Abstract
Abstract Part XII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the protection and preservation of the marine environment contains provisions that are worded in a general manner. As “the problems of ocean space are closely interrelated and need to be considered as a whole”, these provisions need to be interpreted in harmony with the wider corpus of international law. However, when marine environmental disputes are brought before the UNCLOS dispute settlement bodies, their jurisdiction is limited to disputes arising under UNCLOS. The tribunals, therefore, have to navigate between deciding disputes in a hollistic manner and remaining within their jurisdictional limits. This article discusses the techniques used by UNCLOS tribunals to resort to other sources of international law when settling marine environmental disputes. It will then assess whether, in doing so, the tribunals have remained within their jurisdictional parameters and the wider implications of this practice.
Highlights
The protection of marine environment assumes a special place under of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (“unclos” or “the Convention”).[1]
Article 293 allows judges or arbitrators to resort to legal rules and principles contained under general international law to settle a dispute, such use should be strictly limited to assisting them to decide a dispute that arises under the Convention, not as the basis for jurisdiction to hear that dispute.[45] unclos tribunals in the cases concerning the protection of the marine environment as analysed in Section 2 did not conflate between jurisdiction and applicable law
This article deals with the question of the relationship between jurisdiction and applicable law in the settlement of marine environmental disputes under via free access
Summary
The protection of marine environment assumes a special place under of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (“unclos” or “the Convention”).[1]. The Preamble of unclos makes clear that “the problems of ocean space are closely interrelated and need to be considered as a whole” This would call for unclos, including the provisions on the protection of the marine environment, to be interpreted in harmony with the wider corpus of international law. Unclos tribunals have to balance between, on the one hand, the need to ensure that disputes concerning the marine environment are dealt with in a hollistic manner and, on the other hand, remaning within the jurisdictional limits provided for under the Convention Against this background, this article seeks to examine whether and how the courts and tribunals under unclos have managed to ensure such a balance in dealing with marine environmental disputes through the prism of the relationship between jurisdiction and applicable law.
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