Search: UNCLOS
28 Aug Non-Syria News: Update on that Philippines-China Arbitration
I’ve been distracted the last few days by all this Syria stuff (and a nasty case of poison ivy), so I neglected to keep up with the latest on that Philippines-China UNCLOS arbitration now seated at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. Luckily, Luke Petersen of Investment Arbitration Reporter is on the case and has this great post analyzing the information released so far about the arbitration. Note that the Philippines has until March 2014 to file their memorial. This seems ridiculously long given that they’ve been preparing...
08 Nov Can National Laws on Space Resources Serve as Evidence of Customary International Law?
...customary international law rules being enshrined in treaties, UNCLOS being one example. The US and its partner states, beyond announcing their common interpretation of a treaty rule, can also eventually contend that there in fact exists a customary international law rule which not only helps strengthen their position but also maintains that the customary rule behind it makes it indeed the ‘correct’ interpretation, creating the consequence that it is binding on all states.The above analysis raises the question of whether a ‘sufficiently widespread’ practice of national legislation could prompt the...28 Sep A Treaty-Happy Senate?
...International Law Reporter has done a nice job compiling the treaty transmittal packages and Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) reports as well (see here, here, and here). With the expected exceptions of UNCLOS and its Part XI Amendment along with the Protocol to the London Dumping Convention, the Senate essentially cleared the floor of all the treaties reported favorably to it by the SFRC this Congress. There was debate and little attendant controversy over any of these treaties. It looks like all the resolutions of advice and consent came via...17 Nov Universal Treaty Law
...the Law of Treaties will become more important as a method to resolve potential conflicts between treaties. But I think the biggest change will be (and, again, may already be beginning) with respect to customary international law. CIL has been a useful way to bind states when there’s no treaty or the treaty has less than universal membership, but after every country in the world belongs to UNCLOS, what becomes of the customary law of the sea? When every country belongs to the Geneva Conventions, what becomes of the CIL...15 Nov Presidential Candidates and International Law
...with national sovereignty. America must either remain a constitutional republic or submit to international law, because it cannot do both. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and the conflict between adhering to the rule of law and obeying globalist planners is now staring us in the face.” I don’t agree, but I do like the name “globalist planners,” and I plan to steal it when I start my international consulting firm. Have candidates taken positions on other major treaties, like CEDAW, Kyoto, UNCLOS, land mines? Change in...24 Aug Weekend Roundup: August 17-23, 2013
...an international convention to ensure cooperation in the domestic prosecution of international crimes. HJ van der Merwe discussed the transformative influence of international criminal law on domestic law, and looked at the South African experience post-Apartheid. Apartheid South Africa was also central to the first ATS decision post-Kiobel, discussed by Julian, in which the Second Circuit rejected the plaintiffs’ argument. Julian further wrote about the Faroe Islands’ decision to start an UNCLOS arbitration against the EU over the latter’s decision to impose sanctions after the Faroe Islands unilaterally increased herring...
27 Nov Finding the Human-Nature Equilibrium: A Reply to Nivia
...Law of the Sea is arguably the most comprehensive when it comes to the basics of sustainable development as in addition to a section for conservation of the high seas (Part VII, Section 2), the entire text embodies a collective spirit upon which modern ideals of sustainability, like that codified by the 1992 Rio Declaration, are built. UNCLOS and the treaties under its regime all share the same remarkable trait; they open the widest doors of opportunity for parties wishing to reap economic benefits from the sea so long as...18 Jan Weekend Roundup: January 4-17, 2014
...for the US to accede to UNCLOS as a way to assert leadership and push back China’s claims in the East and South China Seas. In two guest posts, Lorenzo Kamel compared the EU’s approach to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territories with its approach to Northern Cyprus and Western Sahara. Further on Israel and Palestine, Eliav Lieblich discussed a recent court hearing in which Israel is trying to revive maritime prize law against a Finnish ship intercepted when it tried to breach the Gaza blockade. We engaged in cross-blog...25 Sep What’s the Object and Purpose of the Arms Trade Treaty?
I’ve been surprised how quiet the Obama Administration has been in terms of treaty actions in its 5 years in office — you can pretty much count on one hand the number of treaties that have gone through the Senate Advice and Consent process (and nothing at all has happened this Congress). Now, some of the blame for this certainly rests with a recalcitrant (some might say new-sovereigntist) minority of U.S. Senators (see, e.g., UNCLOS and the UN Disabilities Convention fights). Still, the reality of the last few years has...24 Sep Russia May Charge Greenpeace Activists with Piracy; Will They Cite the Ninth Circuit? (Updated)
...Fordham University Law School. “That requires stealing things and the intention of stealing things.” But current definitions of piracy don’t require an intention for financial enrichment. Rather, as we noted back in February when the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an injunction against anti-whaling protestors for attacking Japanese whalers, UNCLOS requires only that the attackers be acting for “private ends.” As Kevin argued in his post, there is reason to believe that “private ends” does not include “politically motivated” acts (although Eugene Kontorovich has a good rebuttal of...