International Negotiation Competition

2015 International Problem

Round Two

Greek Government Division of Antiquities and the Thera Expedition Group

GENERAL INFORMATION FOR BOTH PARTIES

For purposes of this negotiation, assume the following facts are true and are not
contradicted by any other actual facts or fictional information from any source.

The Greek Government Division of Antiquities (“Division”) is responsible for

locating, acquiring, protecting, preserving, and promoting the location, acquisition, and
preservation of historic sites and properties, buildings, artefacts, treasure troves, and objects
of antiquity that have scientific or historical value or are of interest to the public, including,
but not limited to, monuments, memorials, fossil deposits, prehistoric habitations, ceremonial
sites, abandoned settlements, caves, sunken or abandoned ships, or any part thereof.

The “Lost City” or “Lost Continent” of Atlantis has attracted interest ever since Plato
referred to it in two of his dialogues, Timaeus and Critias. In these works, Plato indicated that
Atlantis was built on a hill and surrounded by rings of water, which were joined by tunnels
large enough for a ship to navigate. A huge canal connected the outer rings of water to the
ocean. Plato described the citizens of Atlantis as great engineers and architects. The city
contained palaces, harbours, temples and docks. Plato described in great detail the amazing
buildings—complete with hot and cold fountains, shared dining halls, golden statues,
incredible decorative arts, and stone walls covered with precious metals.

There are many popular, but unsubstantiated myths about Atlantis. One such myth
holds that the Atlanteans lived in perpetual serenity and happiness and possessed a
technology more advanced than the one of the 21st century, even 5000 years ago. The
Atlanteans were supposedly approached by mysterious horned beings who taught them
technology and gave them the secret of orichalcum before vanishing as suddenly as they
came. (Orichalcum is a metal mentioned in several ancient writings, including a story of
Atlantis in the Critias dialogue, recorded by Plato. The people of Atlantis supposedly used
pearl-sized pellets of orichalcum to power their machines. The orichalcum beads were
allegedly produced by a massive machine fed with lava.) The Atlanteans, then filled with
pride, started to feel as gods and as though they could conquer the known world. But then
they watched as the waves rose around them and their nation was destroyed by disasters.
They built an airlock technology around them for protection and decided to “revive” the
horned beings by creating a machine. Using thieves, slaves, and prisoners as experiments,
they tried to create god-like creatures that could protect Atlantis. Unfortunately, all of the
experiments failed, and their experiments ended up as mutilated horned subhumans.
Eventually, the failed experiments were so many that the experiments rebelled and massacred
the entire populace in a single day and night. As Plato described in his dialogues Timaeus and
Critias, Atlantis thus disappeared “in a single day and night of misfortune.” However,
whether any of this is true, of course, is anyone’s guess.

The following information has been disclosed to the Division on a strictly confidential
basis by the Thera Expedition Group (“Expedition Group”), formed by Mr Klaus Kerner
Smith (“Smith”). Smith has found intriguing clues to the location of Atlantis. Among other
things, Smith has found a copy of a supposed third Plato dialogue, Hermocrates. This “Lost
Dialogue of Plato” appears to be the third part of his trilogy (the other two being Timaeus and
Critias). Smith believes that Plato recorded information about Atlantis in these dialogues that
provides important clues as to the location of Atlantis, but a mistranslation shifted the
distance from Greece to Atlantis by a factor of ten and led to widespread belief that Atlantis
was a fictional continent. However, Plato also referred to Atlantis’ location as being southeast
of the “lesser colony.” The ancient Minoan civilization had a colony on Thera, while its
mainland was the island of Crete to the south. Thera (now called Santorini) is a Greek island
in the Cyclades island group in the Aegean Sea, between the Greek mainland and Crete.
Thera was the site of the volcanic eruption around 1600-1500 B.C. that (according to Greek
archaeologist Spyridon Marinatos) contributed to the collapse of the Minoan civilization.
Smith now believes the actual site of Atlantis must be very near Thera, perhaps accessed
through a cave entrance on Thera.

Smith has put together a highly qualified search team of four persons for the purposes
of locating Atlantis and retrieving artefacts from it. Those persons are (1) Dr Henry
(“Indiana”) Walton Jones, Jr (“Indiana”), a college professor of archaeology who lectures on
ancient civilizations at Barnett College; (2) Dr Marcus Brody (“Brody”), a British-born
archaeologist, historian, curator, and lecturer who is currently the Dean of Students at Barnett
College where Dr Jones teaches; (3) Dr Henry Walton Jones, Sr. (“Jones Sr”), Indiana Jones’
father and a retired professor of ancient and medieval literature; and (4) Dr Sophia Hapgood
(“Hapgood”), a former archaeology professor at Barnett College who now presents herself as
a psychic—giving seminars about Atlantis.

This negotiation is between legal representatives of the Division and the Expedition
Group. The Expedition Group is legally organized in the home country of the lawyers who
are representing it. The Division has hired outside lawyers to represent its interests in this
negotiation. The Expedition Group has approached the Division for the purpose of securing
the right to explore for the Lost City of Atlantis on Greek sovereign territory. The Division
felt that it would be better to use lawyers who are familiar with international law. You can
assume that the only controlling legal principles are contained in the Law of the Sea Treaty
(“LOST”) (formally known as the Third United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea).
The purpose of LOST was to establish a comprehensive set of rules governing the oceans and
to replace previous U.N. Conventions. For purposes of this negotiation, assume that, among
other things, LOST establishes specific jurisdictional limits on the ocean area that countries
may claim, including a 12 nautical mile (22.2 km and 13.8 land-based mile) territorial sea
limit. LOST measures this distance from a coastal baseline, which is usually the low-water
mark. LOST considers the territorial sea as the sovereign territory of the state (although
foreign ships are allowed innocent passage through it). This sovereignty extends to the
airspace over and seabed below. LOST also establishes a 200-nautical-mile exclusive
economic zone for natural resources. Thus, a coastal nation like Greece has control of all
economic resources within its exclusive economic zone, including fishing, mining, and oil
exploration as well as any pollution of those resources.

You can assume that both parties and their respective lawyers have full authority to
negotiate an agreement and that the parties have agreed to use U.S. dollars for any amounts to
be paid. You can also assume that this negotiation is taking place at a neutral site convenient
for all parties. The parties have agreed that the upcoming negotiation will cover the following
topics:
1. Fees to be paid to the Division by the Expedition Group

The Division has never had a situation involving something like the discovery of
Atlantis. The Division has proposed that the parties begin negotiation with the Division’s
standard salvage contract that it has used for shipwrecks within its territorial sea boundaries
and modify it appropriately. With regard to the fee to be paid to the Division, that contract
provides in relevant part as follows:

The Division hereby grants unto the Salvager a contract to conduct underwater search and
salvage from and upon submerged sovereignty lands of and belonging to the Government
of Greece for and in consideration of the amount of _______________.

2. Ownership of the artefacts and continuing compensation to be provided to the

Division in terms of payments or division of artefacts recovered

The Division’s standard salvage contract provides as follows:

In payment for the Salvager’s satisfactory performance and compliance with this
Agreement, the Division will award to the Salvager ________ percent of the total
appraised value of all materials recovered, including, but not limited to, relics, treasure
trove, and other related materials that, as abandoned property, belongs to the Government
of Greece. Such payment may be made in either recovered material or fair market value,
or in a combination of both, as mutually agreed by the Division and the Salvager. The
time and location of the payment shall be as mutually agreed upon by the parties.

The Division again proposes to use the above provision as the starting point for
negotiating the agreement between the Division and the Expedition Group.

3. Dispute resolution

The Division’s standard contract provides as follows the manner of handling disputes
as to value and division of any salvaged materials:

In the event the parties are unable to agree upon the value of the material
recovered under this contract, the parties shall each name a professional appraiser, and the
two selected appraisers shall name a third. The three appraisers shall determine the value
and appropriate division of the salvaged or recovered material. Payment for the
appraisers’ services shall be made jointly and equally by the parties.

4. Other provisions

The parties expect that other provisions will be necessary to effectuate this agreement
and that they can be discussed during the course of the negotiations.