Search: UNCLOS
11 Feb Someone (Prof. Stefan Talmon) Finally Makes An Argument In Favor of China in the Philippines UNCLOS Arbitration
One of the most frustrating things about China’s response to the Philippines arbitration has been the brevity of its legal discussion and analysis. In particular, I’ve long thought that China had a pretty good argument that the Annex VII UNCLOS arbitral tribunal does not have jurisdiction over the dispute since, in many ways, territorial disputes are at the heart of the Philippines’ case. But neither the government nor Chinese scholars have offered much flesh to this argument. The closest statement I’ve seen was Judge Xue Hanqin’s impromptu remarks at the...17 Sep Ukraine’s UNCLOS Arbitration Claim Against Russia May Depend Upon Philippines-China Precedent
After months (or even years) of threats, Ukraine finally filed an arbitration claim against Russia under Annex VII of the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea. According to this statement from the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign of Affairs, the claim will focus on Russia’s actions in the maritime zones bordering Crimea. Since the Russian Federation’s illegal acts of aggression in Crimea, Russia has usurped and interfered with Ukraine’s maritime rights in these zones. Ukraine seeks to end the Russian Federation’s violations of UNCLOS and vindicate Ukraine’s rights in...21 Jun UNCLOS and the Continental Shelf: A Response to Steven Groves
[John E. Noyes is the Roger J. Traynor Professor of Law at California Western School of Law.] My thanks again to Julian Ku for organizing this series on U.S. accession to the Law of the Sea Convention. I write to respond to Mr. Groves’s contention, based on U.S. experience in the Gulf of Mexico, that U.S. accession is not needed to further the stability and security of claims to offshore oil and gas resources. In another post, I respond to Professor Rabkin’s concerns about the third-party dispute settlement...
04 Sep Sea Level Rise and Its Implications in International Law
...Convention on Law of the Seas (‘UNCLOS’). However, before moving on to analyse the specific implications of the rise in sea level on SIDS and suggesting a way forward, it is necessary to address the inevitable clash which will occur between an emerging custom and the UNCLOS with a rise in sea level. In order to do so, we begin in Part II discussing how the development of a subsequent custom due to emerging State Practice on the ambulatory baseline approach may be able to modify the UNCLOS. In Part...03 Oct Russia Charges Greenpeace Protesters with Piracy, When Will the Netherlands File Its ITLOS Action?
are without prejudice to the domestic proceedings (Art. 292(3) UNCLOS). Irrespective of the domestic definition of piracy, I would argue that the Netherlands can argue for release and even damages (art. 107 UNCLOS) on the basis UNCLOS obligations and its definition of piracy. Indeed, states do not have to conform to the UNCLOS definition. The Netherlands itself has the broadest possible definition. Daniel Kenneth: I'm interested by your response. So UNCLOS, on the one hand, leaves states free to define piracy more broadly than the UNCLOS definition in their domestic...26 Jul China’s Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Casually Slanders the South China Sea Arbitral Tribunal
...288(4) of UNCLOS obviously does not mean any tribunal. It has to be a tribunal properly constituted under Article 3(b), (c), (d) and (e) of Annex VII of UNCLOS (an UNCLOS Annex VII arbitral tribunal). The Philippines’ arbitral tribunal cannot invoke any power or authority under these Articles or any other Article under UNCLOS unless it is an UNCLOS Annex VII arbitral tribunal as defined above. For the reason as pointed out above, the Philippines’ arbitral tribunal may have failed to be constituted as an UNCLOS Annex VII arbitral tribunal....
19 Jun The Law of the Sea and the Rome Statute Concept of Territory
...diverges from that of the law of the sea jurisprudence, and that the ICC can exercise article 12 territorial jurisdiction over a member state’s EEZ. UNCLOS and the Exclusive Economic Zone Articles 55-75 of UNCLOS provide for the EEZ as a jurisdictional zone distinct from the sovereign area of the coastal state’s territorial waters or the regime of the high seas. Article 58.1 UNCLOS guarantees the right of all sates to exercise high seas freedoms in this Zone to the extent that they are ‘internationally lawful uses of the sea...10 May US Sec. of Def. Panetta’s Not Very Compelling Argument in Favor of the Law of the Sea Treaty
based on CIL, not treaty law. It seems to me the real disadvantage in staying out of UNCLOS is that the US loses access to UNCLOS procedures and UNCLOS entities. For instance, it could not participate in the delimitation of the continental shelf under the Arctic. But I don’t think a UNCLOS entity could force the U.S. to accept its determinations. The U.S. could negotiate bilateral agreements with UNCLOS members to settle continental shelf delimitations. It would be harder, but not impossible. The bottom line for me is that I...
05 Oct ‘Barbie’: How a Film has Reignited the Debate About China’s Claims to Sovereignty in the South China Sea
...UNCLOS which defines the three terms that are particularly crucial here as follows: Art. 121(I),(III) UNCLOS defines ‘islands’ as naturally formed areas of land, surrounded by water, being above water at high tide and sustaining human habitation or economic life of their own. Territorial sovereignty over an island establishes territorial sea and contiguous zone and entitles to EEZ and continental shelf. Rocks, to the contrary, cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own (Art. 121(III) UNCLOS). They can at best establish territorial sea and contiguous zone. Low-tide elevations...10 Nov Guest Post: The South China Sea Arbitral Tribunal Finds that A White Horse Is Not a Horse–A Delimitation Exception Perspective
...jurisdiction of the tribunal. It is merely being asked to interpret UNCLOS which is why it exists in the first place, to interpret UNCLOS. A finding that a feature is not entitled to an EEZ is not, I repeat is not delimitation. Saying it is one and the same is simply being disengenous. If a feature is declared not capabale of appropriation then it becomes part of the seabed........delimitation then becomes irrelevant. Hiding behind the delimitation exception in order to prevent a finding of the features' entitlement (which is not...