Search: UNCLOS
09 May Passing Gas through Passamaquoddy Bay
...well). In March 2007, the United States rejected Canada’s decision as inconsistent with Canada’s obligation to guarantee “innocent passage” under the law of the sea (see arts. 17-25 and 45 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)). The United States is not a party to UNCLOS, so presumably it is relying on UNCLOS rules as customary international law (unlike the customary international humanitarian law context, however, we’ve no evidence of how the United States determined the exact contours of the innocent passage customary rule)....
01 May Can Coastal States Interrupt Foreign Passage in Their Territorial Seas in Response to Non-Compliance with Human Rights Obligations? A Response to the ASCOMARE Legal Opinion
force against that State could also be illegal, given, for instance, their opposition to the UN purpose of maintaining peace and security. On the other, “principles of international law embodied in the [UN Charter],” also found in Article 301, is a renvoi to other relevant norms not found in UNCLOS, including the right of self-defense in UN Charter Article 51 and the UN collective security system. This phrase does not deviate from the link between non-innocence and protection of the coastal State. The Requirement that Innocent Passage Conform to UNCLOS...
21 Jul ITLOS Advisory Opinion on Climate Change and Oceans: Possibilities and Benefits
[Carlos A. Cruz Carrillo is a PhD Candidate at the University of Basel. Twitter: @Carcru1118.] The rule of law for oceans faces the challenges presented by climate change. Scientific evidence shows that climate change is causing menacing issues in the oceans. For example, sea-level rise, acidification, and deoxygenation of the oceans, amongst others. (see: 2019 IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate). In this regard, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) requires an interpretative adjustment, enabling it to provide legal...02 Jun Events and Announcements: 1 June 2020
...seabed mining and the prompt release of vessels. In this, the dispute settlement procedure is an integral part of UNCLOS and its outcomes shape the law of the sea. And with maritime disputes on the rise, the UNCLOS dispute resolution system is likely to take on an even more prominent role in the near future. This timely seminar will address various aspects of the UNCLOS dispute resolution system. It will discuss, among other topics, creativity in such dispute settlement, clarification of the law of the sea through dispute settlement, influencing...
24 Feb Memorandum on the Common Heritage of Mankind and Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (Part II)
...should be excluded from the BBNJ Agreement represents a policy choice in favour of a laissez faire economic and environmental paradigm that has led the world into the current crises. A previous implementing agreement, the Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of UNCLOS (the 1994 Agreement), embodies this unregulated market orientation. Negotiation of this agreement was initiated in the early 1990s when it appeared UNCLOS would receive enough ratifications to come into force despite several developed states having refused to become parties due to their objections to the...03 Apr So How is China Reacting to the Philippines Arbitration Submission? Not Very Well
ancient times. The essay then takes direct aim at the use of the arbitration mechanism here. The Philippines has gone out of its way to try to drag China into the arbitration process. Taking advantage of the deficiencies of relevant UNCLOS mechanisms, it has tried to manipulate the composition of the Arbitral Tribunal and the Rules of Procedure in an attempt to make things difficult for China. By unilaterally filing an international arbitration on the South China Sea disputes, the Philippines has not only violated international law including UNCLOS, but...16 May Why the Law of the Sea Treaty (Annex VI, Art. 39) is Unconstitutional
politics? (Apparently not as much as Kevin, for instance) Still, it is worth asking: are there any serious legal concerns to the ratification of UNCLOS? In general, I, like Duncan, don’t see anything particularly problematic about UNCLOS, especially since the U.S. already accepts most of UNCLOS as customary law. But I believe this provision, Art. 39 of Annex VI, does raise a real potential constitutional issue. This provision refers to the effect of decisions of the Seabed Disputes Chamber, a portion of the International Tribunal for the Law of the...10 Jun I’d Like to Be Under the South China Sea in a Crewed Deep Sea Platform in the Shade
...undersea platform may become part of China’s political argument for its sovereignty claims, it does nothing to support the legal argument. Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), this undersea platform would probably be treated as an “artificial island,” like an oil rig. At the time that UNCLOS was being drafted, large undersea bases were more the province of James Bond movies than treaty negotiations, so the closest analogy in the text is what would likely be applied in this case. (For a discussion on sea...25 Nov ITLOS Orders Russia to Release ARCTIC SUNRISE and its Greenpeace Protestors
...the dispute and that Russia would therefore not participate in the proceedings. Nevertheless, on November 6th, ITLOS held a public hearing at its Hamburg chambers (without Russia) and issued its order on November 22nd. Before reaching its decision, the tribunal had to address several preliminary issues. The first concerned jurisdiction under UNCLOS. A threshold issue in the tribunal’s jurisdiction analysis was a 1997 declaration by Russia when it ratified UNCLOS in which it stated that it would not accept the convention’s compulsory settlement procedures for “disputes concerning law-enforcement activities in...
15 Dec Baltic Backdrop: Sanctions Evasion and the Legal Limits of Maritime Enforcement
...Maritime Intelligence. Estonia’s assertive posture has put the spotlight on a significant legal design: the deliberate shaping of the maritime boundaries in the Gulf of Finland. Both Estonia and Finland agreed to limit the breadth of their territorial seas in the Gulf to 3 nm, instead of the maximum of 12 nm under Article 3 UNCLOS. As a result, their territorial waters extend only partway toward the middle of the Gulf, preserving a corridor of exclusive economic zones (EEZs). This arrangement allows for freedom of navigation under UNCLOS while maintaining...