Search: UNCLOS
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...
23 Apr The Law of the Sea and Disruptive Protests Against Deep Seabed Mining: The MV Coco Events
...critical issues in the realm of Dutch and Danish domestic legal orders, including their interactions with the European human rights system, or the competence of the ISA and its organs. Protest as Comprised in the Freedom of the High Seas: A Negative Right It is important to remark from the outset that we are dealing with protest as provided by the freedom of the high seas, not as a human right. Article 87(1) of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (“UNCLOS”) provides for the “freedom of the...09 Nov Ghana v. Côte d’Ivoire: Unilateral Oil Activities in Disputed Marine Areas
...not indicate that such ongoing activities did not violate the obligation under Article 83(3) of UNCLOS. It is a pity that the Special Chamber missed the opportunity to further address the compliance of Ghana’s unilateral oil activities in the disputed marine area with Article 83(3) of UNCLOS. Côte d’Ivoire had requested the Special Chamber to declare that unilateral activities undertaken by Ghana after the issuance of the provisional measures “in the Ivorian maritime area” constituted a violation of the obligation not to jeopardize or hamper the reaching of the final...
22 Jul The Enrica Lexie Award – Some Thoughts on “Incidental” Jurisdiction (Part I)
jurisdiction. Italy’s claim of immunity for the marines was based ultimately, not on any provision of the UNCLOS, but on alleged customary international law. I say “ultimately” because Italy did refer to UNCLOS Articles 2(3), 56(2), 58(2), 95, 96 and 297(1), in support of immunity, but those arguments were summarily rejected by the Tribunal, leaving the question of immunity to be decided with reference to international law outside UNCLOS (Award, paras. 797-802). This claim was the focus of two different jurisdictional objections by India. Under Article 288(1) of the UNCLOS,...
18 Jul One Ship and Three Identities: What Is International Law Tracking?
...and digital identity manipulation work at different target levels. The former manipulates recorded details while the latter miscommunicates transient information. Nationality, identified by the flag, is a related concept with distinct jurisdictional significance, yet not clearly distinguished in enforcement practice. Manipulation of identity is conflated with nationality manipulation and broadly categorised under false flag, creating an unwarranted tendency to infer statelessness, despite the high threshold under UNCLOS. Such conflations risk treating a digitally manipulated ship as stateless, thereby triggering Article 110 interdiction powers beyond the narrow circumstances contemplated by UNCLOS. ...
02 Dec Delimiting the Extended Continental Shelf Between Somalia and Kenya: The ICJ’s Debut or a Hostage to Fortune?
...ICJ’s decision may lead the court astray in the future, especially when 2016 Nicaragua v. Colombia is waiting on the docket. Rethinking the Jurisdiction Obstacle Since the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (the ‘ITLOS’) took a lead in Bangladesh v. Myanmar, it now seems undisputed that the CLCS’s recommendation concerning delineation under Art. 76 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (the ‘UNCLOS’) does not preclude international courts and tribunals from establishing jurisdiction and admissibility concerning delimitation under Art. 83 of the UNCLOS. As...09 Aug Emerging Voices: Piracy vs. Core Crimes–Assessing the Consequences of the Juxtaposition between Transnational and International Crimes
...misleading. Piracy is not directly criminalised under international law: customary law and the UNCLOS regime neither provide for individual criminal responsibility for piratical acts nor proscribe the piratical conduct. Article 101 of the UNCLOS merely defines the offence. Notwithstanding the fact that national courts may directly apply the UNCLOS definition when constitutional arrangements allow so, piracy generally needs to be criminalised domestically in order to be adjudicated upon by national courts. The UNCLOS primarily sets out an obligation for states to adopt the necessary national criminal law establishing individual criminal...