Intervention in International Navigation: A Case Study of Seizure of Oil Tankers by States in the Implementation of Domestic and International Cross-Border Sanctions

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD Student in Public International Law, Department of Law, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Law, Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran.

10.48300/jlr.2022.359891.2165

Abstract

Exercising the jurisdiction of states in different maritime areas is a subject that has always been a source of controversy throughout the history of the international law of the seas. The efforts that have been made to increase these qualifications and the restrictions that have been applied to regulate them. However, on what basis such an increase and limitation of jurisdiction is done, it has caused many disputes. On the one hand, states emphasize the unquestionable principle of freedom of navigation contained in the UNCLOS, and on the other hand, by entering into some agreements to inspect and seize ships, they limit and, as a result, interfere with navigation. Today, in addition to the traditional interventions and restrictions on navigation that are stated in article110 of UNCLOS, we are facing emerging issues in the field of seas, which can be the reason for the intervention of ships in order to maintain international peace and security, interests and internal laws of states. Providing and implementing sanctions is an important part of this position. The main question is how to justify the intervention of international navigation in the implementation of cross border sanctions? In the present article, which is written with a descriptive analytical method and using library sources, by examining the legal bases of intervention in shipping and the implementation of economic sanctions in this regard, it can be concluded that today the acceptance and implementation of international agreements that it is considered as one of the main policies of governments, it it has been able to remove the interventions towards the ships from the framework of the Convention on the Law of the Sea and puts the implementation of unilateral policies of the governments such as the application of cross border sanctions, which is a sign of deviation from important principles such as the principle of freedom of navigation.

Keywords


  • Habibi Majandeh, Mohammad, translator. International Law of the Seas, Tehran: Jungle Publications, 2018. (in Persian)
  • Salehi, Javad, "The freedom of the high seas in opposition to the exercise of the jurisdiction of the coastal state by relying on the Norastar case in the International Court of Law of the Sea", International Legal Journal 63 (2019), 283-308. (in Persian)
  • Ziyai Begdali, Mohammad Reza, Public International Law, Tehran: Ganj Danesh Publications, 2021. (in Persian)
  • Emadzadeh, Mohammad Kazem, Public International Law, Isfahan: Eta Publications, 1990. (in Persian)
  • Al Jazeera. “Tanker carrying Iranian oil stopped off Spain's coast.” 2019. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/7/5/tanker-carrying-iranian-oil-stopped-off-spains-coast (in English)
  • Booth, Ken. "Naval Strategy and the Spread of Psycho-Legal Boundaries at Sea". International Journal Canadian Institute of International Affairs. Vol. 38, No. 3(1983). 373-396 (in English)
  • Bruce,Clark, “Recent Evolutionary Trends concerning Naval Interdiction of Seaborne Commerce as a Viable Sanctioning Device”. The JAG Journal, Vol 27. (1973). 160-180. (in English)
  • Camprubi, Robinson,Sam. ’A Gateway to Ocean Circulation. Surveillance and Sovereignty at Gibraltar’ Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences .46(4) (2016). 429-459. (in English)
  • Catania,Stephen V,‘Gibraltar’ in Damian Taylor’s (ed) The Dispute Resolution Review (9th Edn, Law Business Research, 2);‘The constitution of Gibraltar’2017, available at <https://www.gibraltarlaws.gov.gi/constitution/Gibraltar_Constitution_ Orde r_2006.pdf> ‘Minister Portfolios’ (Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar) <https://www.gibraltar .gov.gi/ministers/> . (in English)
  • Robin, Vaughan. Lowe. The Law of the Sea. Manchester: Manchester University Press.1999. (in English)
  • Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation,. 1988 (SUA Convention 1988). https://wwimo.org/en/About/C onventions/Pages/SUATreaties.aspx#:~:text=In%20March%201988%20a%20conference,committing%20unlawful%20acts%20against%20ships. (in English)
  • Council Decision 2013/255/CFSP,2013, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/ ?uri=celex%3A32013D0255. (in English)
  • ECtHR, Medvedyev and others v. France, application no. 3394/03. Judgment 29 March 2010”. https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-97979%22]}. (in English)
  • EU Council (2008) Joint Action 2008/851/CFSPhttps://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#{%22i temid%22:[%22001-97979%22]}, paras 98–99. (in English)
  • European Commission–Restrictive measures’ (European External Action Service (EEAS) 2008)7-8 . (in English)
  • Fielding, Lois E.”Maritime Interception: Counterpiece of Economic sanction in the New world order”, Louisiana Law Review. Vol 53(4)( 1993).1192-1241. (in English)
  • Gill,Terry. Military intervention at the invitation of a government, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2010. (in English)
  • Groom, John.”Gibraltar: A pebble in the EU's shoe”, Mediterranean Politics ,Vol 2(3). 20.(1997).20-52. (in English)
  • Guay,Terrence. “Economic Sanctions” The SAGE encyclopedia of business ethics and society, Vol 1. (2018). (in English)
  • Guilfoyle, Douglas, Shipping interdiction and the law of the sea. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012. (in English)
  • Heavens,Louise, Donovan, Kirsten, ‘Iranian tanker ship seized by Greece has been released’, 2022, https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/iranian-tanker-ship-seized-by-greece-has-been-released-mehr/. (in English)
  • HM Government of Gibraltar. “Chief Minister’s Statement on the release of The Grace 1 - 595/2019.” Press release, 15 August2019, https://www.gibraltar.gov.gi/press-releases/chief-ministers-statement-on-the-release-of-the-grace-1-5952019-5187. (in English)
  • https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/1996/2271/contents. (in English)
  • Hufbauer, Gary. Schott, Jeffrey. Elliott, Kimberly. Economic Sanctions Reconsidered, Institute for International Economics .Washington, DC: Peterson Institute Press.1990. (in English)
  • “Status of IMO treaties” (2019) 438 – 439.” Found at: http://www.imo.org/en/About /Conventions/Status Of Conventions/Documen ts/Status%20-%202019.pdf . (in English)
  • Ingber, Sasha, “Gibraltar Releases Iranian Tanker U.S. Tried to Seize.” KPBS, Published August 15, 2019 at 1:51 AM PDT,https://www.kpbs.org/news/2019/08/15/us-wants-to-seize-iranian-taker-gibraltar-says . (in English)
  • Jennings, Robert Yewdall “The Caroline and McLeod Cases”, Journal of International Law. vol 32(1938) . (in English)
  • Klein ,Natali, “The Right of visit and the 2005 protocol on the suppression of unlawful Acts Against the safety of maritime navigation”, Denver Journal of International Law and policy 35, (2008).287-332. (in English)
  • Kraska, James "Broken taillight at sea: The peacetime international law of visit, board, search and seizure". Ocean and Coastal Law Journa. 16:1, (2010).1-46. (in English)
  • Levi, Michael. Michael, Hanlon, “A Global Solution Is Needed for Illicit Weapons”, Financial Times, 2003 at www.brook ings.edu/opin ions/ 2003/0711weapons levi.aspx. (in English)
  • McLaughlin, Rob. United Nations Security Council Practice in relation to the use of force in no-fly zones and maritime exclusion zones. In: Weller M (ed) The Oxford Handbook of the Use of Force in International Law .New York: Oxford University Press, 2016. (in English)
  • Meade, Richard , Lowry , Nigel , , Greece prevaricates over Iran crude seizure as diplomatic storm erupts, 2022. https://lloydslist.maritimeintelligence.informa.com/LL1141163/Greece-prevaricat es-over-Iran-crude-seizure-as-diplomatic-storm-erupts . (in English)
  • Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America), https://www.icj-cij.org/en/case/70/judgments. (in English)
  • Nandan, Satya N, Rosenne, Shabtai, Grandy, Neal R, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982: A Commentary, Netherlands: Nijhoff, vol III,1995. (in English)
  • Natalino, Ronzitti. Sanctions as Instrument of Coercive Diplomacy: An International Law Perspective’ in Natalino Ronzitti (ed) Coercive Diplomacy, sanctions and international law ,Leiden : Brill Nijhoff .2016. (in English)
  • Nugent, Ciara, “What to Know About the British-Flagged Oil Tanker Seized by Iran Amid Escalating Tensions, 2019,https://time.com/5631460/stena-impero-britain-iran/. (in English)
  • O’Reilly,Gerry,’Gibraltar: Sovereignty disputes and territorial waters’, Boundary & Security Bulletin, International Boundaries Research, Vol 7(1), (1999). 67-81. (in English)
  • Orakhelashvili, Alexander.‘Sanctions and Fundamental Rights of States’in Matthew Happold and Paul Eden’s (eds), Economic Sanctions and International Law. London, Hart Publishing, 2016. (in English)
  • Orakhelashvili,Alexander. ‘Restrictive measures against Syria’,EU Sanctions Map, 2019, https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2022/02/21/syria-eu-imposes-restrictive-measures-on-additional-five-individ uals/. (in English)
  • Panoutsopoulou, Magda, Greece seized Russian-flagged oil tanker off Evia Island: Report, 2022,https://www.aa.com.tr/en/energy/international-relations/greece-seized-russian-flagg ed-oil-tanker-off-evia-island-report/35157. (in English)
  • Papastavridis, Efthymios,“The Right of Visit on the High Seas in a Theoretical Perspective: Mare Liberum versus Mare Clausum Revisited”, Leiden Journal of International Law, 24(2011) 56. (in English)
  • Pattison, James, The Alternatives to War: From Sanctions to Nonviolence, New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. (in English)
  • Protocol of 2005 to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, https://www.refworld.org/docid/49f58c8a2.html. (in English)
  • Reisman, Michael “The Regime of Straits and National Security: An Appraisal of International Law Making”. American Journal of International Law. Vol. 74, No. 1 (1980), 48-76. (in English)
  • Saul ,Jonathan Hafezi , Parisa, “Tehran fumes as Britain seizes Iranian oil tanker over Syria sanctions.” Reuters, 2019, https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-crisis-syria-gibraltar-idUKKCN1TZ0GL. (in English)
  • Schrijver, Nico, The Ban on the Use of Force in the UN Charter’ in Marc Weller (ed) The Oxford Handbook of the Use of Force in International Law, Oxford :Oxford university press, 2015. (in English)
  • Schuler, Mike,“Stena Impero Crew Have Spoken with Families Back Home, Stena Bulk Says,2019.”https://marine-salvage.net/en/maritime-news/stena-impero-crew-have-spoken -with-families-back-home-stena-bulk-says/. (in English)
  • Shanker,Thom. “Scud Missiles Found on Ship of North Korea”. New York Times, 2002 . athttp://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/11/world/threats-and-responses-arms-smuggling-scud-missiles-found-on-ship-of-north-korea. html . (in English)
  • Shulman,Mark R. “The Proliferation Security Initiative and the Evolution of the Law on the Use of Force”. Houston Journal of International Law. Vol 28.(2006).771-828. (in English)
  • Bruno, Khan.Daniel-Erasmus, Nolte.Georg, Paulus.Andreas, Wessendorf.Nikolai, The Charter of the United Nations (3rd Edition): A Commentary, Volume I, Oxford: Oxford University Press,2002.. (in English)
  • The Case of the S.S. “Lotus” (France v. Turkey), [1927] P.C.I.J. (Ser. A) No. 9, 25. https://www.icj-cij.org/public/files/permanent-court-of-international-justice/serie_A/A_ 10/30_Lotus_Arret.pdf. (in English)
  • The London Declaration concerning the Laws of Naval War is an international code of maritime law, especially as it relates to wartime activities, proposed in 1909 at the London,https://unterm.un.org/UNTERM/Display/record/UNHQ/NA?OriginalId=54 371. (in English)
  • The Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law of 16 April 1856 , https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/ihl/INTRO/105. (in English)
  • Tirkey, Aarshi. “US secondary sanctions: Framing an appropriate response for India”, ORF ISSUE BRIEF ,No. 273, (2019). 1-16. (in English)
  • Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) ,2016, OJ C202/1. See as example TFEU, article 3 ,https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?u ri=OJ:C:2016:202:FULL&from=PL. (in English)
  • Tremlett, Giles.  Gittings, John “A full-blown diplomatic farce”, 2002, https://mg. co.za/article/2002-12-13-a-fullblown-diplomatic-farce/. (in English)
  • Trinidad, Jamie,’The Disputed Waters Around Gibraltar’, British Yearbook of International Law, Volume 86, Issue 1, (2017), Pages 101–154. (in English)
  • Tsaltas,Grigoris I. Rodotheatos,Gerasimos "Maritime Interdiction Operations: A View through International Law Lens", NMIOTC MIO Journal, 2(2010) 45-48 . (in English)
  • Webster, Daniel, The diplomatic and official papers of Daniel Webster, while secretary of state. New York: Harper & Brothers,2016. (in English)
  • Yang, Haijiang, Jurisdiction of the coastal state over Foreign Merchant Ships in internal waters and the territorial sea ,Hamburg: International Max Planck Research School for Maritime Affairs,2006. (in English)
  • Presidential Proclamation No. 3504, 27 Fed. Reg. 10401 (1962). (in English)
  • C. Res. 1132 (October 8, 1997). (in English)
  • C. Res. 665 (1990), reprinted in 29 I.L.M. 1329 (1990). (in English)
  • C. Res. 787 (November 16, 1992) and 820 (April 17, 1993). (in English)
  • C. Res. 875 (October 16, 1993) and 917, (May 6, 1994). (in English)
  • The Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas) (in English)
  • The Prize Cases, 67 U.S. (2 Black) 635, 665-66 (1862). (in English)
  • United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3314, XXIX, article 3(c); (in English)
  • United States V. Ricardo , 619.2d 1124 ,1130 n.4(5th cir.1980. (in English)