scholarly journals The participation of indigenous peoples in international norm-making in the Arctic

Polar Record ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timo Koivurova ◽  
Leena Heinämäki
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
International Norm ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Important Means

Indigenous peoples regularly regard international law as a very important tool for the advancement of their political goals. This is most likely because in many nation-states their opportunities for influencing political development are rather limited. Even though international law seems to be an important means for indigenous peoples to advance their goals, these peoples should be aware of its inherent limitations. One such shortcoming is that international law seriously restricts indigenous peoples' opportunities to participate in the international law-making processes; that is treaty and customary law. The contention in this article is that the recent norm-making method of soft law provides indigenous peoples with a better opportunity for influential participation than is afforded them by traditional methods. If these peoples are to benefit from this opportunity, however, we must appreciate the revolutionary potential of the concept: a potential that is suffocated if the concept is understood only from the perspective of international law. A good example of indigenous peoples gaining a better standing in inter-governmental co-operation is the Arctic Council, which based its work on the soft-law approach from the outset. There would seem to be good prospects for adopting the Arctic Council's approach in other regions of the world in order to improve indigenous peoples' international representational status.

scholarly journals THE LEGAL CHARACTER AND STATUS OF THE ARCTIC COUNCIL WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF INTERNATIONAL LAW OF THE SEA AND THE ARCTIC. THE ROLE OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN THE ARCTIC COUNCIL AND ITS FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 249-263
Author(s):  
Filip Farmas vel Król
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
External Agents ◽  
Legal Character

This article describes the legal character and status of the Arctic Council, focusing on the Council’s structure and powers in regional cooperation in the Arctic and elaborating on the decision-making process and the role of the indigenous peoples, both currently and from the point of view of suggested new legislation. The Arctic Council is also presented as a body in the tangible world, where other states and organisations may have a certain extent of influence over the Council’s capabilities. China and the European Union are good examples of such external agents. The aim of this article is to analyse the role of the indigenous peoples and their organisations in the Arctic Council. Te presence of representative bodies of the indigenous peoples within the frameworkof the Arctic Council is considered significant. I hold the view that an extensive range of powers should be granted to the organisations representing the indigenous peoples within the Arctic Council. My article elaborates on the details of these powers and their significance.

Evaluating Espoo: What Protection does the Espoo Convention Offer the Arctic Marine Environment?

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 337-357
Author(s):  
Rachael Lorna Johnstone
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessment ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
The Arctic Ocean

Abstract This article reviews the extent of the duty of States to conduct a transboundary environmental impact assessment (TEIA) prior to activity in the Arctic Ocean as part of the customary law principle of prevention. Examples are drawn from the offshore hydrocarbon industry. The paper examines in detail the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention) and its application in the High North, reviewing its utility as well as deficiencies in the comparative light of alternative frameworks, such as the voluntary guidelines of the Arctic Council, the Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the Nordic Environmental Protection Convention. The consequences of a TEIA report are discussed in light of customary international law.

scholarly journals Penyelesaian Sengketa Perbatasan Darat di Segmen Bidjael Sunan – Oben antara Indonesia dan Timor Leste

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 252
Author(s):  
Dewa Gede Sudika Mangku
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
East Timor ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
Normative Study ◽  
Law System ◽  
The People ◽  
Boundary Disputes ◽  
Timor Leste ◽  
West Timor

This study aims to analyze the settlement of land border disputes in the Sunan-Oben Bidjael Segment between Indonesia and Timor Leste based on international law. This research is a normative study that uses a statutory editor. The results of this study indicate that both Indonesia and Timor Leste have formed a Joint Border Committee as a forum for resolving land boundary disputes which was then continued to form the Technical Sub-Committee on Border Demarcation and Regulation (TSC - BDR) which has agreed to use the Convention for the Demarcation of Portuguese and Dutch Dominions on the Island of Timor 1904 (Treaty 1904) and Permanent Court of Arbitration 1914 (PCA 1914) as the legal basis for determining and confirming land boundaries between Indonesia and Timor Leste. Based on the 2005 Provisional Agreement Article 6 point (b), which implies that local communities, in this case, indigenous peoples / traditional leaders at the borders are given space to be involved in the dispute resolution process that occurs on the border of the two countries by promoting peaceful and non-violent methods in accordance with Article 8 Provisional Agreement 2005. Whereas the people who inhabit West Timor (Indonesia) and the people who live in East Timor (Timor Leste) have the same socio-cultural background, so it can be ascertained that the customary law system that applies in these two groups of people the same. The substance of the customary law can regulate land issues, as well as the boundaries of customary territories, the potential for customary leaders to actually play a negotiating role to resolve these problems.

scholarly journals Desecuritization as Displacement of Controversy: geopolitics, law and sovereign rights in the Arctic

Politik ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Jacobsen ◽  
Jeppe Strandsbjerg
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
International Law ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
North Pole ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
The Arctic Ocean ◽  
Securitization Theory ◽  
The Media ◽  
The One

By signing the Ilulissat Declaration of May 2008, the five littoral states of the Arctic Ocean pre-emptively desecuritized potential geopolitical controversies in the Arctic Ocean by confirming that international law and geo-science are the defining factors underlying the future delimitation. This happened in response to a rising securitization discourse fueled by commentators and the media in the wake of the 2007 Russian flag planting on the geographical North Pole seabed, which also triggered harder interstate rhetoric and dramatic headlines. This case, however, challenges some established conventions within securitization theory. It was state elites that initiated desecuritization and they did so by shifting issues in danger of being securitized from security to other techniques of government. Contrary to the democratic ethos of the theory, these shifts do not necessarily represent more democratic procedures. Instead, each of these techniques are populated by their own experts and technocrats operating according to logics of right (law) and accuracy (science). While shifting techniques of government might diminish the danger of securitized relations between states, the shift generates a displacement of controversy. Within international law we have seen controversy over its ontological foundations and within science we have seen controversy over standards of science. Each of these are amplified and take a particularly political significance when an issue is securitized via relocation to another technique. While the Ilulissat Declaration has been successful in minimizing the horizontal conflict potential between states it has simultaneously given way for vertical disputes between the signatory states on the one hand and the Indigenous peoples of the Arctic on the other.

The Role of the Arctic Council from an International Law Perspective: Past, Present and Future

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 349-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshinobu Takei
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Essential Role ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
Treaty Negotiations ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Law Making

Established in 1996, the Arctic Council has played an essential role in promoting pan- Arctic cooperation on various issues concerning the Arctic. Increasingly, its activities have contributed to the development of international law relating to the Arctic in terms of law-making and implementation. Recent developments make it pertinent to investigate the possibilities and challenges faced by the Arctic Council in developing legally binding instruments and otherwise contributing to the development of international law relating to the Arctic. How has the Council been engaged in activities that contribute to the development of international law? What factors have affected these activities? This article describes the structure of the Arctic Council and its status under international law; analyzes important developments relating to this issue in the period before the 2009 Ministerial Meeting held in Tromsø, Norway; examines the processes in which two legally binding instruments were negotiated and eventually adopted as well as elements common to these agreements; and discusses Arctic Council processes relevant to the development of international law other than treaty negotiations under its auspices.

Can the Arctic Council and the Northern Forum find common ground?

Polar Record ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 38 (207) ◽  
pp. 289-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oran R. Young
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Bureaucratic Politics ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Two Bodies

AbstractThe Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (the forerunner of the Arctic Council) and the Northern Forum are both products of the sea change in Arctic politics occurring in the wake of the end of the Cold War. Both are soft law arrangements and both are lightly institutionalized. Yet these similarities have not provided a basis for collaboration between the Arctic Council (AC) and the Northern Forum (NF). For the most part, the two bodies have behaved like ships passing in the night. This article seeks to explain this lack of collaboration and to evaluate future prospects in this realm. The lack of collaboration is attributable in part to a number of sources of tension or fault lines, including issues relating to core-periphery relations, the concerns of indigenous peoples, divergent constituencies, the Russian connection, and bureaucratic politics and the complexities of political leadership. In part, it stems from ambiguities about the status of the AC and the NF combined with restrictions on the roles these bodies can play. There is little prospect of combining the two bodies into a more comprehensive Arctic regime. But there are opportunities to devise a realistic division of labor and to develop useful coordination mechanisms. The AC, for example, is the appropriate vehicle for efforts to strengthen the voice of the Arctic regarding global issues; the NF is well-suited to dealing with matters of community viability. Ultimately, the two bodies might consider creating a joint working group on sustainable development or organizing occasional joint meetings of the AC's Senior Arctic Officials and the NF's Executive Committee.

Prevalence of Soft Law in the Arctic

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 285-307
Author(s):  
Hema Nadarajah
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
Dynamic Changes ◽  
Binding Forms ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
Definition Of

Soft law has been observed to be increasing within the frontiers – regions and issue-areas that extend beyond national jurisdiction, and where governance substantively integrates scientific and technological knowledge. The often-used assumption for the prevalence of such instruments has been the uncertainty of scientific knowledge. This paper takes this facile analysis further by examining the dynamic changes to the number and diversity of state and non-state actors as well as their relative influence. Using a revised definition of soft law which encompasses both binding and non-binding forms, this article shows that this has not been the case. Through analysis of the legal framework within which the region is governed and a mixed methodology drawing from the fields of international relations and international law, this research confirms that soft law is prevalent within the Arctic and that it is an outcome of domestic politics, as well as geopolitical tensions among the relevant states.

Arctic Ocean Management and Indigenous Peoples: Recent Legal Developments

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-120
Author(s):  
Nigel Bankes
Keyword(s):  
Arctic Ocean ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Scientific Cooperation ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
Central Arctic Ocean ◽  
Polar Code ◽  
Ocean Management ◽  
Marine Areas ◽  
Maritime Search And Rescue

This article examines recent legal developments in the management of human activities in Arctic marine areas and considers the extent to which these developments acknowledge or recognize the rights, roles and interests of Arctic Indigenous peoples. These developments include the negotiation of three treaties under the auspices of the Arctic Council: the Agreement on Cooperation on Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue in the Arctic, (Arctic SAR Agreement), the Agreement on Cooperation on Marine Oil Spill Preparedness and Response in the Arctic (Arctic MOSPA), and the Agreement on Enhancing International Arctic Scientific Cooperation (Arctic Science Agreement), the adoption of the Polar Code by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and, most recently, the signature of the Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean (the CAOF Agreement). It also examines more recent practice under the Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears (ACPB).

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