Introductory Remarks

Abstract

In July 2016, an Arbitral Tribunal constituted pursuant to Annex VII of the Law of the Sea Convention issued an award on the merits in the South China Sea Arbitration between the Philippines and China. Among other issues to be decided was the status of several insular features under the law of the sea regime of islands codified in Article 121 of the UN Law of the Sea Convention (UNCLOS). Article 121, paragraph 1, defines an island as “a naturally formed area of land, surrounded by water, which is above water at high tide.” Like all coastal land territory, islands, with one important exception, generate a full suite of maritime zones: territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone, and continental shelf (Article 121(2)). The important exception is found in the third paragraph of Article 121: “Rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf.”