cameroon: Joint Border Commission with Cameroon reviewed 2002 ICJ ruling on the entire boundary and bilaterally resolved differences, including June 2006 Greentree Agreement that immediately ceded sovereignty of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon with a phaseout of Nigerian control within two years while resolving patriation issues; demarcation of the Bakassi Peninsula and adjoining border areas should be finalized in 2022; as Lake Chad’s evaporation exposed dry land, only Nigeria and Cameroon have heeded the Lake Chad Commission's admonition to ratify the delimitation treaty which also includes the Chad-Niger and Niger-Nigeria boundaries

  Nigeria-Cameroon-Equatorial Guinea: the ICJ ruled on an equidistance settlement of Cameroon-Equatorial Guinea-Nigeria maritime boundary in the Gulf of Guinea, but imprecisely defined coordinates in the ICJ decision and a sovereignty dispute between Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon over an island at the mouth of the Ntem River all contribute to the delay in implementation

  Nigeria-Niger: none identified

• Niue

  none identified

• Norfolk Island

  none identified

• North Macedonia

  North Macedonia-Albania: none identified

  North Macedonia-Greece: none identified

  North Macedonia-Kosovo: North Macedonia and Kosovo completed demarcation of their boundary in October 2009

  North Macedonia-Serbia: none identified

• Northern Mariana Islands

  none identified

• Norway

  Norway-Antarctica: Norway asserts a territorial claim in Antarctica (Queen Maud Land and its continental shelf)

  Norway-Russia: Russia amended its 2001 CLCS submission in 2015 and 2021, each time delineating the outer limits of its continental shelf further into the Arctic Ocean; Norway and Russia signed a comprehensive maritime boundary agreement in 2010, ending a dispute over an area of the Barents Sea by dividing the territory equally

  Norway-Sweden: none identified

   

   

• Oman

  Oman-Saudi Arabia: none identified

  Oman-UAE: boundary agreement reportedly signed and ratified with UAE in 2003 for entire border, including Oman's Musandam Peninsula and Al Madhah exclave, but details of the alignment have not been made public; Oman and UAE signed the final demarcation of their land border in 2008

  Oman-Yemen: Oman and Yemen signed a border agreement in 1992; demarcation of their border was completed in 1995

   

• Pacific Ocean

  some maritime disputes (see littoral states)

• Pakistan

  Pakistan-Afghanistan: since 2002, with UN assistance, Pakistan has repatriated about 5.3 million Afghan refugees, leaving about 2.74-3 million; Pakistan has sent troops across and built fences along some remote tribal areas of its treaty-defined Durand Line border with Afghanistan, which serve as bases for foreign terrorists and other illegal activities; in February 2022, amid skirmishes between Taliban and Pakistani forces, Pakistan announced its intent to finish constructing the barbed wire fence along the Durand Line and bring nearby areas under its control; Afghan, Coalition, and Pakistan military meet periodically to clarify the alignment of the boundary on the ground and on maps

  Pakistan-China: none identified

  Pakistan-India: Kashmir remains the site of the world's largest and most militarized territorial dispute with portions under the de facto administration of China (Aksai Chin), India (Jammu and Kashmir), and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas); UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan has maintained a small group of peacekeepers since 1949; India does not recognize Pakistan's ceding historic Kashmir lands to China in 1964; India and Pakistan have initiated discussions on defusing the armed standoff in the Siachen glacier region; the Siachen glacier is claimed by both countries and militarily occupied by India: Pakistan opposed India's fencing the highly militarized Line of Control (completed in 2004) and the construction of the Baglihar Dam on the Chenab River (opened in 2008) in Jammu and Kashmir, which is part of the larger dispute on water sharing of the Indus River and its tributaries; to defuse tensions and prepare for discussions on a maritime boundary, India and Pakistan seek technical resolution of the disputed boundary in Sir Creek estuary at the mouth of the Rann of Kutch in the Arabian Sea; Pakistani maps continue to show Junagadh in India's Gujarat State as part of Pakistan

  Pakistan-Iran: none identified

   

   

• Palau

  Palau-Indonesia: maritime delineation negotiations continue with Philippines, Indonesia

  Palau-Philippines: maritime delineation negotiations continue with Philippines, Indonesia

• Panama

  Panama-Colombia: organized illegal narcotics operations in Colombia operate within the remote border region with Panama

  Panama-Costa Rica: none identified

• Papua New Guinea

  Papua New Guinea-Australia: relies on assistance from Australia to keep out illegal cross-border activities from primarily Indonesia, including goods smuggling, illegal narcotics trafficking, and squatters and secessionists

• Paracel Islands

  Paracel Islands-China-Taiwan-Vietnam: occupied by China, also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam

• Paraguay

  Paraguay-Argentina-Brazil: unruly region at convergence of Paraguay-Argentina-Brazil borders is locus of money laundering, smuggling, arms and illegal narcotics trafficking, and fundraising for violent extremist organizations

• Peru

  Peru-Bolivia: Peru rejects Bolivia's claim to restore maritime access through a sovereign corridor through Chile along the Peruvian border

  Peru-Brazil: none identified

  Peru-Chile: Bolivia continues to press for a sovereign corridor to the Pacific Ocean; any concession Chile makes to Bolivia to grant them a sovereign corridor requires approval by Peru under the terms of their treaty; in January 2018, the International Court of Justice ruled that Chile is not legally obligated to negotiate a sovereign corridor to the Pacific Ocean with Bolivia

  Peru-Chile-Ecuador: Chile and Ecuador rejected Peru's November 2005 unilateral legislation to shift the axis of their joint treaty-defined maritime boundaries along the parallels of latitude to equidistance lines out to 200 nautical miles, which would give Peru 37,900 square kilometers of water

  Peru-Colombia: organized illegal narcotics operations in Colombia have penetrated Peru's shared border; problems also include crossborder illegal migration, human trafficking, and contraband smuggling

  Peru-Ecuador: in 1999, Tiwinza memorial park wasvcreated on lands that remains sovereign Peruvian territory, but Ecuador has the right to maintain and administer it in perpetuity

• Philippines

  Philippines-Taiwan-China-Malaysia-Vietnam: Philippines claims sovereignty over Scarborough Reef (also claimed by China together with Taiwan) and over certain of the Spratly Islands, known locally as the Kalayaan (Freedom) Islands, also claimed by China, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam; the 2002 "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea," has eased tensions in the Spratly Islands but falls short of a legally binding "code of conduct" desired by several of the disputants; 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

  Philippines-Malaysia: Philippines retains a dormant claim to Malaysia's Sabah State in northern Borneo based on the Sultanate of Sulu's granting the Philippines Government power of attorney to pursue a sovereignty claim on his behalf; the disagreement resurfaced in September 2020 , when Malaysia’s submission to the UN about extending its continental shelf was sharply countered by the Philippines because it included the disputed territory

  Philippines-Palau: maritime delimitation negotiations continue with Palau, as of March 2022

• Pitcairn Islands

  none identified

• Poland

  Poland-Belarus-Ukraine: as a member state that forms part of the EU's external border, Poland has implemented the strict Schengen border rules to restrict illegal immigration and trade along its eastern borders with Belarus and Ukraine

• Portugal

  Portugal-Spain: Portugal does not recognize Spanish sovereignty over the territory of Olivenza based on a difference of interpretation of the 1815 Congress of Vienna and the 1801 Treaty of Badajoz

• Puerto Rico

  illegal migrants from the Dominican Republic cross the Mona Passage to Puerto Rico each year looking for work

• Qatar

  none identified

• Romania

  Romania-Bulgaria: none identified

  Romania-Hungary: none identified

  Romania-Moldova: none identified

  Romania-Serbia: none identified

  Romania-Ukraine: the International Court of Justice ruled largely in favor of Romania in its dispute submitted in 2004 over Ukrainian-administered Zmiyinyy/Serpilor (Snake) Island and Black Sea maritime boundary delimitation; in 2007, Romania opposed Ukraine's construction of a navigation canal from the Danube border through Ukraine to the Black Sea, arguing that it runs through a unique ecological area, the Danube Delta

• Russia

  Russia remains concerned about the smuggling of poppy derivatives from Afghanistan through Central Asian countries

  Russia-China: Russia and China have demarcated the once disputed islands at the Amur and Ussuri confluence and in the Argun River in accordance with the 2004 Agreement, ending their centuries-long border disputes

  Russia-Denmark-Norway: Denmark (Greenland) and Norway have made submissions to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), and Russia is collecting additional data to augment its 2001 CLCS submission

  Russia and Estonia: Russia and Estonia signed a technical border agreement in May 2005, but Russia recalled its signature in June 2005 after the Estonian parliament added to its domestic ratification act a historical preamble referencing the Soviet occupation and Estonia's pre-war borders under the 1920 Treaty of Tartu; Russia contends that the preamble allows Estonia to make territorial claims on Russia in the future, while Estonian officials deny that the preamble has any legal impact on the treaty text; negotiations were reopened in 2012, and a treaty was signed in 2014 without the disputed preamble, but neither country has ratified it as of 2020

  Russia-Finland: various groups in Finland advocate restoration of Karelia (Kareliya) and other areas ceded to the Soviet Union following World War II but the Finnish Government asserts no territorial demands

  Russia-Georgia: Russia's military support and subsequent recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia independence in 2008 continue to sour relations with Georgia; in 2011, Russia began to put up fences and barbed wire to fortify South Ossetia, physically dividing villages in the process; Russia continues to move the South Ossetia border fences further into Georgian territory

  Russia-Japan: the sovereignty dispute over the islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan, and the Habomai group, known in Japan as the "Northern Territories" and in Russia as the "Southern Kurils," occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945, now administered by Russia, and claimed by Japan, remains the primary sticking point to signing a peace treaty formally ending World War II hostilities

  Russia-Kazakhstan: Russia boundary delimitation was ratified on November 2005; field demarcation commenced in 2007 and was expected to be completed by 2013

  Russia-Lithuania: Russia and Lithuania committed to demarcating their boundary in 2006 in accordance with the land and maritime treaty ratified by Russia in May 2003 and by Lithuania in 1999; border demarcation was completed in 2018; Lithuania operates a simplified transit regime for Russian nationals traveling from the Kaliningrad coastal exclave into Russia, while still conforming, as an EU member state with an EU external border, where strict Schengen border rules apply

  Russia-North Korea: none identified

  Russia-Norway: Russia and Norway signed a comprehensive maritime boundary agreement in 2010, opening the disputed territory for oil and natural gas exploration; a visa-free travel agreement for persons living near the border went into effect in May 2012

  Russia-Ukraine: Russia remains involved in the conflict in eastern Ukraine while also occupying Ukraine’s territory of Crimea; preparations for the demarcation delimitation of land boundary with Ukraine have commenced; the dispute over the boundary between Russia and Ukraine through the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov is suspended due to the occupation of Crimea by Russia

  Russia-US: Russian Duma has not yet ratified 1990 Bering Sea Maritime Boundary Agreement with the US; the southwesterly "Western Limit" places about 70% of the Bering Sea under U.S. maritime jurisdiction

  Russia-various: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia ratified Caspian seabed delimitation treaties based on equidistance, while Iran continues to insist on a one-fifth slice of the sea

   

• Rwanda

  Rwanda-Burundi: Burundi's Ngozi province and Rwanda's Butare province dispute the two-kilometer-square hilly farmed area of Sabanerwa in the Rukurazi Valley where the Akanyaru/Kanyaru River shifted its course southward after heavy rains in 1965 around Kibinga Hill in Rwanda's Butare Province
  
  Rwanda-Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): the 2005 DRC and Rwanda border verification mechanism to stem rebel actions on both sides of the border remains in place
  
  Rwanda-Uganda: a joint technical committee established in 2007 to demarcate sections of the border
  
  
  

• Saint Barthelemy

  none identified

• Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha

  none identified

• Saint Kitts and Nevis

  Saint Kitts and Nevis-Venezuela: joins other Caribbean states to counter Venezuela's claim that Aves Island sustains human habitation, a criterion under UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which permits Venezuela to extend its EEZ/continental shelf over a large portion of the eastern Caribbean Sea

• Saint Lucia

  Saint Lucia-Venezuela: joins other Caribbean states to counter Venezuela's claim that Aves Island sustains human habitation, a criterion under UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which permits Venezuela to extend its EEZ/continental shelf over a large portion of the eastern Caribbean Sea

• Saint Martin

  none identified

• Saint Pierre and Miquelon

  none identified

• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines-Venezuela: joins other Caribbean states to counter Venezuela's claim that Aves Island sustains human habitation, a criterion under UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which permits Venezuela to extend its EEZ/continental shelf over a large portion of the eastern Caribbean Sea

• Samoa

  none identified

• San Marino

  none identified

• Sao Tome and Principe

  none identified

• Saudi Arabia

  Saudi Arabia-Bahrain: none identified

  Saudi Arabia-Iraq:  Saudi Arabia has been building a fence along its border with Iraq to keep out militants and smugglers

  Saudi Arabia-Jordan: Jordan and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement to demarcate their maritime borders in 2007

  Saudi Arabia-Kuwait: Kuwait and Saudi Arabia continue discussions on a maritime boundary with Iran; in December 2019, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait signed an agreement to demarcate land in a neutral zone and to restart oil production in shared fields, which had been suspended since 2014 because of disagreements

  Saudi Arabia-Oman: none identified

  Saudi Arabia-Qatar: none identified

  Saudi Arabia-UAE: Saudi Arabia and UAE have disputed the Shaybah oilfield, which Saudi Arabia controls

  Saudi Arabia-Yemen: the two countries signed the Treaty of Jeddah in 2000, which specified the coordinates of their land and maritime border and made provisions for grazing, the placement of armed forces, and future resource exploitation; in 2010, Saudi Arabia reinforced its concrete-filled security barrier along sections of the now fully demarcated border with Yemen to stem illegal crossborder activities

• Senegal

  Senegal-Guinea-Bissau: rebels from the Movement of Democratic Forces in the Casamance find refuge in Guinea-Bissau

• Serbia

  Serbia-Bosnia and Herzegovina: Serbia delimited about half of the boundary with Bosnia and Herzegovina, but sections along the Drina River remain in dispute

  Serbia-Bulgaria: none identified

  Serbia-Croatia: Serbia and Croatia dispute their border along the Danube; Serbia claims the border is the median between the current Danube shorelines, with the land to the eastern side of the median belonging to Serbia; Croatia contends that the boundary is demarcated according to historic maps, despite the river having meandered since then

  Serbia-Hungary: none identified

  Serbia-Kosovo: Serbia with several other states protested the US and other states' recognition of Kosovo's declaration of its status as a sovereign and independent state in February 2008; ethnic Serbian municipalities along Kosovo's northern border challenge final status of Kosovo-Serbia boundary; since 1999, NATO-led Kosovo Force peacekeepers under UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) authority have continued to keep the peace within Kosovo between the ethnic Albanian majority and the Serb minority; in October 2021, NATO-led KFOR increased patrols along the border with Serbia to deescalate hostilities caused by a dispute over license plates

  Serbia-Montenegro: the former republic boundary serves as the boundary until a line is formally delimited and demarcated

  Serbia-North Macedonia: none identified

  Serbia-Romania: none identified

• Seychelles

  Seychelles-UK: Mauritius and Seychelles claim the Chagos Islands (UK-administered British Indian Ocean Territory)

• Sierra Leone

  Sierra Leone-Guinea: Sierra Leone opposed Guinean troops' continued occupation of Yenga, a small village on the Makona River that serves as a border with Guinea; Guinea's forces came to Yenga in the mid-1990s to help the Sierra Leonean military to suppress rebels and to secure their common border but remained there even after both countries signed a 2005 agreement acknowledging that Yenga belonged to Sierra Leone; in 2012, the two sides signed a declaration to demilitarize the area; in 2019, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation stated that the dispute over Yenga had been resolved; however, at a 2021 ECOWAS meeting, Sierra Leone’s President BIO called on the bloc to help resolve an incursion of Guinean troops in Yenga

  Sierra Leone-Liberia: none identified

• Singapore

  piracy remains a problem in the Malacca Strait

  Singapore-Indonesia: Indonesia and Singapore continue to work on finalization of their 1973 maritime boundary agreement by defining unresolved areas north of Indonesia's Batam Island; subsequent treaties were signed in 2009 (ratified in 2010) and 2014 (ratified in 2017) settling the two countries’ boundaries in the Singapore Strait

  Singapore-Malaysia: disputes with Malaysia over territorial waters, airspace, the price of fresh water delivered to Singapore from Malaysia, Singapore's extensive land reclamation works, bridge construction, and maritime boundaries in the Johor and Singapore Straits; in 2008, the International Court of Justice awarded sovereignty of Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh/Horsburgh Island) to Singapore, and Middle Rocks to Malaysia, but did not rule on maritime regimes, boundaries, or disposition of South Ledge, which is only visible at low tide

  
  
  https://www.todayonline.com/world/asia/singapore-and-indonesia-signed-landmark-maritime-boundary-treaty
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia%E2%80%93Singapore_border
  
  https://www.iseas.edu.sg/media/commentaries/indonesia-ratifies-maritime-border-treaty-with-singapore-a-commentary-by-mustafa-izzuddin/
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedra_Branca_dispute
  
  https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Malaysia-in-transition/Singapore-and-Malaysia-make-major-breakthrough-in-maritime-dispute
  
  https://thediplomat.com/2021/09/the-1962-johor-singapore-water-agreement-lessons-learned/

• Sint Maarten

  non identified

• Slovakia

  Slovakia-Austria: none identified

  Slovakia-Czechia: none identified

  Slovakia-Hungary: initiated by the 1977 Budapest Treaty, Hungary and formerly Czechoslovakia agreed to a hydroelectric dam project on the Danube with dams to be constructed at Gabcikovo (Slovakia) and Nagymaros (Hungary) to prevent floods, improve river navigability, and to generate electricity; when Hungary suspended work on the project until its environmental impact could be assessed, Slovakia continued working on it and adopted a pared down strategy to divert the Danube so that all construction was within Czechoslovakian territory; Hungary terminated the project on environmental and economic grounds in 1989, and in 1992 both countries took the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ); the ICJ found largely in favor of then Slovakia, finding Hungary had breached their agreement; however, then Czechoslovakia should not have begun the alternative plan before the ICJ ruled on the case; in 2017, Hungary and Slovakia agreed to discontinue the ICJ proceedings

  Slovakia-Poland: none identified

  Slovakia-Ukraine: tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees are crossing the border to Slovakia to escape the Russian invasion in their country

• Slovenia

  Slovenia-Austria: none identified

  Slovenia-Croatia: since the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, Croatia and Slovenia have each claimed sovereignty over Piran Bay and four villages, and Slovenia has objected to Croatia's claim of an exclusive economic zone in the Adriatic Sea; in 2009, however Croatia and Slovenia signed a binding international arbitration agreement to define their disputed land and maritime borders, which led Slovenia to lift its objections to Croatia joining the EU; in June 2017, the Permanent Court of Arbitration issued a ruling on the border, but Croatia had withdrawn from the proceedings in 2015 and refused to implement it; as a member state that forms part of the EU's external border, Slovenia has implemented the strict Schengen border rules to curb illegal migration and commerce through southeastern Europe while encouraging close cross-border ties with Croatia

  Slovenia-Hungary: none identified

  Slovenia-Italy: none identified

• Solomon Islands

  from 2003 to 2017, at the request of the Solomon Islands Governor-General, the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI), consisting of police, military, and civilian advisors drawn from 15 countries, assisted in reestablishing and maintaining civil and political order while reinforcing regional stability and security

• Somalia

  Somalia-Djibouti: none identified

  Somalia-Ethiopia: Ethiopian forces invaded southern Somalia and routed Islamist Courts from Mogadishu in January 2007; the border between the Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia, which is inhabited by ethnic Somalis, and Somalia is only partially demarcated under colonial rule and has been the source of tension for decades

  Somalia-Kenya: Kenya works hard to prevent the clan and militia fighting in Somalia from spreading south across the border, which has long been open to nomadic pastoralists; in 2015, the Kenyan Government began building a wall along the border to prevent the crossborder movement of militant groups; the boundary separates ethnic Somalis; in October 2021, the Somalia-Kenya Indian Ocean boundary dispute was decided by the International Court of Justice; the ruling adjusted the boundary slightly north of Somalia’s claim giving Somalia the majority of the contested maritime territory, which is believed to contain rich oil and natural gas deposits; while the decision is legally binding, it has no enforcement mechanism, and Kenya has said it will not abide by it

• South Africa

  South Africa-Botswana: none identified

  South Africa-Eswatini: Eswatini seeks to reclaim land it says was stolen by South Africa

  South Africa-Lesotho: crossborder livestock thieving, smuggling of drugs and arms, and illegal migration are problematic

  South Africa-Mozambique: animal poachers cross the South Africa-Mozambique border to hunt wildlife in South Africa’s Kruger National Park; border fences were removed in some areas to allow animals to roam between nature reserves in the two countries; improved patrols, technology, and crossborder cooperation are reducing the problem

  South Africa-Namibia: the governments of South Africa and Namibia have not signed or ratified the text of the 1994 Surveyor's General agreement placing the boundary in the middle of the Orange River; the location of the border could affect diamond mining rights; South Africa has always claimed that the northern bank of the Orange River is the border between the two countries, while Namibia’s constitution states that the border lies in the middle of the Orange River

  South Africa-various: South Africa has placed military units to assist police operations along the border of Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique to control smuggling, poaching, and illegal migration

  South Africa-Zimbabwe: Zimbabweans migrate illegally into South Africa in search of work or smuggle goods to sell at a profit back home

• South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands

  South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands (UK)-Argentina: Argentina, which claims the islands in its constitution and briefly occupied them by force in 1982, agreed in 1995 to no longer seek settlement by force

• South Sudan

  South Sudan- Central African Republic: periodic violent skirmishes persist among related pastoral populations along the border with the Central African Republic over water and grazing rights
  
  South Sudan-Democratic Republic of the Congo: none identified
  
  South Sudan-Ethiopia: the unresolved demarcation of the boundary and lack of clear limitation create substantial room for territorial conflict both locally among the border populations and between the two capitals; besides a large number of indigenous farmers, the border region supports refugees and various rebel groups opposed to the governments in Khartoum and Addis Ababa

  
  South Sudan-Kenya: the boundary that separates Kenya and South Sudan's sovereignty is unclear in the Ilemi Triangle and has been unclear since British colonial times; Kenya has administered the area since colonial times

  South Sudan-Sudan: present boundary represents 1 January 1956 alignment, which clearly placed the Kafia Kingi area (adjacent to Central African Republic) within South Sudan as shown on US maps although it is mostly occupied by Sudan; final alignment pending negotiations and demarcation; the final sovereignty status of Abyei Area pending negotiations between South Sudan and Sudan; clashes continue in the oil-rich Abyei region; the United Nations interim security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) has been deployed since 2011, when South Sudan became independent, Sudan accuses South Sudan of supporting Sudanese rebel groups

  South Sudan-Uganda: Lord’s Resistance Army operations in western Equatorial State displace and drive out local populations and steal grain stores

• Southern Ocean

  Antarctica-various: Antarctic Treaty defers claims (see Antarctica entry), but Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, NZ, Norway, and UK assert claims (some overlapping), including the continental shelf in the Southern Ocean; several states have expressed an interest in extending those continental shelf claims under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to include undersea ridges; the US and most other states do not recognize the land or maritime claims of other states and have made no claims themselves (the US and Russia have reserved the right to do so); no formal claims exist in the waters in the sector between 90 degrees west and 150 degrees west

• Spain

  Spain-Andorra: none identified

  Spain-France: none identified

  Spain-Gibraltar (UK): in 2002, Gibraltar residents voted overwhelmingly by referendum to reject any "shared sovereignty" arrangement; the Government of Gibraltar insists on equal participation in talks between the UK and Spain; Spain does not recognize British sovereignty beyond the original fortified perimeter of the city and disapproves of UK plans to grant Gibraltar greater autonomy; after voters in the UK chose to leave the EU in a June 2016 referendum, Spain again proposed shared sovereignty of Gibraltar; UK officials rejected Spain’s joint sovereignty proposal

  Spain-Morocco: Morocco protests Spain's control over the coastal enclaves of Ceuta, Melilla, and the islands of Penon de Velez de la Gomera, Penon de Alhucemas, and Islas Chafarinas, and surrounding waters; both countries claim Isla Perejil (Leila Island), which remains unoccupied but was the site of a  military standoff in 2002; Morocco serves as the primary embarkation area for illegal migration into mainland Spain from North Africa

  Spain-Portugal: Portugal does not recognize Spanish sovereignty over the territory of Olivenza based on a difference of interpretation of the 1815 Congress of Vienna and the 1801 Treaty of Badajoz

• Spratly Islands

  Taiwan-Brunei-China-Malaysia-Philippines-Vietnam: all of the Spratly Islands are claimed by China (including Taiwan) and Vietnam; parts of them are claimed by Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines; despite no public territorial claim to Louisa Reef, Brunei implicitly lays claim by including it within the natural prolongation of its continental shelf and basis for a seabed median with Vietnam; the islands are strategically located in the South China Sea and are surrounded by rich fishing groups and potential oil and natural gas deposits; claimants in November 2002 signed the "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea," which eased tensions but fell short of a legally binding "code of conduct"; 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; China’s island-building and military presence in the archipelago remain controversial

• Sri Lanka

  none identified

• Sudan

  Sudan-Central African Republic: periodic violent skirmishes persist among related pastoral populations along the border with the Central African Republic over water and grazing rights; Sudan closed its border with the Central African Republic in January 2022 due to security concerns

  Sudan-Chad: Chad wants to be a helpful mediator in resolving the Darfur conflict, and in 2010 established a joint border monitoring force with Sudan, which has helped to reduce cross-border banditry and violence; however, since the August 2020 Juba Peace Agreement between the Sudanese Government and the Sudanese Revolutionary Front and the termination of the UN’s peacekeeping mission, UNAMID, at the end of 2020, violence continues to break out over land and water access

  Sudan-Egypt: Sudan claims, but Egypt de facto administers, security and economic development of the Halaib region north of the 22nd parallel boundary

  Sudan-Eritrea: none identified

  Sudan-Ethiopia: civil unrest in eastern Sudan has hampered efforts to demarcate the porous boundary with Ethiopia; clashes continue between Sudan and Ethiopia over al-Fashaga, a fertile piece of land inhabited by Ethiopian farmers for years until the Sudanese army expelled them in December 2020, claiming the land belonged to Sudan based on colonial-era maps from over 100 years ago; in February, 2022, the two countries were discussing resuming talks over the border conflict

  Sudan-Libya: none identified

  Sudan-South Sudan: the South Sudan-Sudan boundary represents 1 January 1956 alignment, final alignment pending negotiations and demarcation; final sovereignty status of Abyei area pending negotiations between South Sudan and Sudan; clashes continue in the oil-rich Abyei region; the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) has been deployed since 2011, when South Sudan became independent; the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) has condemned renewed clashes on 23 September 2022 between the Twik and Ngok Dinka communities taking place in Agok, 28 kilometres from Abyei town

   

• Suriname

  Suriname-Brazil: none identified

  Suriname-France (French Guiana): in March 2021, Suriname and France signed an agreement to  establish their border along the Maroni River and its tributary the Lawa River and to cooperate in combatting illegal gold mining; however, the area further south between the Litani and Marouini Rivers is still disputed, with Suriname claiming the border is along the Marouini to the east and France arguing it is along the Litani River to the west

  Suriname-Guyana: the two countries dispute the territory between two rivers, known as the New River Triangle, with Suriname contending that the New River (also called the Upper Corentyne) to the west marks their common border, while Guyana asserts that the Kutari River to the east forms the border; each side claims that their river is the source of the Corentyne River that forms a border further north between the two countries; the Permanent Court of Arbitration settled the maritime boundary between Suriname and Guyana in 2007 in an area with potentially substantial oil reserves

   

• Svalbard

  Norway-Russia: after 40 years of on-again, off-again negotiations, the two countries signed an agreement in September 2010, defining their maritime boundaries in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean; the border extends the countries’ land border northward beyond the islands in the Barents Sea and into the Arctic Ocean, but the exact distance northward was not specified; because the area is considered the high seas, the passage of naval and commercial vessels will be unaffected; once their legislatures ratify the agreement, both countries will have the green light for oil and natural gas exploration in their newly defined maritime areas; Russia objects to Norway’s establishment in 1977 of the Fishery Protection Zone around the Svalbard Islands, extending Norwegian sovereignty to the shelf around the archipelago; Svalbard is strategically important – as a gateway from the Berents Sea to the North Atlantic – and its waters provide rich fishing grounds

• Sweden

  none identified

• Switzerland

  none identified

• Syria

  Syria-Iraq: none identified

  Syria-Israel: Golan Heights is Israeli-controlled with UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) patrolling a buffer zone since 1974; because of ceasefire violations and increased military activity in the Golan Heights, the UN Security Council continues to extend UNDOF’s mandate; since 2000, Lebanon has claimed Shab'a Farms in the Golan Heights

  Syria-Jordan: the two countries signed an agreement in 2005 to settle the border dispute based on a 1931 demarcation accord; the two countries began demarcation in 2006

  Syria-Lebanon: discussions on demarcating the two countries’ maritime borders were held in April 2021, after Syria signed a contract with a Russian company to conduct oil and gas exploration in a disputed maritime area, but the issue was not resolved

  Syria-Turkey: none identified

• Taiwan

  Taiwan-Brunei-China-Malaysia-Philippines-Vietnam: involved in complex dispute over the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea that are thought to have large oil and natural gas reserves, as well as being located amidst prime fishing grounds and busy commercial shipping traffic; the Spratly Islands also are in a strategic position for establishing a military presence to monitor activity in the South China Sea; 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

  Taiwan-China-Philippines: border dispute over the Scarborough Reef in the South China Sea; Scarborough Reef, like the Spratly Islands, is strategically located and is surrounded by abundant fishing grounds; it may also be ripe for oil and natural gas exploration

  Taiwan-China-Vietnam: the Paracel Islands are occupied by China but claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam

  Taiwan-Japan-China: in 2003, China and Taiwan became more vocal in rejecting both Japan's claims to the uninhabited islands of the Senkaku-shoto (Diaoyu Tai) and Japan's unilaterally declared exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea where all parties engage in hydrocarbon prospecting; Senkaku-shoto is situated near key shipping lanes, rich fishing grounds, and possibly significant oil and natural gas reserves

• Tajikistan

  Tajikistan-Afghanistan: none identified

  Tajikistan-China: in 2006, China and Tajikistan pledged to commence demarcation of the revised boundary agreed to in the delimitation of 2002; in 2011, Tajikistan and China ratified the 2002 border demarcation agreement whereby Tajikistan ceded approximately 1,100 square kilometers in the Pamirs to China

  Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan: disputes in Isfara Valley delay delimitation with Kyrgyzstan; in May 2021, both countries agreed to a ceasefire following recent clashes at their border

  Tajikistan-Uzbekistan: talks continue with Uzbekistan to delimit border and clear minefields; as of January 2020, Uzbekistan reported that it had cleared all mines along its side of the border

• Tanzania

  Tanzania-Burundi: none identified

  Tanzania-Democratic Republic of the Congo: none identified

  Tanzania-Kenya: none identified

  Tanzania-Malawi: dispute with Malawi over the boundary in Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi) and the meandering Songwe River; Malawi contends that the entire lake up to the Tanzanian shoreline is its territory, while Tanzania claims the border is in the center of the lake

  Tanzania-Mozambique: none identified

  Tanzania-Rwanda: none identified

  Tanzania-Uganda: none identified

• Thailand

  Thailand-Burma: in 2016, Thailand expressed its interest in investing in Burma’s Hatgyi Dam project on the Salween River near the Thai-Burma border; the dam has the potential to supply electricity and water during the drought season; approximately 100,000 mostly Karen refugees fleeing civil strife, political upheaval, and economic stagnation in Burma live in nine remote camps in Thailand near the border

  Thailand-Cambodia: Cambodia and Thailand dispute sections of their border; in 2011, Thailand and Cambodia resorted to arms in the dispute over the location of the boundary on the precipice surmounted by Preah Vihear temple ruins, awarded to Cambodia by ICJ decision in 1962 and part of a planned UN World Heritage site; in 2013, the International Court of Justice ruled that the land with the temple was Cambodian territory but that a nearby hill belonged to Thailand

  Thailand-Laos: talks continue on completion of demarcation with Laos but disputes remain over several islands in the Mekong River

  Thailand-Malaysia: separatist violence in Thailand's predominantly Malay-Muslim southern provinces prompt border closures and controls with Malaysia to stem insurgent activities; disputed areas are the Bukit Jeli area at the headwaters of the Golok River and the continental shelf boundary in the Gulf of Thailand

• Timor-Leste

  Timor-Leste-Australia: Timor-Leste and Australia reached agreement on a treaty delimiting a permanent maritime boundary in March 2018; both countries ratified the treaty in August 2019

  Timor-Leste-Indonesia: three stretches of land borders with Indonesia have yet to be delimited, two of which are in the Oecussi exclave area, and no maritime or Economic Exclusion Zone boundaries have been established between the countries; maritime boundaries with Indonesia remain unresolved; between 2005 and 2015, 500 border landmarks were placed and another 200 were proposed

• Togo

  Togo-Benin: in 2001, Benin claimed Togo moved boundary monuments - joint commission continues to resurvey the boundary; Benin’s and Togo’s Adjrala hydroelectric dam project on the Mona River, proposed in the 1990s, commenced in 2017 with funding from a Chinese bank

  Togo-Burkina Faso: none identified

  Togo-Ghana: none identified

• Tokelau

  Tokelau-American Samoa (US): Tokelau included American Samoa's Swains Island (Olosega) in its 2006 draft independence constitution; Swains Island has been administered by American Samoa since 1925; the 1980 Treaty of Tokehega delineates the maritime boundary between American Samoa and Tokelau; while not specifically mentioning Swains Island, the treaty notes in its preamble that New Zealand does not claim as part of Tokelau any island administered as part of American Samoa

• Tonga

  Tonga-Fiji: Fiji does not recognize Tonga’s 1972 claim to the Minerva Reefs and their surrounding waters; the Minerva Reefs’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone includes valuable fishing grounds

   

• Trinidad and Tobago

  Trinidad and Tobago-Barbados: Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago abide by the April 2006 Permanent Court of Arbitration decision delimiting a maritime boundary and limiting catches of flying fish in Trinidad and Tobago's EEZ

  Trinidad and Tobago-Barbados-Guyana-Venezuela: in 2005, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago agreed to compulsory international arbitration under UN Convention on the Law of the Sea challenging whether the northern limit of Trinidad and Tobago's and Venezuela's maritime boundary extends into Barbadian waters; Guyana has expressed its intention to include itself in the arbitration, as the Trinidad and Tobago-Venezuela maritime boundary may also extend into its waters

• Tunisia

  none identified

• Turkey (Turkiye)

  Turkey-Armenia: in 2009, Swiss mediators facilitated an accord reestablishing diplomatic ties between Armenia and Turkey, but neither side has ratified the agreement and the rapprochement effort has faltered;  in early 2022, the two countries held talks twice aimed at normalizing relations, which could lead to the opening of their land border, shut since 1993; in 2000, Turkish authorities complained to UNESCO that blasting from quarries in Armenia was damaging the medieval ruins of Ani, on the other side of the Arpacay valley

  Turkey-Azerbaijan: none identified

  Turkey-Bulgaria: none identified

  Turkey-Cyprus: status of northern Cyprus question remains

  Turkey-Georgia: none identified

  Turkey-Greece: complex maritime, air, and territorial disputes with Greece in the Aegean Sea, including rights to explore oil and gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean and illegal migrants transiting from Turkey into Greece; the Aegean Maritime Boundary is complicated by the close proximity of Greek islands to the western shores of the Turkish Anatolian peninsula, representing the primary source of conflict between the two countries

  Turkey-Iran: none identified

  Turkey-Iraq: Turkey has expressed concern over the status of Kurds in Iraq

  Turkey-Syria: Turkey completed building a wall along its border with Syria in 2018 to prevent illegal border crossings and smuggling

• Turkmenistan

  Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan: in January 2021, the two countries reached a preliminary agreement on the joint exploration of an undersea hydrocarbon field containing oil and natural gas in the Caspian Sea

  Turkmenistan-Iran: none identified

  Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan: Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan signed a treaty on the delimitation and demarcation process in 2001; field demarcation of the boundaries with Kazakhstan commenced in 2005; Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan agreed to their border in the Caspian Sea in 2014

  Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan: in 2017, the three countries signed an agreement of the junction of their borders

  Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan: cotton monoculture in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan creates water-sharing difficulties for Amu Darya river states; in 2021, the two countries reached an agreement to create a joint intergovernmental commission to oversee water management

• Turks and Caicos Islands

  none identified

• Tuvalu

  none identified

• Uganda

  Uganda is subject to armed fighting among hostile ethnic groups, rebels, armed gangs, militias, and various government forces that extend across its borders
  
  Uganda-Kenya: Kenya and Uganda began a joint demarcation of the boundary in 2021; Uganda and Kenya both claim Migingo Island, a tiny island in the middle of Lake Victoria, which offers good fishing
  
  Uganda-Rwanda: a joint technical committee established in 2007 to demarcate sections of the border
  
  Uganda-Democratic Republic of Congo(DROC): Uganda rejects the DROC claim to Margherita Peak in the Rwenzori mountains and considers it a boundary divide; there is tension and violence on Lake Albert over prospective oil reserves at the mouth of the Semliki River; Rukwanzi Island in Lake Albert is claimed by both countries
  
  Uganda-South Sudan: Government of South Sudan protests Lord's Resistance Army operations in western Equatorial State, displacing and driving out local populations and stealing grain stores
  
  Uganda-Sudan: none identified

• Ukraine

  Ukraine-Belarus: in 1997, Ukraine and Belarus signed a boundary delimitation treaty; the instruments of ratification were exchanged in 2013; a joint commission should be established to enable the actual demarcation to begin

  Ukraine-Hungary: hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees are crossing the border to Hungary to escape the Russian invasion in their country

  Ukraine-Moldova: hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees are crossing the border to Moldova to escape the Russian invasion in their country; Ukraine and Moldova signed an agreement officially delimiting their border in 1999, but the border has not been demarcated due to Moldova's difficulties with the break-away region of Transnistria; Moldova and Ukraine operate joint customs posts to monitor transit of people and commodities through Moldova's Transnistria Region, which remains under the auspices of an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe-mandated peacekeeping mission comprised of Moldovan, Transnistrian, Russian, and Ukrainian troops

  Ukraine-Poland: hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees are crossing the border to Poland to escape the Russian invasion in their country

  Ukraine-Romania: hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees are crossing the border to Romania to escape the Russian invasion in their country, the ICJ in 2009 ruled largely in favor of Romania in its dispute submitted in 2004 over Ukrainian-administered Zmiyinyy/Serpilor (Snake) Island and Black Sea maritime boundary delimitation; Romania opposes Ukraine's reopening of a navigation canal from the Danube border through Ukraine to the Black Sea

  Ukraine-Russia: the dispute over the boundary between Russia and Ukraine through the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov is suspended due to the occupation of Crimea by Russia

  Ukraine-Slovakia: tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees are crossing the border to Slovakia to escape the Russian invasion of their country

• United Arab Emirates

  UAE-Oman: boundary agreement was signed and ratified with Oman in 2003 for entire border, including Oman's Musandam Peninsula and Al Madhah enclaves, but contents of the agreement and detailed maps showing the alignment have not been published

  UAE-Iran: Iran and UAE dispute Tunb Islands and Abu Musa Island near the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has occupied since 1971

  UAE-Saudi Arabia: the UAE has differences with Saudi Arabia over their border and the sharing of a major oilfield there, although the issue is seldom mentioned publically

• United Kingdom

  UK-Argentina: UK rejects sovereignty talks requested by Argentina, which still claims the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

  UK-Argentina-Chile: the UK’s territorial claim in Antarctica (British Antarctic Territory) overlaps Argentine claim and partially overlaps Chilean claim

  UK-Denmark: the UK, Iceland, and Ireland dispute Denmark's claim that the Faroe Islands' continental shelf extends beyond 200 nm; Iceland, Norway, and the Faroe Islands signed an agreement in 2019 extending the Faroe Islands’ northern continental shelf area

  UK (Gibraltar)-Spain: in 2002, Gibraltar residents voted overwhelmingly by referendum to reject any "shared sovereignty" arrangement between the UK and Spain; the Government of Gibraltar insisted on equal participation in talks between the two countries; Spain disapproved of UK plans to grant Gibraltar greater autonomy; London and Madrid reached a temporary agreement at the end of 2020 that allowed Gibraltar to be part of the passport-free Schengen zone; talks are expected to continue in 2022

  UK-Mauritius-Seychelles: Mauritius and Seychelles claim the Chagos Archipelago (British Indian Ocean Territory); in 2001, the former inhabitants of the archipelago, evicted 1967 - 1973, were granted UK citizenship and the right of return, followed by Orders in Council in 2004 that banned rehabitation, a High Court ruling reversed the ban, a Court of Appeal refusal to hear the case, and a Law Lords' decision in 2008 denied the right of return; in addition, the UK created the world's largest marine protection area around the Chagos Islands prohibiting the extraction of any natural resources therein

• United States

  US-Antarctica: the 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 states

  US-Bahamas: the Bahamas and US have not been able to agree on a maritime boundary; the two countries have met several times to define their maritime boundary

  US-Canada: Canada and the United States dispute how to divide the Beaufort Sea and the status of the Northwest Passage but continue to work cooperatively to survey the Arctic continental shelf; because of the dispute over Machias Seal Island and adjoining North Rock, the terminus of the land boundary beyond Canada's Grand Manon Island and the US state of Maine is not defined

  US-Canada-Mexico: the US has intensified domestic security measures and is collaborating closely with its neighbors, Canada and Mexico, to monitor and control legal and illegal personnel, transport, and commodities across the international borders

  US-Cuba: the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay is leased from Cuba and only mutual agreement or US abandonment of the area can terminate the lease

  US-Haiti: Haiti claims US-administered Navassa Island; the dispute dates to 1857, when the US claimed the Navassa Island under the 1856 Guano Act; Haiti claims it has had ownership over Navassa Island continuously since its 1801 constitution laid claim to “adjacent lands”

  US-Marshall Islands: in May 2016, the Marshall Islands filed a declaration of authority with the UN over Wake Island, which is currently a US territory, reaffirming that it considers Wake Island part of its territory; control over Wake Island would drastically increase the Marshall Islands’ exclusive economic zone; the US State Department is assembling a group of experts from both countries to discuss the maritime boundary

  US-Russia: 1990 Maritime Boundary Agreement in the Bering Sea still awaits Russian Duma ratification

  US-Tokelau: Tokelau included American Samoa's Swains Island among the islands listed in its 2006 draft constitution; Swains Island has been administered by American Samoa since 1925; the 1980 Treaty of Tokehega delineates the maritime boundary between American Samoa and Tokelau; while not specifically mentioning Swains Island, the treaty notes in its preamble that New Zealand does not claim as part of Tokelau any island administered as part of American Samoa

• United States Pacific Island Wildlife Refuges

  none identified

• Uruguay

  Uruguay-Argentina: in 2010, the ICJ ruled in favor of Uruguay's operation of two paper mills on the Uruguay River, which forms the border with Argentina; the two countries formed a joint pollution monitoring regime, which ended the dispute

  Uruguay-Brazil: uncontested boundary dispute between Brazil and Uruguay over Braziliera/Brasiliera Island in the Quarai/Cuareim River leaves the tripoint with Argentina in question; smuggling of firearms and narcotics continues to be an issue along the Uruguay-Brazil border

• Uzbekistan

  Uzbekistan-Afghanistan: none identified

  Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan: field demarcation of the boundaries with Kazakhstan commenced in 2004; disputed territory is held by Uzbekistan but the overwhelming majority of residents are ethnic Kazakhs; the two countries agreed on draft final demarcation documents in March 2022 and plan to hold another meeting in April 2022

  Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan: border delimitation of 130 km of border with Kyrgyzstan is hampered by serious disputes around enclaves and other areas; in 2021, border talks between Uzbek and Kyrgyz officials raised the possibility of a land swap arrangement, but a deal was not finalized

  Uzbekistan-Tajikistan: none identified

  Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan: prolonged drought and cotton monoculture in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan created water-sharing difficulties for Amu Darya river states; in 2021, the two countries reached an agreement to create a joint intergovernmental commission to oversee water management

• Vanuatu

  Vanuatu-France: Matthew and Hunter Islands, two uninhabited islands east of New Caledonia, claimed by Vanuatu and France; in January 2019, a French naval mission landed officers on the islands to reinforce France’s sovereignty; in November 2021, French vessels fishing near the islands raised tensions

• Venezuela

  Venezuela-Brazil: none identified

  Venezuela-Colombia: 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; the border between the two countries was closed from March 2020 to October 2021 due to COVID, but goods and people fleeing poverty and violence continued to be smuggled from Venezuela into Colombia, and illegal narcotics and armed men flowed into Venezuela from Colombia; since the FARC disarmed in 2016, some former members have formed armed dissident groups that operate along the border

  Venezuela-Guyana: 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 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea that Trinidad and Tobago's maritime boundary with Venezuela extends into their waters; in 2018, Guyana initiated proceedings against Venezuela with the International Court of Justice (ICJ); Venezuela requested a direct dialogue to settle the dispute; the ICJ ruled that it had jurisdiction to hear the case in December 2020; in September 2021, Venezuelan officials issued a statement reasserting dominion over three-quarters of Guyana, which Guyana stated was a threat to its sovereignty and territorial integrity

  Venezuela-various:  Venezuela claims Aves Island and thereby an economic exclusion Zone/continental shelf extending over a large portion of the eastern Caribbean Sea; Venezuela’s claim to Aves Island is disputed by Dominica and several other countries because the island has rich guano deposits useful in producing fertilizer and gunpowder, as well as large fish stocks and natural gas reserves; contraband smuggling (narcotics and arms), illegal migration, trafficking in animals, plants, lumber, illegal exploitation of mineral resources

• Vietnam

  Vietnam-Cambodia: Cambodia accuses Vietnam of a wide variety of illicit cross-border activities; issues include casinos built in Cambodia near the border, narcotics trafficking, trafficking of women and children, petrol smuggling, illegal logging, and illegal migration; progress on a joint development area with Cambodia is hampered by an unresolved dispute over sovereignty of offshore islands; in December 2021, leaders from the two countries agreed to fully complete the remaining border demarcation and the upgrading of border checkpoints

  Vietnam-Cambodia-Laos: Cambodia and Laos protest Vietnamese squatters and armed encroachments along border; Cambodia accuses Vietnam of a wide variety of illicit cross-border activities

  Vietnam-China: an estimated 300,000 Vietnamese refugees reside in China; the decade-long demarcation of the China-Vietnam land boundary was completed in 2009; small territorial exchanges were made during the demarcation; China occupies the Paracel Islands also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; cross border trafficking in women and children and illegal wildlife trade are problems along this border; In December 2021, China tightened its border controls over COVID concerns, restricting an important trade route for Vietnam

  Vietnam-Laos: Laos opened a strategically important international border crossing with Vietnam in 2021, which will shorten the distance for goods and people transiting between Thailand and Vietnam

• Virgin Islands

  none identified

• Wake Island

  US-Marshall Islands: in May 2016, the Marshall Islands filed a declaration of authority with the UN over Wake Island, which is currently a US territory, reaffirming that it considers Wake Island part of its territory; control over Wake Island would drastically increase the Marshall Islands’ exclusive economic zone; the US State Department is assembling a group of experts from both countries to discuss the maritime boundary

• Wallis and Futuna

  none identified

• West Bank

  West Bank-Israel: West Bank is Israeli-occupied with current status subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement - permanent status to be determined through further negotiation; in 2002, Israel began construction of a "seam line" separation barrier along parts of the Green Line and within the West Bank; as of mid-2020, plans were to continue barrier construction

• World

  stretching over some 280,000 km, the world's 325 international land boundaries separate 195 independent states and 70 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; most maritime states have claimed limits that include territorial seas and exclusive economic zones; overlapping limits due to adjacent or opposite coasts create the potential for 430 bilateral maritime boundaries of which 209 have agreements that include contiguous and non-contiguous segments; boundary, borderland/resource, and territorial disputes vary in intensity from managed or dormant to violent or militarized; undemarcated, indefinite, porous, and unmanaged boundaries tend to 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 and internal displacement of the estimated 45.7 million people and cross-border displacements of approximately 31.7 million refugees and asylum seekers around the world as of yearend 2021; approximately 429,300 refugees were repatriated during 2021; other sources of contention include access to water and mineral (especially hydrocarbon) resources, fisheries, and arable land; armed conflict prevails not so much between the uniformed 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-Oman: none identified

  Yemen-Saudia Arabia: in 2004, Saudi Arabia reinforced its concrete-filled security barrier along sections of the fully demarcated border with Yemen to stem illegal cross-border activities, including militants and arms; in 2013 and 2015, Saudi Arabia again erected fences
  
  
  

   

• Zambia

  Zambia-Angola: because the straight-line segments along the left bank (Zambian side) of the Cuando/Kwando River do not conform with the physical alignment of the unstable shoreline, Zambian residents in some areas have settled illegally on sections of shoreline that fall on the Angolan side of the boundary
  
  Zambia-Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC): boundary commission continues discussions over Congolese-administered triangle of land on the right bank of the Lunkinda River claimed by Zambia near the DRC village of Pweto

  Zambia-Tanzania: some drug smuggling may take place across the Zambia-Tanzania border; there are no known current territorial issues, as both states have continued to recognize the colonial boundaries last modified in 1937; the boundary in Lake Tanganyika remains undefined.
  
  Zambia-Zimbabwe: in 2004, Zimbabwe dropped objections to plans between Botswana and Zambia to build a bridge over the Zambezi River, thereby de facto recognizing a short, but not clearly delimited, Botswana-Zambia boundary in the river; in May 2021, Botswana and Zambia agreed in principle to let Zimbabwe be a partner in the bridge project as it enters its lasts phase

• Zimbabwe

  Zimbabwe-Mozambique: none identified
  
  Zimbabwe-South Africa: South Africa has placed military units to assist police operations along the border of Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique to control smuggling, poaching, and illegal migration
  
  Zimbabwe-Zambia: in 2004, Zimbabwe dropped objections to plans between Botswana and Zambia to build a bridge over the Zambezi River, thereby de facto recognizing a short, but not clearly delimited, Botswana-Zambia boundary in the river; in May 2021, Botswana and Zambia agreed in principle to let Zimbabwe be a partner in the bridge project as it enters its lasts phase