Search: UNCLOS
30 Jul Touchy, Touchy. What China’s Sensitivity About the Philippines Arbitration Reveals About the Strength of Its Legal Position
...entitled to exclude any third-party compulsory settlement.” I am sympathetic to China’s position that compulsory arbitration is not the way to go here, but as a legal matter, their views are hard to understand. The UNCLOS does NOT give China the right to exclude any “third-party compulsory settlement.” It does the opposite, and allows very limited exceptions to compulsory dispute resolution which may or may not apply here. Furthermore, as numerous commentators have explained but which China continues to ignore, Article 288 of UNCLOS plainly gives the UNCLOS arbitral tribunal...04 Jun Comparing Obama and Bush’s Treaty Priorities
Last month, the Obama Administration informed the Senate of its treaty priorities via a letter from the State Department (you can access it here). The letter lists 17 treaties for which the Administration seeks Senate advice and consent “at this time,” including (as predicted here and here) CTBT, CEDAW, and UNCLOS. It also lists 12 treaties “on which the Administration does not seek Senate action at this time,” including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights, and the Convention on Biological Diversity...02 Jan Spain’s Sunken Warships and the Underwater Heritage of Latin America
...collaboration of the Coordinating State”. In the marine seabed (the “Area”, as per UNCLOS), the “coordinating state” shall not “undertake or authorize activities directed at State vessels and aircraft in the Area without the consent of the flag State”. Coordination, however, does not seem to be enough to satisfy the demands of Latin American states. In 2007, in Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. v. The Unidentified Shipwrecked Vessel, Peru claimed ownership over the treasures inside the wreckage of the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, a Spanish galleon that sunk in 1804...28 May Law of the Sea Symposium: Search and Rescue Operations at Sea – Who is in Charge? Who is Responsible?
...(UNCLOS)). This core obligation under both treaty law (see also the 1974 Convention on the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS Convention), the 1979 Search and Rescue Convention (SAR Convention) and the 1989 International Convention on Salvage) and customary law applies in any maritime zone and in relation to any activity there performed. While implementing this duty states can either perform directly the search and rescue (SAR) operations, namely through their own SAR services, or ask a vessel, which is located in the proximity of the endangered persons, be it...04 Jun China Defends Itself on South China Sea: “We are against the arbitrary distortion of the international law.”
...defined by UNCLOS; and (b) they become capable of supporting human habitation and economic life. See e.g. http://amti.csis.org/the-legal-challenge-of-chinas-island-building/ Per UNCLOS Art. 121(1), an island is a, "...naturally formed...area...which is above water at high tide..." Unless the island is a rock that cannot sustain human habitation or economic life, it has the same territorial sea, contiguous zone, EEZ and continental shelf as any other land bordering the ocean. See UNCLOS Art. 121(2), (3). The Philippines is contesting precisely this issue - the status of the Spratlies as islands - before the...05 Sep Peru Will Not Ratify Law of the Sea Treaty
...dispute with Chile. This may or may not be a good strategy for Peru. It does puncture one misconception about UNCLOS. Just because a state does not sign the treaty, doesn’t mean it can’t delimit territorial seas and continental shelves by agreement with its neighbors. It might make it easier to settle borders, but UNCLOS is not necessary to do so. This doesn’t mean the U.S. Senate shouldn’t ratify UNCLOS. But it shouldn’t do so thinking that UNCLOS is the only way to settle U.S. claims in the Arctic, etc....26 Nov Will Russia Comply with the ITLOS Ruling? Probably Not.
...by journalists how Russia will react to the Tribunal’s ruling. Russia ratified the convention based on which this Tribunal acts with a number of reservations, which prevented it from entering these particular proceedings, Ivanov said. “The issue will be handled not politically but legally, based on Russian law rather than someone’s political wishes,” he added. Russia will probably stick to its legal position, which is contained in its note verbale to the Netherlands, arguing that this matter lies beyond the jurisdiction of UNCLOS dispute settlement since it is an exercise...
17 Jun Contingency in International Law Symposium: Contingency Between and Beyond–The Prepositional Life of International Law
...the sea may indeed have been different (in a number of undesirable ways), but she also adds that if one examines other relevant historical factors – such as “new discoveries, techno-optimism, and fears of resource scarcity” – UNCLOS “might resemble what it did become in many respects” (p. 244). Her contribution thus implores us to go beyond settled and instrumentalised understandings of contingent moments in the history of UNCLOS, to recognise instead the constitutional contingency of UNCLOS that is “desirable in our time” (p. 245): namely, one that rejects the...