Appunti International Law

PLO:

1974 Observer Status the United Nations General Assembly

 GA resolution 3237

•

Palestine:

1988 right to participate in the general debate held at the start of each

session of the GA, right to reply, right to sponsor resolutions on Midle East issues etc.

GA resolution 52/250

•

To dateMore than 100 States “recognized “the State of Palestine

2011, full member of UNESCO

• Nov. 29, 2012, “non member observer State” of the UN

•

to a proposed Palestinian state that would govern the occupied Palestinian territories,

but does not currently have sovereignty there. It was declared in Algiers on November

15, 1988, by the Palestinian National Council, the legislative body of the Palestine

Liberation Organization (PLO). The aim of the Council is for the state to comprise both

the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with Jerusalem as its capital.

1988 By this resolution, "seating for Palestine shall be arranged immediately after non-

member States and before the other observers." This resolution was adopted by a vote

of 124 in favor, 4 against (Israel, USA, Marshall Islands, Micronesia) and 10

abstentions.

Impact

The declaration is generally interpreted as recognizing Israel within its pre-1967

boundaries or was at least a major step on the path to recognition. Just as in Israel's

declaration of establishment, it partly bases its claims on UN GA 181. By reference to

"resolutions of Arab Summits" and "UN resolutions since 1947" (like SC 242) it

implicitly and perhaps ambiguously restricted its immediate claims to the Palestinian

territories and Jerusalem. It was accompanied by a political statement that explicitly

mentioned SC 242 and other UN resolutions and called only for withdrawal from "Arab

[2]

Jerusalem" and the other "Arab territories occupied." Yasser Arafat's statements in

Geneva a month later were accepted by the United States as sufficient to remove the

ambiguities it saw in the declaration and to fulfill the longhead conditions for open

dialogue with the United States.

The PLO envisages the establishment of a State of Palestine to include all or part of the

West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem (the Palestinian territories), living in

peace with Israel under a democratically elected and sovereign government. To this

end, it took part in negotiations with Israel resulting in the 1993 Declaration of

Principles, which along with subsequent agreements between the two parties provided

for the establishment of a Palestinian interim self-governing authority with partial

control over defined areas in the Palestinian territories. This authority, known as the

Palestinian Authority or Palestinian National Authority (PNA), however, does not claim

sovereignty over any territory and therefore is not the government of the "State of

Palestine" proclaimed in 1988.

Sovereignty: four consequences

EqualityRegardless of size or economical development;

Political indepenceEach State has the right freely to choose and develop its political,

social, economic and cultural systems;

Territorial IntegrityFrontiers are inviolable;

Non-interventionForeign States should refrain from interfering in internal matters.

The limits of the non-intervention principle 21

In recent years there has been tension between this principle and the concept

 (droit d’ingérence

of humanitarian intervention as its French inventors, prof.

Bettati and politician B. Kouchner called it)

Concept mentioned for the first time as a urgent remedy to the Biafra

 tragedy (1967-1970)

Generous but vague concept: no text clearly defines to what conditions and to

 what extent national sovereignty might be infringed in order to save peoples

from an imminent danger

Necessity of a mandate of the UN or not?



Controversial concept as sometimes a humanitarian drive might hide

 imperialistic ambitions

The territory

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Thus a coastal nation has total

control over its internal waters, slightly less control over territorial waters, and

ostensibly even less control over waters within the contiguous zones. However, it has

total control of economic resources within its exclusive economic zone as well as those

on or under its continental shelf. Delimitation is complex

Territorial waters, or a territorial sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most

twelve nautical miles (but possibly less, at the coastal country's discretion) from the

mean low water mark of a littoral state that is regarded as the sovereign territory of

the state, except that foreign ship

An exclusive economic zone extends for 200 nautical miles (370 km) beyond the

baselines of the territorial sea, thus it includes the territorial sea and its contiguous

[3]

zone. A coastal nation has control of all economic resources within its exclusive

economic zone, including fishing, mining, oil exploration, and any pollution of those

resources. However, it cannot regulate or prohibit passage or loitering above, on, or

under the surface of the sea, whether innocent or belligerent, within that portion of its

exclusive economic zone beyond its territorial sea.s (both military and civilian) are

allowed innocent passage through it

The continental shelf The coastal nation has control of all resources on or under its

continental shelf, living or not, but no control over any living organisms above the

[4]

shelf that are beyond its exclusive economic zone. Ireland has become one of the

first countries to define its continental shelf in accordance with the UN convention.

There is no international agreement on the vertical extent of sovereign airspace (the

boundary between outer space— which is not subject to national jurisdiction— and

national airspace), with suggestions ranging from about 30 km (the extent of the

highest aircraft and balloons) to about 160 km (the lowest extent of short-term stable

orbits).

Includes:

Internal waters

 Territorial waters



- Innocent passage allowed

Specific status of the exclusive economic zone

 Concept of continental shelf

 Vertical airspace: how high?



The continental shelf of a coastal State comprises the seabed and subsoil of the

submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea throughout the natural

prolongation of its land territory to the outer edge of the continental margin, or to a

distance of 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the

territorial sea is measured where the outer edge of the continental margin does not

extend up to that distance. 22

Antarctica: a scientific preserve

It set aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, established freedom of scientific

investigation, environmental protection, and banned military activity on that

continent. This was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War.

The Antarctic Treaty prohibits any military activity in Antarctica, such as the

establishment of military bases and fortifications, the carrying out of military

manoeuvers, or the testing of any type of weapon. Military personnel or equipment are

permitted only for scientific research or for other peaceful purposes. The only

documented land military manoeuvre was Operation NINETY, undertaken by the

Argentine military.

No appropriation (during the next 50 years)

 No military activity

 Ban on mining

 Very limited economic exploitation (tourism)

 Further infos: website of the Antarctic Treaty Secretariate



International Organization in a nutshell

1) First one created mid-XIX century (rapid increase since mid-XX)

2) Number to date:

3) Different types:

a) Universal / Regional

b) General / Specialized

c) Intergovernmental /Supranational

4) IGO ≠ NGO

UN general international law, international security, economic development, social

progress and human rights issues.

IO, Basic features

Established by a constituent document

 Example: the UN Charter IT



Founding members: States or others IO

 Common goal

 Organ (-s)

 Legal personality (≠ mere grouping States like G8 or G/77)



Organs adminstrative bodies council, modelled legislative executive, judiciairy

The Group of Eight (G8) is an international forum for the governments of Canada,

France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Together, these countries represent about 65% of the world economy and the majority of

global military power (7 of the top 8 positions for military expenditureand almost all

.

active nuclear weapons The group's activities include year-round conferences and policy

research, culminating with an annual summit meeting attended by the heads of

government of the member states. The European Commission is also represented at the

meetings.

Each year, member states of the G8 take turns assuming the presidency of the group. The

holder of the presidency sets the group's annual agenda and hosts the summit for that

year.

Group of 77, a loose coalition of developing nations, designed to promote its members'

collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity in the

United Nations, issued from the U.N. Conference on Commerce and Development, 1964;

currently numbers 133.

Constituent document

Defines:

- Seat; 23

- Purpose;

- Powers;

- Organs;

- Finances.

IOs main problem today, Observer status of ngos or non-recognized states other igo,

or liberations movements.

To acquire membership

 Observer status



Suspension / Exclusion

 State representation among administrative organs

 Decision making

 The right to vote (one State, one vote?)

 Veto (abstention)

 Consensus



To define each State’s financial contribution



UN main organs

UN The General Assembly, the deliberative organ

 The Security Council, decides certain resolutions for peace and security

 The Economic and Social Council, assists in promoting international economic

 and social cooperation and development.

The Secretariat, provides studies, information, and facilities needed by the UN

 (headed by the UN Secretary General)

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the primary judicial organ.



EU, basic institutional components

- European Parliament: at its inception the Assembly had a purely consultative

role. it has been elected by universal suffrage since 1979. In 1987, the date of

the entry into force of the Single European Act, the Assembly, officially known

since then as the European Parliament, saw its powers increase substantially. Its

involvement in decision-making procedures, which had initially been restricted

to the consultation procedure,

Supervise: It has the power to approve or reject the nomination of

commissioners, a