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Search: UNCLOS

08 Dec

The UNCLOS arbitral tribunal formed to hear a dispute brought by the Philippines against China has set December 15 as a deadline for China to submit a legal brief or memorial. As most of our readers know, China has steadfastly refused to even participate in the arbitral process. It has not selected any arbitrators and it did not attend the first hearing last spring. I (like most observers) expected China to ignore the December 15 deadline as well. Although it looks like China will not file a formal legal memorial,...
08.12.14 | |

10 Nov

...blockade, which was considered nearly extinct, has been resurrected as a crucial element in Russia’s strategy against Ukraine. The exercise of the “visit and search” right by Russia further complicates the situation, posing a threat for NATO members in the region like Bulgaria, Romania and Türkiye.  According to Article 57 of the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), merchant ships passing through the exclusive economic zones shall not extend beyond 200 nautical miles, or otherwise will find themselves in a dangerous position. This is because as...
10.11.23 | |

18 Sep

...3 multilateral counter-terrorism treaties (the Convention on the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, two SUA Protocols); Amendments to the Convention on Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials; 2 Amendments to the ITU’s Radio Regulations; and, of course, UNCLOS, along with the Agreement to fix Part XI I doubt that all 78 pending treaties will get advice and consent in the remaining few months of the 110th Congress (indeed, UNCLOS and the accompanying Part XI Agreement are quite unlikely to do so). But, I will bet that a substantial majority do...
18.09.08 | |

17 Apr

[Nguyen, Quoc Tan Trung is a PhD candidate at University of Victoria, Canada and lecturer on public international law in Vietnam. He currently pursues research interests including international legal framework on non-recognition, use of force and human rights.] [https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7293-1822] Photo credit: Reuters The South China Sea arbitration award between the Philippines and China clearly favours the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Philippines’ argument. From rejecting artificial islands that China has been furiously building are entitled to have the 200 nautical...
17.04.21 | |

13 Nov

...Maldives’ sovereignty and sovereign rights when its existing territory falls below sea level? Would islands cease to be islands under the law of the sea (see article 121 of UNCLOS)? That’s an important question regardless of their habitability since the existence of land territory dictates the scope of a state’s sovereignty over its territorial sea as well as its sovereign rights in an exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf, all of which may still contain valuable natural resources. UNCLOS Articles 60 and 80 allow for a state to construct...
13.11.08 | |

24 Jan

This article from the Global Times, a hawkish state-controlled newspaper in China, probably reflects a little bit of the official Chinese view on the Philippines UNCLOS claim. It also contains this troubling bit of analysis, from a Chinese scholar: The international court would not take the case without agreements from all parties involved, Dong Manyuan, a researcher at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times. Uh, yes, that’s true in a general sense. But China has already agreed to allow an Article 287 arbitral tribunal to take...
24.01.13 | |

05 Mar

...any oil exploration activities while the matter is before the ITLOS special chamber. Under UNCLOS Article 290, a court or tribunal with jurisdiction is empowered to issue provisional measures “which it considers appropriate under the circumstances to preserve the respective rights of the parties to the dispute or to prevent serious harm to the marine environment, pending the final decision.” I haven’t been privy to the papers filed in this case, but it does seem like Cote D’Ivoire should have a pretty reasonable provisional measures claim. Indeed, the UK oil...
05.03.15 | |

20 Oct

...I would like to make Peter’s appeal mine, and insist again on this problem. “Professor Romano points to a timely debate about the age-old problem of how to manage the ocean commons. There are indeed preliminary discussions underway about working up a new UNCLOS “Implementing Agreement” for biodiversity (and living resources) in areas beyond national jurisdictions. Also underway are serious negotiations to establish in the short-term new treaty-based regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) for the Southern Pacific and Southern Indian Oceans that are likely to have broad-based authority to conserve...
20.10.06 | |

04 Nov

...to have garnered media attention in recent weeks. U.S. Secretary of State Kerry’s signature of the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty promoted a rather furious domestic back-lash about whether the United States should join that treaty (At present, it sure looks like there’s easily enough Senate votes to oppose it). And, that’s not to mention the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). It continues to be supported by a large majority of business and national security interests but remains stymied by Senate opposition from a very vocal...
04.11.13 | |

29 May

...international fisheries law, built upon the foundations provided by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). UNCLOS sought to deal with the tragedy of the commons primarily by arrogating to coastal states large swathes of ocean space within the EEZ. That left the problem of shared, straddling, migratory, and high seas fisheries. None of these have received the same regulatory attention until relatively recently, and since the UN Fish Stocks Agreement was adopted in 1995 there has been many initiatives to strengthen the hand of responsible states...
29.05.13 | |

19 Aug

I have to respectfully disagree with Dave’s interpretation of Judge Jackson’s decision. The decision is almost certainly incorrect from the standpoint of the law of nations; as Dave rightly points out, the definition of piracy in the High Seas Convention and in UNCLOS likely represents the customary standard. But I think Judge Jackson’s decision makes complete sense given the US’s Alice-in-Wonderland approach to international law, whereby the Congress simply defines the “law of nations” as it pleases, no matter how idiosyncratic — read: wrong — that definition may be. In...
19.08.10 | |

11 Jul

Today, the U.S. Department of State released the 2012 edition of its Digest of U.S. practice in international law (for a brief history of these Digests see the accompanying press release here). Under the editorship of CarrieLyn D. Guymon, the Digest addresses a number of key international legal developments from 2012, including the U.S. response to the crisis in Syria and the (failed) attempt to get Senate Advice and Consent to the Disabilities Convention and UNCLOS among other treaty action. In addition, there was plenty of activity on the litigation...
11.07.13 | |