AN EVALUATION OF THE RELEVANT PROVISIONS OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF THE SEA

Doctoral thesis proposal on a topic
‘INTERNATIONAL MARITIME BOUNDARIES: AN EVALUATION OF THE RELEVANT PROVISIONS OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF THE SEA (1982) (A CASE STUDY OF THE NORTHERN ADRIATIC SEA)’
Ana Skara
Introduction
The concept of the border is not only a legal issue but rather a complex phenomenon. Borders can have political, historical, ethical, geographic, psychological and anthropological implications and connotations. In this study the term boundary will be used as it is the practice of the majority of legal documents referring to the maritime law. After the integration processes in the European Union, the borders issue has also been at the forefront of the EU debate (internal/external borders). The EU’s expansion to Eastern Europe has significant theoretical and policy implications. The main objectives of this PhD project proposal are to evaluate boundary delimitations on the northern Adriatic Sea. The present day solutions are not able to adequately resolve legal disputes currently existing.
2. Subject and purpose
In order to reach the objectives the author will focus on the following activities:
a) To evaluate relevant provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982) and the EU’s conventions.
b) To evaluate the role of diplomatic negotiators with regard to delimitation in the chosen case study,
The author shall investigate the delimitation process in a geographically complex regional situation the northern Adriatic Sea also taking into consideration political connotation as Slovenia is an EU member state, and Croatia is an EU candidate country. It shall be shown that the Arbitration Agreement of 4.11.2009, Kosor-Pahor Agreeement is merely a work in progress. This complex case study has been evaluated by some publications however there is still no thorough, multidisciplinary research on this topic. The problem is approached from both a theoretical and practical point of view, in particular, in analyzing not only the more well-known controversies in delimitation solved by international agreements/Conventions, but also still unsettled disputes in which Croatia and Slovenia are involved. Namely, Slovenia, for a long time, has refused the offer to arbitrate, hoping that international pressure on Croatia will lead to its ratification of the agreement. It seems that the lack of harmonization leaves a gap and creates uncertainty that is exploited by individual, national interests. The current stance of the Kosor-Pahor agreement is arbitration. However, that agreement received quite harsh criticism by political opposition parties in Slovenia.
The results of the analysis of this case study will be compared with the negotiations and the Treaty (15 September 2010) between the Kingdom of Norway and the Russian Federation in order to find similarities and differences and to provide a new insight into the legal concept for the Adriatic sea maritime delimitations. The Treaty has been praised as justifiable and having a great diplomatic success. The disputable area in the Barents Sea has been divided equally; special treaty provisions have been implemented in regards to sharing of resources of fishing and usage of hydrocarbon.
3. DESCRIPTIONS OF ISSUES AND ORGANIZATION
3.1. The introductory section will briefly outline the importance of a more collaborative and integrated legal framework since present day conventions on international maritime delimitations are not able to adequately resolve legal disputes in different parts of the world.
3.2. The second section of the study will consider the interpretation of international and national norms and rules applicable to maritime boundary delimitation. The author will consider the possible inconsistencies in the existing Conventions and treaties which might cause misinterpretation or different interpretation.
Besides the fact that UNCLOS convention has brought much needed stability to the law of the sea, we can notice some inconsistencies that might cause different interpretations. The issue of bays is dealt with the article 10 of the 1982 convention. It seems that the first paragraph of article 10 relates only to bays by the coasts of which belong to a single State. This fact might have a direct reference to the Adriatic Sea (the bay of Piran) and the Gulf of Trieste, bounded by Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia. It is quite evident that this part of the Adriatic Sea creates an unusual triangular problem of maritime delimitation and the UNCLOS convention does not ...