Search: UNCLOS

Mariano Aznar When and how Argentina "has expressly waived its immunity defenses"? I haven't seen this... AGW Mariano, I understand that the terms of the Argentinian bonds included an unconditional waiver - see Julian's earlier post: https://opiniojuris.org/2012/10/15/dont-cry-for-the-worlds-greatest-sovereign-deadbeat/ Phu Nguyen ITLOS has just spread the news on the new case http://www.itlos.org/index.php?id=222&L=0. As the Argentine's application is not yet published, it's curious to see how the Argentine invokes the UNCLOS. Alejandro Turyn Here there is a quick response directly from the law and from the Press Release: "Argentina emphasizes that the ARA...

...am not an expert on maritime law, can anyone here at OJ (or other commenters) explain what these "difficulties" might be, specifically what the UNCLOS says about the use of force on the high seas? Jennifer Nathan -- Art. 107 of UNCLOS permits seizures of pirates and pirated vessels on the high seas by "warships or military aircraft, or other ships or aircraft clearly marked and identifiable as being on government service and authorized to that effect." However, that only applies on the high seas, not in Somali territorial seas....

...of law. Do we want to manage this problem through what some would call the extra-legal processes of the UN Security Council? Perhaps we should be looking to restructure the UNCLOS and create a workable legal regime governing piracy. I do agree with you regarding your last comment and suggest that it is already true, at least in part. It seems to me that the war criminals of the world do have very little to fear if they are not captured by their enemy and their actions are not part...

Eugene Kontorovich Sounds unbelievable to me. Russian plutocrats don't have to go so far to find people to kill, or expose themselves to such risk. Someone is probably just trying to raise attention for their cruse businesses. If it were true, it would be illegal, unless it is self-defense; and "pirate hunting" doesn't sound like self-defense. UNCLOS Art. 107 provides only warships can seize pirates; one could extrapolate that that would be true of killing them too. Indeed, what the alleged pirate hunters are doing meets the definition of piracy!...

FIFTH-COLUMN Well well well. Nice work. Prof Ku suggested the US might have chosen to downplay this incident by treating the U.S. naval visit as an “innocent passage” through China’s territorial seas. Thanks God that the US doesn't do this. Otherwise, the US would tacitly recognise China's " “indisputable sovereignty”. FIFTH-COLUMN How come, as the USS Lassen has yesterday sailed through the 12-nautical miles claimed by China, it has violated Chinese law when China’s position is not consistent with the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)...

...disputes. And since it has now spent months denouncing the Philippines arbitration as illegal and illegitimate in its domestic press and internationally, it will be even harder to accept any form of international dispute resolution in the future. This is why the Philippines’ effort to force China to accept arbitration now is doomed to fail and will probably backfire. The Philippines will be in no stronger position vis-à-vis China than it was before the arbitration, even if it wins an award. Meanwhile, the overall credibility and effectiveness of the UNCLOS...

I know next to nothing about UNCLOS, but I will still amused by one the reasons the Wall Street Journal invokes today against ratifying it — customary international law: The best arguments for the treaty come from the U.S. Navy, which likes how it creates a legal framework for navigational rights. The oil and gas industry approves of provisions that create an “exclusive economic zone” for the U.S. out to 200 miles. There’s also the potential for development (with clear legal title) of resources in the deep seabed, which would...

...has nothing to gain from accession since the most of the Convention reflects customary international law; James Kraska argued that UNCLOS is a force multiplier for American power; and John Noyes defended the Convention’s regimes on fisheries, oil and gas, and seabed minerals, as promoting US interests. On the second day of our debate, introduced here by Julian, Jeremy Rabkin cautioned against accession because of the risk that compulsory arbitration might interpret treaty rules in ways contrary to US interests. Steven Groves partially agreed with the arguments in favor of...

This week on Opinio Juris, Julian Ku discussed how the announcement by two US Senators of their position against ratification of the UNCLOS, has effectively sunk ratification for this year, and argued that the next administration should seek out bilateral agreements to protect commercial exploitation of the seabed on the high seas. Deborah Pearlstein argued why the US, even if it is not at war with Yemen, is at war in Yemen, and discussed the legal consequences thereof. Kevin Jon Heller gave four reasons why the ICC should not get...

...In other posts, Kevin posted a must-see link to a report visualizing international criminal justice and recommended an article by one of his students on the Kapo trials . We also revisited our discussion of Samantar, with Ingrid Wuerth’s guest post on foreign official immunity, and of the Philippines-China UNCLOS arbitration, with a post by Julian who wasn’t convinced by Professor Stefan Talmon’s argument that all of the Philippines’ claims against China fall outside of the tribunal’s jurisdiction. Julian also asked whether we should care about the upcoming hearings by...

...alleged crimes in Darfur, troubled by the seemingly politically laden relationship between the Court and the UN Security Council. Julian also called attention to China’s “position paper” released ahead of its December 15th filing deadline in the situation between China and the Philippines before the UNCLOS arbitral tribunal. He also pointed to his more in-depth analysis of why the Philippines arbitration is doomed to fail (spoiler alert: it’s due to a mistake by the Philippines in employing a “lawfare strategy” forcing China before the arbitral tribunal), notwithstanding Vietnam’s support of...

...of others under the pretext of ‘rule of law.’” With regard to the South China Sea issue, China reaffirms in the white paper its commitment to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), but states that disputes over territories and maritime rights should be resolved through “respect[ing] historical facts and seek[ing] a peaceful solution through negotiation and consultation”. Interestingly, the document makes no reference to the infamous nine-dash line, though it does state that China has “indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha [Spratly] Islands and their adjacent waters”....