GROUP NO.

06

IN THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

AT THE PEACE PALACE

THE HAGUE NETHERLANDS

THE CASE CONCERNING THE VINTHI MIGRANTS

THE REPUBLIC OF ARISTA

APPLICANT
v.
THE FEDERAL STATES OF RAVAR
RESPONDENT

MEMORIAL FOR THE RESPONDENT

MARCH 2018
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS ____________________________________________I

INDEX OF AUTHORITIES__________________________________________II

TREATIES AND CONVENTIONS……………………………………….iii

U.N. DOCUMENTS……………………………………………………….iv

JUDICIAL AND ARBITRAL DECISIONS………………………………v

BOOKS…………………………………………………………………….vi

ESSAYS, ARTICLES, AND JOURNALS………………………………..vii

STATEMENT OF JURISDICTION___________________________________01

QUESTIONS PRESENTED_________________________________________02

STATEMENT OF FACTS__________________________________________03

SUMMARY OF ARGUMENTS______________________________________04

ARGUMENT_____________________________________________________05
 INDEX OF AUTHORITIES

TREATIES AND CONVENTIONS

Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees

Convention on Civil Liability for Damage Resulting from

Activities Dangerous to the Environment

Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a

Transboundary Context

Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution

Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial

Accidents

International Convention on Civil and Political Rights

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Political

Rights

Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees

Statute of the International Court of Justice

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

U.N. DOCUMENTS

Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally

Wrongful Acts, with Commentaries
 STATEMENT OF JURISDICTION

On 19 September 2015, the Republic of Arista and the Federal States of

Ravar submitted the following dispute to the Court, in accordance with Article 40

of the Statute of the International Court of Justice. [Statute of the International

Court of Justice, Art. 40, T.S. No. 993 (1945)]. The Registrar of the Court

addressed notification to the parties on September 19, 2015. See Special

Agreement Between the Republic of Arista and the Federal States of Ravar for

Submission to the International Court of Justice the Differences Between the States

Concerning the Vinthi Migrants, 19 September 2015.

 QUESTIONS PRESENTED

I. WHETHER RAVAR’S CONDUCT IN THE COAL MINING

PROJECT COMPLIED WITH ITS OBLIGATIONS IN
INTERNATIONAL LAW?

II. WHETHER RAVAR’S TREATMENT AND PLANNED

TRANSFER OF THE DETAINED VINTHI MIGRANTS
VIOLATED INTERNATIONAL LAW?
 STATEMENT OF FACTS

The Republic of Arista (“Arista”) and the Federal States of Ravar (“Ravar”)
are two countries separated by the Khu’Tan Mountain Range. The Republic of
Arista is a developing state with its economy being heavily reliant on small-scale
mining and ecotourism. Among their tourist attractions include the mountainous
region of Pintana Island where caves and tunnels once became hideouts for Vinthi
rebels during the colonial occupation of Arista by Yvesol. The highest point, Mt.
Pamfall, has been home to the Vinthi people since the 1850. The Aristan
population is estimated to have 50% of its population living in poverty, while
Ravar has at least 10% of its population under poverty. Ravar also has two
alternate seasons, of which the summer season has significantly been longer over
time due to climate change.

In 1977, the Khu’Tan Mountain Range Treaty was jointly ratified between
Arista and Ravar on the demarcation of territorial claims and the rights of parties
on resource extraction in the Khu’Tan Mountain Range. A year after, Ravar
enacted the Mining Act of 1978 which requires mining licenses to obtain periodic
environmental reports on mining activities in the mountains. In January 2000, the
Aristan government entered into a mining project agreement with a Ravarian
mining company, Tratvia Industries, Inc., and thereafter acquired the approval of
the environment impact report from the Aristan Ministry on Environment. Under
the agreement, Tratvia will provide the necessary technology and services for
mining and all profits shall be equally divided between Arista and Ravar. In 2005,
Tratvia acquired a renewed environmental impact report issued by the Aristan
Ministry on Environment.

Four hundred fifty thousand metric tons of extracted anthracite coal were
stored in a warehouse facility in Mt. Lufor, an area located in the Khu’Tan
Mountain Range within the Ravarian jurisdiction. In April amidst the summer
season, a fire broke out in the storage facility was caused by excessive heat. Winds
carried the dust from the storage site towards the Aristan border which affected
Vinthis residing in the area. Around 1,000 Vinthis which refused to settle in the
Aristan region of Prah’sa crossed the border to Ravar to which they were
apprehended by immigration authorities and were brought to the Yumarian
Refugee Center in the capital city of Yumar in Ravar.
 In 2012, a severe bronchial infection spread in the refugee center and
Ravarian authorities immediately quarantined the area for two weeks to contain
and prevent further infection. The citizens of Ravar living in the capital city of
Yumar panicked over the deadly threat of infection from the refugee center and
petitioned for their immediate transfer to a more capable state. Ravar and Zoivel,
an archipelagic state nearby, then signed into agreement which would transfer the
Vinthi migrants into their facilities suited to their needs since it housed the only
World Health Organization Center for Disease Control facility in the continent of
Andhal.

Despite these, the Aristan government objected to the planned transfer of

Vinthis to Zoivel due to Zoivel’s track record of human rights violations after its
civil war. However, Queen Frandia Ergal promised, in her recent State of the
Kingdom Address, to invest funds to combat and prosecute human rights
violations. Additional to this is the fact that the Kingdom of Zoivel is a state-party
to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, to which Arista and
Ravar are both signatories. Arista and Ravar also signed and ratified the the
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, the Stockholm Declaration, the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and other conventions.

The Government of Ravar is resolute in its contention that the arrival of

Vinthis infringed on their domestic immigration laws. Moreover, their arrival
posed a grave danger to the public health of the people of Ravar hence
necessitating their immediate transfer in consideration of domestic and sovereign
context.

Failing to resolve the disputes, the parties agreed to submit the matter to the
International Court of Justice.
 SUMMARY OF ARGUMENTS

The Federal States of Ravar (“Ravar”) has not violated any of its treaty

obligations under the Khu’Tan Mountain Range Treaty with regards to the

Anthracite coal mining project, because Ravar has faithfully complied with the

provisions set forth under the said treaty pursuant to Article 10. In addition, the

Khu’Tan Mountain Range Treaty does not enumerate any inherent obligations for

Ravar to protect the mountain range and its resources as outlined in Article 12.

The obligation to treat the detained migrants humanely was not neglected by

Ravar, as long as the basic necessities were met and addressed. Furthermore, the

situation of the Vinthi migrants equally posed as a threat to Ravar’s public health

and order. Ravar reserves its sovereign right to exercise domestic jurisdiction in

accordance with its immigration and public safety laws within its internal affairs.

Moreover, the Vinthi migrants cannot avail of itself the protections outlined for

refugees and asylum-seekers since the Vinthi migrants does not fall under the

definitions of being a refugee under the Convention Relating to the Status of

Refugees.
 ARGUMENT

I. RAVAR HAS NOT VIOLATED INTERNATIONAL LAW

REGARDING ITS MINING ACTIVITIES IN THE KHU’TAN

MOUNTAIN RANGE

A. Ravar has not violated any of its treaty obligations under the

Khu’Tan Mountain Range Treaty.

The Federal States of Ravar has signed and ratified the Khu’Tan

Mountain Range Treaty and its actions has not been against with the

treaty’s provisions on its responsibilities as a Contracting Party in

utilizing the mountain range’s resources. Ravar’s activities comply with

the provisions of the Khu’Tan Mountain Range Treaty.

1. Ravar has fully complied with the provisions under Article 10.

Under Article 12, all mining and mining-related activities shall ensure

the protection of the environment by taking into consideration the

Contracting Parties’ respective national and environmental legislation.

Tratvia Enterprises, Inc., complied altogether with the requirements

needed under the “Mining Act of 1978”, which requires mining

licensees to obtain periodic environmental reports on any mining or

mining-related activity conducted in the Khu’Tan Mountain Range

Treaty, when it obtained a periodic environmental impact report

issued by the Aristan Ministry of Environment after entering into an

agreement in January 2000. The AME further proved Tratvia’s

compliance when it issued another periodic environmental impact

report on the mining activity in 2005, one year after the report from

the International League for Sustainable Advocacy on the mining

activities in the Khu’Tan Mountain Range was published.

 2. Ravar has no standing obligation under Article 12 to protect

the Khu’Tan Mountain Range and its resources.

Article 12(a) explicitly elaborated that the responsibility to protect the

natural and mineral resources in the mountain range area falls under

Arista as the First Party. No similar mention of the foregoing

responsibility was indicated or outlined under Article 12(b) for Ravar

as a Second Party. Article 12(b) made it explicitly clear that the

succeeding rights and responsibilities of Ravar as a Second Party was

only to explore and exploit the natural and mineral resources of the

mountain range by providing the necessary technology and services

for any mining or mining-related activity. The mining agreement

entered into between the Aristan government and Tratvia was an

exercise of Ravar’s right to explore and exploit its natural and mineral

resources by providing the necessary technology and services for the

extraction and mining of anthracite coal in the Khu’Tan Mountain

Range.

B. Ravar has not violated its obligations under customary

international law.

1. Ravar cannot be implicated for the coal mining incident since

the accident arose from fortuitous circumstances by force

majeure.

The obligation not to cause transboundary harm, further outlined in

the Convention on the Long-Range Transboundary Effects of Air

Pollution, has been acknowledged as part of customary international

law. To constitute a violation of this rule, a direct link must be

established recognizing Ravar’s deliberate failure and willful

negligence in preventing these from occurring. The conditions arising

from the coal fire incident was caused by natural circumstances

brought about by the advent of climate change. The conditions in

April was induced by a prolonged season of summer which would

have been a contributing factor to the excessive heat and sudden

upsurge of temperature within the storage facility as asserted by the

Ravarian police authorities. In addition, Ravar exhausted all possible

measures to quickly mitigate and quench the fire which erupted in the

coal storage facility to its best capacities. Instances where the failure

to comply with an obligation was brought about by force majeure can

become admissible in international law.