Law of the Sea

Page 3 of 28

Filter category

Feature post image

China as a Maritime Power and the Interpretation of Innocent Passage

May 31, 2022

Maritime powers have been instrumental in shaping the development of the Law of the Sea (LoS). While not uncontested, their inclusion and interpretation of key concepts into the LoS become dominant over time. As a result, expectations increase for other states to accept these or risk being cast as counter-normative actors. Nevertheless, the dominant interpretation of innocent passage, a pivotal component of the LoS, has been consistently contested by emerging powers like China. Although there is an assumption that as countries become maritime powers they are likely to prefer a broader interpretation of innocent passage, this neglects the historical context which informs these interpretations. In the case of China, its collective sense of insecurity and national trauma are framed by its experiences with Western powers that exploited its vast coasts in the past two centuries. As a result, this assumption fails to account for the possibility that these experiences are likely to reinforce China’s restrictive interpretations of innocent passage even if it achieves the status of maritime power.

Read more

Russia’s Blockade in the Sea of Azov: A Call for Relief Shipments for Mariupol

March 14, 2022

On 24 February 2022, the Russian Federation launched an invasion of Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians have no possibility to evacuate from besieged cities of eastern Ukraine as the humanitarian corridors are not functioning (see here). According to media reports, the worst humanitarian situation right now is found in the port city of Mariupol…

Read more

Can Turkey Close the Turkish Straits to Russian Warships?

February 28, 2022

Following the recent Russian military intervention in Ukraine, Ukraine officially requested Turkey to shut the Turkish Straits to warships pursuant to the 1936 Montreux Convention. While the initial reaction of the Turkish government implied the unwillingness of Ankara, the President of Ukraine put further pressure on Turkey to close…

Read more

Splashing down the International Space Station in the Pacific Ocean: Safe Disposal or Trashing the Ocean Commons?

February 23, 2022

The International Space Station (ISS) is reaching its end of life and will need to be disposed of. NASA plans to do so by de-orbiting the ISS and sinking it into a particular area of the Pacific Ocean known as Point Nemo (named after Captain Nemo, the famous character in the novel Twenty Thousand Leagues…

Read more

UK UNCLOS Inquiry: Is UNCLOS Fit for Protecting Human Rights at Sea? A Comment

December 27, 2021

One of the most contemporary challenges international law is facing today is protecting, monitoring, and enforcing human rights at sea. A recently launched House of Lords Inquiry in the United Kingdom examining the UNCLOS applicability in the 21st century is asking amongst other questions, how to address the contemporary challenge of monitoring and enforcing human rights law…

Read more