Post-rescue Innocent Passage by Non-governmental Search and Rescue Vessels in the Mediterranean

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 740-771
Author(s):  
Valentin J. Schatz ◽  
Marco Fantinato
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Search And Rescue ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
United Nations Convention ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Italian Legislation

Abstract This article analyses the conformity of Italian legislation adopted in 2019 – and its implementation – with the regime of innocent passage in the territorial sea under Part II of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea with respect to civil rescue vessels returning from rescue operations with rescued persons on board. It first gives a brief overview over the international legal regime applicable to search and rescue (SAR) operations. Next, the article introduces Italian legislation adopted in 2019, which establishes a legal basis for administrative orders prohibiting ships the entry into, transit through, and stopping in Italy’s territorial sea. In a third step, the article shows how the new Italian legislation has so far been implemented vis-à-vis SAR vessels of non-governmental organizations in post-rescue situations. This is followed by an analysis of the conformity of the Italian legislation and its implementation with the regime of innocent passage.

The Right of Overflight above International Straits

2015 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 35-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUZANNE LALONDE
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
Northwest Passage ◽  
Legal Standards ◽  
Maritime Navigation ◽  
The Subject ◽  
United Nations Convention ◽  
The Right

AbstractThe legal status of the Northwest Passage (NWP) has been the subject of much debate in academic, government, and media circles. To date, much of this discussion has centred on the legal regime governing maritime navigation. However, the question of whether the NWP is subject to guaranteed freedoms or Canada’s unqualified sovereign control also involves the right of overflight. This article investigates the circumstances that led to the inclusion of the freedom of overflight in Part III of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It then highlights some of the legal standards that would govern air navigation if the NWP were to be considered an international strait.

Rethinking the Concept of Historic Rights in International Law

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-165
Author(s):  
Ying Wang
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
Legal Documents ◽  
Maritime Boundary ◽  
United Nations Convention ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Law ◽  
Maritime Boundary Delimitation

Abstract Historic rights have been acknowledged by international legislation including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, although many issues concerning the concept still remain uncertain. This article will mainly discuss the legal connotation and juridical functions of the concept of ‘historic rights’ for maritime entitlements and maritime boundary delimitation, and attempt to clarify some legal ambiguity and explain the function of the legal regime through analysis of legal documents and identification of typical difficulties in the application of the concept of ‘historic rights’.

The Law of the Sea Convention: No Place for Persons?

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 867-874 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irini Papanicolopulu
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Innovative Approach ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
United Nations Convention ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Law

Abstract The article, adopting an innovative approach to the law of the sea, discusses the place and role reserved to persons in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) and the legal regime of which it is a part. The LOSC and other law of the sea agreements are examined, focussing on provisions that mention persons, their rights and their duties. Shortcomings identified include: the difficulty to configure persons as the beneficiaries of rights and the recipient of duties and the ensuing uncertain subjectivity of persons under the law of the sea; the presence of numerous gaps and inconsistencies in the existing legal regulation; the unavailability of mechanisms to address violations of duties by states. The conclusions draw attention to the potential of the LOSC and other treaties to further develop the international legal regime applicable to persons at sea and to provide an adequate place for persons in the law of the sea.

scholarly journals The Role of NGOs in Search and Rescue Operations in the Context of the European Union Migration Crisis

2020 ◽  
pp. 77-91
Author(s):  
U. Stoliarova
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Search And Rescue ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
Immigration Issue

In the early 2010s due to the aggravation of the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, the European Union faced an unprecedented escalation of the migration problem, which put serious pressure on many EU mechanisms. The article analyzes Brussels’ response to the increase in the number of victims in the Mediterranean Sea during the migration crisis, which peaked in 2015. The adoption of new initiatives that were aimed at easing the immigration issue did not lead to the expected results. The EU struggled to cope with a rise in the number of migrants who sought to reach European shores. The real challenge for the arriving migrants was crossing the Mediterranean Sea. Amid the increase in unmanaged flows of refugees and regular shipwrecks that led to the death of many migrants, non-governmental organizations stepped out. The organization and conduct of search and rescue operations (SARs) by NGOs led to the emergence of a new type of SARs, non-state ones, since even large NGOs began to conduct such operations for the first time. The article examines the contribution of European non-governmental organizations to the provision of search and rescue operations, as well as analyzes the main problems and challenges that these NGOs faced while implementing such activities from 2014 to 2020. It is concluded that European non-governmental organizations have saved tens of thousands of lives of migrants and refugees, thus becoming an important element in the EU’s migration crisis settlement. At the same time, they faced a number of problems and challenges, including criticism from some EU member states, which considered the activities of NGOs as a pull-factor for new migrants.

8 The Exclusive Economic Zone

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreone Gemma
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Future Development ◽  
Controversial Issue ◽  
Exclusive Economic Zone ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
The Future ◽  
United Nations Convention

The role of the Economic Exclusive Zone (EEZ) in the international law of the sea remains a controversial issue two decades after the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) came into force. This chapter examines the evolution of the concept and its juridical nature, and the legal regime applicable to the EEZ. It considers the future development of the EEZ legal regime, exploring the principal controversial features that may influence its course.

scholarly journals Selected Recent Institutional and Rule-Making Developments in the Law of the Sea (2015-2016)

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-203
Author(s):  
Humphrey S Sipalla
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Institutional Framework ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
United Nations Convention ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Law ◽  
Rule Making

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC or the Convention) is quite simply, the greatest treaty-making achievement of the United Nations (UN) era. This appraisal of the recent developments of 2015-16 in this legal regime that governs the oceans – waters, floor and subsoil thereof – which cover ‘over 70 percent of the surface of our planet’, focuses on its oft-ignored spect, that is, its institutional framework.

China’s Role in the Changing Governance of Arctic Shipping

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 545-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nengye Liu
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Legal System ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
Arctic Shipping ◽  
United Nations Convention ◽  
International Legal System

This paper explores the role that China could play in the development of an effective international legal system for the governance of Arctic shipping. The first part describes the current international legal regime applicable to shipping activities in the Arctic. The second assesses China’s relations with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Arctic Council. China’s potential contribution to the governance of Arctic shipping is addressed in the final part.

scholarly journals Criminalizing solidarity: Search and rescue in a neo-colonial sea

2021 ◽  
pp. 239965442097931
Author(s):  
Ċetta Mainwaring ◽  
Daniela DeBono
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Search And Rescue ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Legal Geographies ◽  
Central Mediterranean Sea ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Trade And Exchange

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) rescued over 110,000 people in the Central Mediterranean Sea between 2015 and 2017. From 2017, EU member states and agencies increasingly criminalized these organizations, accusing them of ‘colluding with smugglers’ and acting as a pull factor. In this climate, as Italy, Malta and the EU increased cooperation with Libya to stop people from taking to the seas, many suspended their operations. This article explores the search and rescue efforts of NGOs in the Central Mediterranean Sea between 2014 and 2018. We examine the criminalization of this NGO activity and argue that it is made possible through an oscillating neo-colonial imagination of the sea as mare nostrum and mare nullius, our sea and nobody’s sea, respectively. We build on the work of other scholars who have pointed to the activation of the Mediterranean as ‘empty’ in response to migration flows, erasing the historical connections of colonialism, empire, trade, and exchange in the Mediterranean as well as the contemporary legal geographies that govern the space. Here, we go further to develop the idea of a neo-colonial sea, which is alternately imagined as empty and ‘European’. We explore how NGOs disrupt these depictions, as well as the disappearing figures of the migrant and refugee amidst the contestations between NGOs and states.

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