Historic Rights of States to Maritime Water Areas and the Legal Status of the Sea of Okhotsk
https://doi.org/10.24833/RJWPLN-2023-1-108-120
Abstract
This article presents an analysis, based on the study of international law and doctrine and practice of states, the content of the institution of the historic rights of states to the sea areas, its correlation with the provisions of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, as well as the legal status of the Sea of Okhotsk and the possibility of its adjustment in the context of a possible statement by Russia that it has historic rights to this water area.
The issues raised in the article are structurally divided into three main groups. The first is related to the study of the reasons for the emergence of the institution of the historic rights of states to maritime areas in the international law of the sea, as well as its correlation with the legal mechanisms for the delimitation and use of maritime spaces defined by the 1982 UN Convention. The second group is devoted to studying the structure of this institution and the definition of the concept and content within its framework of such key notions and categories as “historic bays,” “historic waters,” “historic legal foundations,” “historic title of the state,” and others. The third group is directly connected with the definition of the fundamental possibility and potential scope of the Russian Federation extending its historic rights to the waters of the Sea of Okhotsk. The authors proceeded from the fact that despite the incredibly limited room for manoeuvre for Russia in terms of defending its historic title to the Sea of Okhotsk, the situation is not entirely hopeless in the foreseeable future. At the same time, however, we should bear in mind that the key to success in the resolution of this issue lies not in declaring the Sea of Okhotsk an inland sea of Russia or its historic waters, but rather in legitimizing many of its exclusive historic rights in this sea area based on Russia’s vital interests.
The content of the institution of the historic rights of states to maritime spaces, as well as the new political reality, give the Government and the State Duma of the Russian Federation the necessary legal grounds to broach the issue of a partial change in the country’s stance on the legal status of the Sea of Okhotsk and the development of a new strategy for asserting Russia’s historic rights to its water area, both through the adoption of unilateral legal acts, and through the implementation of a consistent policy to disseminate and defend this point of view in international relations within the framework of negotiations with foreign states and the activities of relevant international bodies and organizations.
About the Authors
V. V. Gavrilov
Far Eastern Federal University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
R. M. Nurimbetov
Far Eastern Federal University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
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Review
For citations:
Gavrilov V.V., Nurimbetov R.M. Historic Rights of States to Maritime Water Areas and the Legal Status of the Sea of Okhotsk. Russian Journal of World Politics and Law of Nations. 2023;2(1):108-120. https://doi.org/10.24833/RJWPLN-2023-1-108-120
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