International Law:Territories, Oceans, Airspace, and Outerspace

Territorial Issues

• High Seas – portion of the oceans that is open to all and under no state’s sovereignty

• This concept coexists with non-appropriation, in that no State can make a sovereign claim of the high seas

• Two flaws –

• countries are trying to assert their rights over maritime zones and resources (vs. world community), more than ever before (partitioning)

• The harvesting of resources from politically/economically dominant states

UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982

• Sought to create consistent offshore jurisdictional areas – settle maritime disputes with respect to territorial and economic zones – determined baselines for coastal states

• This also established transit passage – allows for uninterrupted travel in straits narrower than 24nm

Maritime Zones

Cannon-Shot rule – sovereign claim as far as you could shoot a cannon – an old rule which is no longer in place… International custom - 3nm rule (not in the current convention)Territorial Sea – internal waters - the sovereign control of coastal waters by a nation; applies to 12 nautical miles (nm) out from its land

• States have complete control of what happens in this space

Contiguous Zone: 12nm – 24 nm from its land, the State can exercise sovereignty as necessary and punish those who violate customs/immigration, sanitary laws Out to 200 nm is an Exclusive Economic Zone, state owns all mineral resources and fisheries; and International Strait is created when/if these overlap

Maritime Zones

• Innocent Passage – states often grant passing ships innocent passage, on the agreement that they will not fish or threaten security – coastal states could exercise only limited control over passing ships

• Countries can pursue ships to prosecute violations and piracy inside the territorial seas – can pursue into high seas in the event of hot pursuit

• Sinking of the “I’m Alone”: first reading

Creation of the Continental Shelf

• 1945 – US President Truman extended US sovereignty over natural resources by claiming the “continental shelf” as a sovereign zone – dispute over maritime zones

• the area of seabed around a large landmass where the sea is relatively shallow compared with the open ocean. The continental shelf is geologically part of the continental crust.

• Fishing stocks were siphoned from outside the territorial sea and pollution was being created from passing ships

• International community generally accepts claims to protect the proposed “special purpose” zones – some saw it as a guise for military testing and attempts to control the deep seabed/oceans

The Continental Shelf

• Continental margin - Includes the seabed and subsoil or the continental shelf, continental slope and rise – DOES NOT include the deep seabed/soil

• Roughly 40% of a country’s landmass

• Canada argues that a country should control the continental margin beyond the 200nm EEZ

• Limits were put on wide-margin states, preventing them from complete control of their continental margin beyond 200nm – payments and claims could be made to controlling country

• Some resources straddle the line – Hibernia is 315km offshore, but the oilfield straddles the 200nm EEZ

• Should a country have that much power?

Sinking of the I’m Alone - Today’s Relevant Rules

Antarctica (1)

• Antarctic Treaty 1959 – suspended claims to Antarctic sovereignty – Did not suspend future claims: long list of stakeholders including US, UK, South Africa, USSR, France, Norway, Belgium, + more

• Still in effect as the Antarctic Treaty System

• Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resources Activities 1988 –Regulates natural resource extraction…created an international uproar – not very successful

• Later adopted the Protocol of Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty 1991 – committed to protection of the environment for all people as a natural reserve devoted to “peace and science”

• Prohibits mineral extraction, except for scientific research

• In place for 50 years from that date

Antarctica (2): Current Questions

Why do territorial disputes exist?• Many nations claim certain areas of waters around the continent

and will stamp passports and operate postal services there (Britain, for example)

How does state sovereignty in Antarctica differ from state sovereignty on other continents?

• There are 68 bases from multiple nations, but no military can be there. Many nations in the early years of exploration claimed ports

Predict the issues with a sovereign claim of the Antarctic. Antarctic Treaty System – http://www.ats.aq/e/ats.htm (sets it aside as a scientific reserve) Future issue: 200 billion barrels worth of oil there, fresh water

Airspace Three general principles have emerged over time:

1) Freedom of the Air (similar to High Seas)

2) The subjection of airspace to the absolute sovereignty of the subjacent state (below)

3) Sovereignty is subject to a right of passage (similar to innocent passage of the laws of the sea)

- Starting at 12NM from the baseline and going straight up to space, the coastal state has rights to the airspace.

Airspace

Montreal Convention 1970 (Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the safety of Civil Aviation)

• Defines an offence as “any act of violence against a person on board a civilian aircraft in flight”

• It requires states to make these offences punishable and that they comply/cooperate with other states in prosecuting offences

• Administered by the International Civil Aviation Organization – located in Montreal, Canada

See Lockerbie Incident – Libya v UK (Reading #2)

Outerspace: History of Space Laws

For more information on Space Laws: https://www.space.com/33440-space-law.html

- In 1958 (a year after the Sputnik launch), the United Nations General Assembly created an ad hoc Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOUS). - It has 77 members, and is a now permanent

organization.- Duties include:

- exchange of information, - keeping tabs on what government and

nongovernmental organizations are doing in space, - and promote international cooperation

Outerspace: History of Space Laws

For more information on Space Laws: https://www.space.com/33440-space-law.html

- In 1960, the International Institute of Space Law, a nongovernmental organization, was created to promote international cooperation in the space law-making process. Some basic principles:

● Space is free for all nations to explore and sovereign claims can’t be made.

● Space activities must be for the benefit of all nations and humans.

● Nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction are not allowed in Earth orbit, on celestial bodies or in other outer-space locations.

● Individual nations (states) are responsible for any damage their space objects cause.

● Individual nations are also responsible for all governmental and nongovernmental activities conducted by their citizens.

Outerspace: Space Laws

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To support the Outer Space Treaty, four other treaties were put into place in the 1960s and 1970s to support peaceful space exploration. These treaties (referred to below by their nicknames) are:

● The "Rescue Agreement" (1968), formed to give astronauts assistance

during an unintended landing or when they are facing an emergency.

States are told they "shall immediately take all possible steps to rescue

them and render them all necessary assistance."

● The "Liability Convention" (1972) outlines considerations if a space object

causes damage or loss to human life. Its first article says, "A launching

state shall be absolutely liable to pay compensation for damage caused

by its space object on the surface of the earth or to aircraft flight."

Outerspace: Space Laws

For more information on Space Laws: https://www.space.com/33440-space-law.html

To support the Outer Space Treaty, four other treaties were put into place in the 1960s and 1970s to support peaceful space exploration. These treaties (referred to below by their nicknames) are:

● The "Registration Convention" (1975), drawn up to help nations keep

track of all objects launched into outer space.

● The "Moon Agreement" (1979), which gives more detail on the Outer

Space Treaty for property rights and usage of the moon and other

celestial bodies in the solar system. This treaty, however, has only been

signed by 16 nations, all of which are minor players in space

exploration.

Outerspace: Space Laws

For more information on Space Laws: https://www.space.com/33440-space-law.html

COPUOUS has also created five sets of principles to support these treaties.

1. The "Declaration of Legal Principles" (1963), from which the Outer Space

Treaty was created in 1967, lays down guiding principles of space

exploration.

2. The "Broadcasting Principles" (1982) has to do with television broadcast

signals. Outlines ideas of non-interference with other countries signals,

information sharing, and promotion of education and social development.

3. The "Benefits Declaration" (1996) says that space exploration shall be

carried out for the benefit of all states. This was created two years before

the International Space Station.

Outerspace: Space Laws

For more information on Space Laws: https://www.space.com/33440-space-law.html

COPUOUS has also created five sets of principles to support these treaties.

4. The "Remote Sensing Principles" (1986) concerns the use of

electromagnetic waves to collect data on Earth's natural resources.

Remote-sensing activities are supposed to be for all countries'

benefit and should be carried out in the spirit of international

cooperation.

5. The "Nuclear Power Sources Principles" (1992) concerns how to

protect humans and other species from radiation if a launch goes

wrong or if a spacecraft crashes.

Outerspace: Major Debates

For more information on Space Laws: https://www.space.com/33440-space-law.html

1. Access to space. This is mostly regulated by country in terms of private citizens having access to space (usually requires permission from domestic nations).

2. Weapons in space. Perhaps the most famous effort at putting weapons into space was the United States' Strategic Defense Initiative, sometimes nicknamed "Star Wars." President Ronald Reagan first announced it in 1983 by. Parts of the system were tested on Earth, but it was never completed.

3. Space debris. With half a million dead objects floating in Earth orbit, some nations are now voluntarily taking measures to prevent more space debris — such as deliberately de-orbiting satellites to hit the Earth's atmosphere.

4. Mining rights. In the United States, there are two major companies hoping to perform asteroid mining in the coming years: Deep Space Industries and Planetary Resources, as well as private citizens, which could violate the Outer Space Treaty.

Outerspace: Major Debates

For more information on Space Laws: https://www.space.com/33440-space-law.html

5. Boundary disputes and property rights. For the moment, the Outer Space Treaty says that space and celestial bodies cannot be claimed by other nations, but it is unclear how these provisions would apply to private companies. Currently. the Antarctic treaties would be what is being looked at for a precedent with space colonies.

6. Geosynchronous satellite slots. These slots are limited and are regulated by the International Telecommunication Union.

7. International cooperation. Nations agreeing to work together on a space project can experience problems from time to time. In principle, each nation retains control over its own elements and personnel; in most cases, however, damages cannot be claimed among the five major signatories on the station under a "cross-waiver of liability" clause on all contracts.