scholarly journals LEGAL RIGHTS OF INTERNATIONAL WATER RESOURCES: A CASE OF TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES RIVERS

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (22) ◽  
pp. 130-137
Author(s):  
Omar Ahmed Hussein ◽  
Khadijah Mohamed
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Legal Research ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
Rules And Principles ◽  
International Water ◽  
Substantive Law ◽  
International Conventions

This paper aims to examine Iraq’s rights, being the downstream country, towards the use of Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and the extent to which international water resources are protected under international law. Being the downstream country, projects constructed on the banks of Tigris and Euphrates Rivers had significantly impacted Iraq as less water flows into the country. The discussion in this paper outlines principles of the existing international conventions and protocols in this area by adopting a doctrinal legal research approach which has great significance to understand the relevant substantive law through the analysis of legal rules, court judgments, and statutes. The paper concludes that historically, Iraq had an acquired right, a right confirmed by the international rules and principles, to share the usage of water from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers with the upstream countries comprising of Turkey, Syria, and Iran. This paper suggests that all riparian countries of the Tigris and the Euphrates should abide by the rules of international law and recognize Iraq’s historical water ratios of these rivers based on the principle of the acquired right under international law.

International Cultural Heritage Regimes, International Law, and the Politics of Expertise

2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 407-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas Lixinski
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
International Law ◽  
Heritage Management ◽  
Cultural Heritage Management ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
Heritage Discourse ◽  
International Conventions

Abstract:The article examines the problematic politics of expertise in the formation of international legal rules in the field of heritage, looking specifically at international conventions made under the auspices of UNESCO. The article shows that, even within this seemingly small and cohesive universe, there is a lot of room for disagreement, and much of it can be traced back to what Laurajane Smith has called “the Authorized Heritage Discourse” (AHD). The AHD is responsible for the dichotomization of heritage between intangible and tangible, as heritage professionals strive to hold on to and expand their self-created professional legitimacy and importance. Heritage professionals, in striving to maintain their relevance, tend to create self-referential regimes that exclude heritage holders and communities. I argue that lawyers, because of their own professional tendencies, might be in a position to offer a counterpoint to rule by experts in international cultural heritage management.

1. Foundations and structure of international law

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Anders Henriksen
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Historical Overview ◽  
Public International Law ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
System P ◽  
Rules And Principles ◽  
The Subject ◽  
International Legal System ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter introduces the subject of public international law and provides an overview of its most important elements. It begins with a brief historical overview of international law. It then presents the international legal system consisting of different structures of legal rules and principles; discusses the basis of international legal obligation; offers a brief overview of the relationship between international law and national law; and deals with the issue of enforcement. The chapter concludes with some remarks about the alleged inadequacies of international law and the tension between notions of justice and order that is so prevalent within the international legal system.

1 History and Sources

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henckaerts Jean-Marie
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Court Of Justice ◽  
International Court ◽  
Law Of Armed Conflict ◽  
Rules And Principles ◽  
International Conventions ◽  
The Military

This introductory chapter provides an overview of international humanitarian law (IHL), which is also known as the international law of armed conflict, or simply law of armed conflict (LOAC) or law of war. The rules and principles of IHL seek to limit the effects of armed conflict and at its core, IHL aims to preserve a sense of humanity in time of war. At the same time, IHL has been developed to regulate the social reality that is armed conflict. As such, in order to provide a realistic, and hence useful, legal framework, IHL must also take into account the military needs of parties to an armed conflict in their pursuit of defeating the adversary. The development of particular treaties and specific rules of IHL over time reflects the exercise of finding the correct balance between these humanitarian and military considerations. As a branch of international law, IHL is subject to the general rules of international law, such as those related to sources, treaty interpretation, and state responsibility. The sources of international law are set out in article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice. This provision lists international conventions, international custom, and general principles of law as the main sources of international law in accordance with which the Court is to decide disputes submitted to it.

The Law of International Watercourses

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
McCaffrey Stephen C
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
International Law ◽  
Fresh Water ◽  
Drainage Basins ◽  
International Rivers ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
Legal Context ◽  
Precious Resource ◽  
The Law ◽  
Procedural Rights

This book is an authoritative guide to the rules of international law governing the navigational and non-navigational uses of international rivers, lakes, and groundwater. The continued growth of the world’s population places increasing demands on Earth’s finite supplies of fresh water. Because two or more States share many of the world’s most important drainage basins, competition for increasingly scarce fresh water resources will only increase. Agreements between the States sharing international watercourses are negotiated, and disputes over shared water are resolved, against the backdrop of the rules of international law governing the use of this precious resource. The basic legal rules governing the use of shared freshwater for purposes other than navigation are reflected in the 1997 UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses. This book devotes a chapter to the 1997 Convention but also examines the factual and legal context in which the Convention should be understood, considers the more important rules of the Convention in some depth, and discusses specific issues that could not be addressed in a framework instrument of that kind. It reviews the major cases and controversies concerning international watercourses as a background against which to consider the basic substantive and procedural rights and obligations of States in the field. This new edition covers the implications of the 1997 Convention coming into force in August 2014, and the compatibility of the 1997 and 1992 Conventions.

Islam and international law

2005 ◽  
Vol 87 (858) ◽  
pp. 269-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheikh Wahbeh al-Zuhili
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
Rules And Principles ◽  
Internal Affairs ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis article by an Islamic scholar describes the principles governing international law and international relations from an Islamic viewpoint. After presenting the rules and principles governing international relations in the Islamic system, the author emphasizes the principles of sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of other States and the aspiration of Islam to peace and harmony. He goes on to explain the relationship between Muslims and others in peacetime or in the event of war and the classical jurisprudential division of the world into the abode of Islam (dar al-islam) and that of war (dar al-harb). Lastly he outlines the restrictions imposed upon warfare by Islamic Shari'a law which have attained the status of legal rules.

A methodological framework supporting trans-boundary water agreements: the case of the Nestos/Mesta river basin

Water Policy ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleni Eleftheriadou ◽  
Yannis Mylopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
International Law ◽  
River Basin ◽  
River Basins ◽  
Consensus Building ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Joint Effort ◽  
Boundary Area ◽  
European Water ◽  
International Conventions

Management of trans-boundary river basins is a major issue that has attracted great attention in recent years. The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) recommends management at a river basin level, overlooking any national or administrative borders. This new managerial approach impels water managers to disregard the trans-boundary nature of the water resources while considering an integrated river basin where only geographical boundaries exist. The new challenge for scientists and water managers is the establishment of water agreements between countries sharing water resources. These agreements should aim at the settlement of tensions and conflicts while providing the essential framework for cooperation and consensus building. Apparently, the content of these agreements should comply with international law and the relevant international conventions especially, as noted by the WFD, the UNECE Convention on the Protection and Use of Trans-boundary Watercourses and International Lakes (known as the Helsinki Rules), approved by the European Council in 1995. This paper examines the efficiency of water agreements and their precedent negotiations using the best known international examples while focusing on the Greek–Bulgarian agreement for the waters of the Nestos/Mesta River and its compliance with the WFD and the Helsinki Rules. As shown, the two countries have failed to implement a joint effort to put it into action; hence a methodological framework is proposed including certain strategic steps that can guide the two countries to a more effective and applicable water agreement taking into account the peculiarities of this trans-boundary area.

International Water R esources Law and the International Law Commission Draft Articles on Transboundary Aquifers: A Missed Opportunity for Cross-Fertilisation?

2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Owen McIntyre
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
International Law ◽  
Guiding Principle ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Geological Formation ◽  
International Water ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Transboundary Aquifers ◽  
Law Commission ◽  
Missed Opportunity

AbstractWhile the Draft Articles on the Law of Transboundary Aquifers adopted in 2008 by the International Law Commission (ILC)1 follow the same format as the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention2 and might reasonably have been expected to adopt a similar normative approach wherever possible, the Preamble to the Draft Articles fails to make any reference to this or to other seminal instruments or codifications in the area of international water resources law and the document takes, in some respects, a radically different and less progressive stance. The principal difference in the Draft Articles, and one which can be linked to most of the other deviations, is the inclusion of an express reference to the sovereignty of aquifer States in a manner implying that this is the key guiding principle of the instrument. This emphasis on State sovereignty over shared, and often migratory, water resources appears to represent something of a retreat from the distributive equity inherent in the firmly established principle of equitable and reasonable utilization and from the intense procedural and institutional cooperation required to achieve the community of interests approach necessary to give meaning to this principle. Reliance on sovereignty implies instead a drift towards a position based more on the narrow and immediate self-interest of States. In order to avoid such an interpretation, it would have been better if the Draft Articles had sought to establish two separate but parallel regimes, one based on sovereignty and covering the static geological formation of the aquifer, and one covering the shared water resources contained in, and transiting through, the formation and based on equitable and reasonable utilization.

scholarly journals Problems of formation of an international regime of the joint use and protection of international watercourses

Lex Russica ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 73-86
Author(s):  
Yu. A. Sluchevskaya
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
International Law ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Information Support ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
High Conflict ◽  
International Water ◽  
State Relations

The article is devoted to the problem of formation of modern international legal regime of joint use and protection of international watercourses that is aimed at effective provision of water to the States of international watercourse with due respect to new challenges and threats that have a negative impact on international water resources. The model is based on the concept of “international watercourse” that has the following features: 1) international watercourses include surface and ground waters; 2) a spatial and territorial criterion of an international watercourse that means crossing of the border between two or more States or being on their border; 3) the use of international watercourses affects the interests of two or more States; 4) the special international legal regime for the use of international watercourses that has developed within the framework of international law development; 5) special requirements for the protection of ecosystems of international watercourses that include protection from pollution and other forms of degradation of lands and forests adjacent to international watercourses, their fauna and flora; as well as seas into which watercourses flow; 6) a high conflict potential in the use of water resources of international watercourses. The analysis of the provisions of the doctrines of joint use and protection of transboundary waters shows that the formation of international water law should timely take into account human factors, technological and socio-economic changes. The modern international law model of the joint use and protection of international watercourses is a system of international legal norms regulating inter-state relations in the following areas: prevention, limitation and reduction of transboundary impact; protection of ecosystems of international watercourses; rational use of waters of international watercourses, effective management of water resources of international watercourses (including establishment and functioning of international basin organizations); information support of the population with regard to international watercourses.

scholarly journals Water Security and International Law

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuomas Kuokkanen
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Water Law ◽  
Rules And Principles ◽  
International Water Law ◽  
International Water ◽  
The Relationship

The article explores water security from an international law point of view. The article argues that in order to better understand water security it is important to focus on the function of international water law. Even though water security is a relatively recent concept it was latent in the process of the evolution of international water law.  In addition, the article examines the relationship between man and water from the point of view of water security. The article seeks to answer the question: how does international water law deal with that relationship? Is water only an object to be utilized and protected or has the relationship become more complex and ambivalent through the occurrence of various extreme events. Furthermore, the article places the concept of water security into a historiographical and substantive context. It explores three broad approaches by international law to water issues: general international law, the regulatory approach and the management approach. The article argues that they are all relevant to water security. Finally, the article seeks to demonstrate that even though water security has emerged as a new notion, this does not mean that international law does not include rules and principles relevant for water security. Indeed, many general principles of international law are applicable in the context of water security. In addition, specific regulations dealing with water quantity and quality issues have been developed in international environmental law, although they are not necessarily labelled as water security rules. Moreover, various risk management methods have been elaborated to deal with water-related disasters and crises. Reciprocally, water security arguments are not necessarily new notions but rather reflect already existing concepts and principles. 

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