International Law Briefing: Naval Navigation Treaty and Recent Developments in the Darman Peninsula

Task

Instructions to Candidates:

This assessment is worth 50% of the final total mark for this module.

 

Your answer must be uploaded on the submission link on the Blackboard module site (under ‘Assessment’) by the date due (see above). Your answer will be in one Word document, double-spaced, and using 12pt Times Roman or Arial font. Your answer will go through Turnitin plagiarism software before marking.

 

You will have 2,500 words overall for the assessment (excluding footnotes, as long as these are citations only). This is an absolute upper limit and your work will not be read beyond this point. There is no 10% leeway.

 

You are expected to use references in footnotes to indicate the primary and secondary sources that you have used to write your answers, in the same way as you do for research essays. Please use the OSCOLA style of referencing.

 

A final bibliography is not necessary.

 

As the Law School uses anonymous marking, please ensure that you do not include your name anywhere within the document, in the headers/footers, or in the file name.

Problem Scenario:

The Darman Peninsula comprises four States – Pantala, Avantia, Zadia and Narnia. Since their independence from Darman in the 1970s they have all had very authoritarian governments which share a similar political ideology, which over time has led to a general political isolation within the international community. Pantala, Avantia and Zadia are of a similar level of prosperity and economic development. Narnia, which has the longest coastline, is the poorest of the group and receives substantial economic aid from Pantala and Avantia.

 

Although their militaries are small, defence cooperation between them has been regular. Pantala, Avantia and Zadia have permitted each other’s navies to navigate freely within each other’s coastal waters. Pantala’s Defence Minister hosts a visit by the Chief of the Zadian Navy every year during which Zadian warships freely transit Pantala’s coastal waters for weeks at a time. The Avantian Defence Minister has spoken in his country’s parliament about the importance of close defence cooperation with like-minded countries. Narnia’s Defence Ministry has generally requested foreign vessels notify their intention to transit its waters, but it has never declined a request by any of the other three States. It also has stayed silent when the other States have not notified it beforehand (as they have often neglected to do).

 

While the populations of the other States are relatively homogenous in terms of ethnic composition, Zadia contains a number of ethnic groups. One of these ethnic minorities, the Miyagi, live along half of Zadia’s coastline and live a traditional subsistence lifestyle based on fishing. The Miyagi have experienced longstanding discrimination and human rights abuses from Zadia’s government, including during the colonial days. The Miyagi are vehemently opposed to free navigation close to their land, especially by military vessels, as it disturbs marine life and risks pollution.

Instructions to Candidates

 

Negotiations between the four States on a Naval Navigation Treaty (NNT) were finalised at a high-level conference in 2012 and the treaty was opened for signature/ratification. The treaty contains the following clauses:

 

Article 3  Member States agree to allow free navigation of their coastal waters by the naval vessels of other Member States

Article 4  Member States will consult all other Member States in good faith if they contemplate concluding any naval defence agreement with a non-member State to this agreement.

Article 5 Reservations inconsistent with the object or purpose of this agreement are prohibited.

 

Upon Zadia’s ratification it appends a statement, declaring that it considers that Article 3 will not apply to a “designated security zone” as declared under Zadian law. Two months later its President issues a decree stating that the coastal region where the Miyagi live is to be a “designated security zone”. Zadia immediately commences a military bombardment of that area, which escalates into widespread conflict when the Miyagi manage to secure clandestine logistic and materiel support from Darman.

 

Seeing these developments Avantia protests, stating that Zadia’s statement amounts to a reservation and together with the Presidential decree it flies in the face of the treaty. Avantia invites Zadia to restate its commitment to the treaty. Ten months after the decree is issued, Pantala issues a statement opposing the entry into force of the treaty between itself and Zadia unless the latter withdraws its statement. By then the Miyagi have been subdued, and Zadia revokes its Presidential decree. Its government announces it is withdrawing the statement it appended to the treaty three months later.

 

Time passes, and after eight years of free navigation by each other’s navies, and although the treaty contains no provisions on withdrawal, Narnia announces that it will be terminating its participation immediately. Narnia claims that it has always been unhappy about free navigation through its waters. It also claims its ratification of the treaty was coerced by the threat of economic sanctions from Pantala. Further, it claims that Narnia’s Ambassador to the 2012 negotiating conference had been influenced by an offer of diplomatic asylum for herself and her family from Pantala (the Ambassador defected to Pantala soon after the conference). Finally, it announces that following its agreement to surrender an alleged Narnian war criminal for trial in the ICC, it intends to normalise relations with external powers, one aspect of which will include periodic military visits.

 

Hearing this, Zadia accuses Narnia of a breach of the treaty and announces that as a result it will also be terminating its participation. Apart from Narnia’s alleged breach, Zadia claims it cannot continue with the treaty as the Miyagi have regrouped and organised (again with Darman support) to the point that their leader has declared independence for a new State (‘Miyaga’) covering around one half of Zadia’s coastline. As a result, armed conflict has again broken out between Zadian forces and the Miyagi. For its part, Darman has announced it recognises ‘Miyaga’ as a legitimate exercise of self-determination, and it plans to approach the Security Council accordingly. ‘Miyaga’’s President has announced that it will be looking to conclude trade and other agreements with Darman and ‘other freedom-loving States’ in due course.

 

Pantala, Avantia, Zadia and Narnia are all members of the VCLT.

You are an officer in the International Law Office of the Avantian Government and have been tasked to prepare a concise briefing on the legal issues raised by this scenario. Ensure you cover the following points:

 

1. Whether any customary international rule has developed allowing free navigation by naval forces through each States’ coastal waters.
2. A discussion of how the NNT operates (if at all) between Zadia and Pantala, Zadia and Avantia, and Zadia and Narnia.
3. The lawfulness in international law of Narnia’s purported withdrawal from the treaty.
4. The lawfulness in international law of Zadia’s purported withdrawal from the treaty.
5. Whether ‘Miyaga’ is a new State in international law.

 
Please note that you are NOT required to research the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (or any similar instruments) to prepare your brief.