COURSES

International Law - L05.3001.001

Updated April 2009

Unit 3: Customary International Law and the Law of the Sea

I. Customary International Law

Reference Materials: The Sources of International Law, Hugh Thirlway, Malcolm Evans, ed., International Law, pp. 115–27

A. The Continental Shelf

1. Reference Material: Introduction to Maritime Zones and Rules, Malcolm Evans, ed, International Law, pp. 623-28, 646–49.

2. The North Sea Continental Shelf Cases (ICJ 1969)

a. North Sea Cases: Sketch Map
b.Federal Republic of Germany v. Denmark; Federal Republic of Germany v. Netherlands and Dissenting Opinion of Judge Lachs (ICJ 1969)

3. The Law of the Sea Convention (1982)

a. Sketch Depictions of Maritime Zones under 1982 Convention
b. LOS Convention 1982, Arts. 55-85

B. Fisheries

1. Reference Material: Introduction to Maritime Zones and Rules, Malcolm Evans, ed, International Law, pp. 628-636.

2. United Kingdom v. Norway (ICJ 1951)

3.LOS Convention 1982, Arts 2–15

C. Exclusive Economic Zone

1. J. Charney, The Persistent Objector Rule

2. LOS Convention 1982, Arts. 55–59

3. Reagan Proclamation on the Exclusive Economic Zone

4.US-China 2009 Dispute re USNS Impeccable in China's EEZ
(Note: What the BBC map shows as China's "territorial waters" claim, is in fact a rough sketch of China's EEZ claim; this EEZ claim is based on China's claims to the Spratly and Paracel islands, which are contested by various other states.)

D. Additional Issues

1. Innocent Passage for Warships: The Black Sea Affairs

a. LOS Convention 1982, Arts 17–33
b. W.E. Butler, Innocent Passage and the 1982 Convention (The Black Sea episode 1986)

2. WMD, the Proliferation Security Initiative, and Anti-Piracy

a. The Proliferation Security Initiative
b. US-Liberia Shipboarding Agreement pursuant to the PSI
c. Selected provisions of UNCLOS
d. Security Council Resolution 1851

II. Governance of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction: From Custom to Cooperation

The High Seas: Introduction to Maritime Zones and Rules, Malcolm Evans, ed, International Law, pp. 636-641.

A. The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf

1. Reference Materials: Introduction to Maritime Zones and Rules, Malcolm Evans, ed, International Law, pp. 641-646.

2. LOS Convention 1982, Arts 76-77, Annex II

3. Opening Statement, Chairman of the Commission, Open Meeting of the Commission of the Limits of the Continental Shelf, May 2000 (pp. 2–5)

4. The Arctic

a. Drawing Lines in Melting Ice, The Economist, Aug. 19, 2007
b. Arctic Map shows dispute hotspots, BBC News, Aug. 5, 2008 ; Arctic claims and boundaries - Durham IBRU map July 2008.
c. Humane Society International v. Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha

*** Additional Materials *** [items 5-7]

5. Ted L. McDorman, The Role of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf: A Technical Body in a Political World, 17 Int’l J. Marine & Coastal L. 301

6. The Russian Submission:

a. Non-technical description
b. Secretary General’s 2002 Oceans and the Law of the Sea Report, including a description of the Commission’s decision on Russia’s submission ¶¶ 27–43
c. U.S. Reaction to Russian Continental Shelf Claim, 96 Am. J. Int’l L. 969 (2002)

7. Developing country submissions: No country has successfully obtained funds from the CLCS Trust Fund

a. Submission Flowchart
b. Trust Fund: Annex II, General Assembly Resolution 55/7 Oceans and the Law of the Sea

B. Resources Beyond National Jurisdiction

1. Reference Materials: Introduction to Maritime Zones and Rules, Malcolm Evans, ed, International Law, pp. 649-653.

2. Marine Biodiversity

a. Secretary General, Oceans and the Law of the Sea Report Addendum, A/60/63/Add. 1 ¶¶176–196 (2005)
b. Report of the Ad-Hoc Open-ended Informal Working Group to study issues relating to the conversation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction, ¶¶ 16–48 (2006)
c. Marine Protected Areas:

i. EU Presidency Statements at the meeting of the Informal Working Group on Marine Biodiversity (February, 2006)

d. Bottom trawling:

i. General Assembly Resolution 61/105 Sustainable Fisheries ¶¶ 88–85
ii. Deep Sea Conservation Coalition Press Release

3. Genetic Resources

a. K. Russell LaMotte Access to Benefit-Sharing: Risks and Opportunities in the Regulation of Bioprospecting for Genetic Resources, SL098 ALI-ABA 239, 248–51 (2006)
b. Legal Sources:

i. Convention on Biological Diversity, art. 4, 5: the CBD only applies to biodiversity within national jurisdiction; it explicitly leaves areas BNJ to UNCLOS.
ii. UNCLOS, arts. 86, 116–20 (Regime of the High Seas), arts. 136–49 (the Area)

c. EU Working Paper, Reflections on the Management of Genetic Resources in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, 7-10.
d. India, Statement at the United Nations Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea

4. Insights for a Climate Change Regime?

a. Lavanya Rajamani, From Berlin to Bali and Beyond (2008) (read pp 909-25 and 937-9, focus esp on pp 914-7).
b. Lavanya Rajamani, The Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism as applied in India.
Excerpted from: 'The Indian Way: Exploring the Synergies between Development, Climate and Energy Goals,' in Redgwell et al eds, BEYOND THE CARBON ECONOMY, Chapter 18 (OUP, Clarendon Press, Forthcoming 2008)