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International waters
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Contents This article is about the waters outside national jurisdictions. For the comedy podcast, see International Waters (podcast).
Featured content "Mare liberum" and "High seas" redirect here. For the 1609 book by Hugo Grotius, see Mare Liberum. For other uses, see High Seas (disambiguation).
Current events
The terms international waters or trans-boundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend
Random article International ownership
international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regional seas and estuaries, rivers, lakes, groundwater systems
Donate to Wikipedia treaties
Wikipedia store (aquifers), and wetlands.[1] Antarctic Treaty System · Law of the Sea ·
International waters (high seas) do not belong to any State's jurisdiction, known under the doctrine of 'Mare liberum'. States have the right to fishing, Outer Space Treaty · Moon Treaty ·
Interaction International waters
navigation, overflight, laying cables and pipelines, as well as scientific research.
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About Wikipedia Oceans, seas, and waters outside national jurisdiction are also referred to as the high seas or, in Latin, mare liberum (meaning free sea). The Convention
Community portal on the High Seas, signed in 1958, which has 63 signatories, defined "high seas" to mean "all parts of the sea that are not included in
Recent changes the territorial sea or in the internal waters of a State" and where "no State may validly purport to subject any part of them to its
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sovereignty."[2] The Convention on the High Seas was used as a foundation for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
Tools (UNCLOS), signed in 1982, which recognized Exclusive Economic Zones extending 200 nautical miles (230 mi; 370 km) from the
What links here baseline, where coastal States have sovereign rights to the water column and sea floor as well as the natural resources found
Related changes there.[3]
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The high seas make up 50% of the surface area of the planet and cover over two thirds of the ocean.[4]
Special pages
Permanent link Ships sailing the high seas are generally under the jurisdiction of the flag state (if there is one);[5] however, when a ship is involved in
Page information certain criminal acts, such as piracy,[6] any nation can exercise jurisdiction under the doctrine of universal jurisdiction. International
Wikidata item waters can be contrasted with internal waters, territorial waters and exclusive economic zones. Areas outside exclusive economic zones in dark blue.
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UNCLOS also contains, in its part XII, special provisions for the protection of the marine environment, which, in certain cases, allow
Print/export port States to exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction over foreign ships on the high seas if they violate international environmental rules (adopted by the IMO), such as the MARPOL Convention.[7]
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Download as PDF Contents [hide]
Printable version 1 International waterways
2 Disputes over international waters
Languages
3 International waters agreements
‫اﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴﺔ‬
3.1 Global agreements
Español
3.2 Regional agreements
Français
Bahasa Indonesia 3.3 Water-body-specific agreements
Bahasa Melayu 4 International waters institutions
⽇本語 4.1 Freshwater institutions
Português 4.2 Marine institutions
Русский 5 See also
中文 6 Notes
38 more 7 References
Edit links 8 External links

International waterways [ edit ]

Several international treaties have established freedom of navigation on semi-enclosed seas.

The Copenhagen Convention of 1857 opened access to the Baltic by abolishing the Sound Dues and making the Danish Straits an international waterway free
to all commercial and military shipping.
Several conventions have opened the Bosphorus and Dardanelles to shipping. The latest, the Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Turkish
Straits, maintains the straits' status as an international waterway.

Other international treaties have opened up rivers, which are not traditionally international waterways.

The Danube River is an international waterway so that landlocked Austria, Hungary, Moldova, Serbia and Slovakia can have secure access to the Black Sea.
Komárno in Slovakia is an inland
port on the Danube River which is an
Disputes over international waters [ edit ]
important international waterway.
See also: Territorial claims in the Arctic, Northwest Passage, and Australian Antarctic territorial waters

Current unresolved disputes over whether particular waters are "International waters" include:

The Arctic Ocean: While Canada, Denmark, Russia and Norway all regard parts of the Arctic seas as national waters or internal waters, most European
Union countries and the United States officially regard the whole region as international waters. The Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic
Archipelago is one of the more prominent examples, with Canada claiming it as internal waters, while the United States and the European Union considers
it an international strait.[8]
The Southern Ocean: Australia claims an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) around its Antarctic territorial claim. Since this claim is only recognised by four
other countries, the EEZ claim is also disputed.
Area around Okinotorishima: Japan claims Okinotorishima is an islet and thus they should have an EEZ around it, but some neighboring countries claim it
Atlantic Ocean – the main zone of sea
is an atoll and thus should not have an EEZ. transport in 15th–20th centuries.
South China Sea: See Territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Some countries[note 1] consider (at least part of) the South China Sea as international
waters, but this viewpoint is not universal. Notably, China, which opposes any suggestion that coastal States could be obliged to share the resources of
the exclusive economic zone with other powers that had historically fished there, claims historical rights to the resources of the exclusive economic zones of all other coastal States in the South China
Sea.[9]

In addition to formal disputes, the government of Somalia exercises little control de facto over Somali territorial waters. Consequently, much piracy, illegal dumping of waste and fishing without permit has
occurred.

Although water is often seen as a source of conflict, recent research suggests that water management can be a source for cooperation between countries. Such cooperation will benefit participating
countries by being the catalyst for larger socio-economic development.[10] For instance, the countries of the Senegal River Basin that cooperate through the Organisation pour la Mise en Valeur du Fleuve
Sénégal (OMVS) have achieved greater socio-economic development and overcome challenges relating to agriculture and other issues.[11]

International waters agreements [ edit ]

Limits of national jurisdiction and sovereignty

Outer space (including Earth orbits; the Moon and other celestial bodies, and their orbits)

territorial waters contiguous zone

national airspace international airspace
airspace airspace[citation needed]

land territory internal waters territorial waters Exclusive Economic Zone

contiguous zone surface international waters surface
surface surface surface surface

internal waters territorial waters exclusive economic zone international waters

Continental Shelf surface extended continental shelf surface international seabed surface
land territory underground extended continental shelf international seabed
Continental Shelf underground
underground underground

full national jurisdiction and sovereignty

restrictions on national jurisdiction and sovereignty
international jurisdiction per common heritage of mankind

Global agreements [ edit ]

International Freshwater Treaties Database (freshwater only).[12]

The Yearbook of International Cooperation on Environment and Development profiles agreements regarding the Marine Environment, Marine Living Resources and Freshwater Resources.[13]
1972 London Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (London Convention 1972).[14]
1973 London International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 MARPOL
1982 United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea, United Nations; especially parts XII–XIV).[15]
1997 United Nations Convention on the Law of Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (CIW) – not ratified.[16]
Transboundary Groundwater Treaty, Bellagio Draft – proposed, but not signed.[17]
Other global conventions and treaties with implications for International Waters:
1971 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.[18]
1992 Convention on Biological Diversity.[19]

Regional agreements [ edit ]

At least ten conventions are included within the Regional Seas Program of UNEP,[20] including:

1. the Atlantic Coast of West and Central Africa;[21]

2. the North-East Pacific (Antigua Convention);
3. the Mediterranean (Barcelona Convention);
4. the wider Caribbean (Cartagena Convention);
5. the South-East Pacific;[22]
6. the South Pacific (Nouméa Convention);
7. the East African seaboard;[23]
8. the Kuwait region (Kuwait Convention);
Map showing the parties of the
9. the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden (Jeddah Convention). Barcelona Convention.
Addressing regional freshwater issues is the 1992 Helsinki Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes
(UNECE/Helsinki Water Convention)[24]

Water-body-specific agreements [ edit ]

Baltic Sea (Helsinki Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area, 1992)[25]
Black Sea (Bucharest Convention)[26]
Caspian Sea (Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea)[27]
Lake Tanganyika (Convention for the Sustainable Management of Lake Tanganyika)[28]

International waters institutions [ edit ]

Freshwater institutions [ edit ]

The UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP)

The International Joint Commission between Canada and United States (IJC-CMI)
The International Network of Basin Organizations (INBO)
The International Shared Aquifer Resource Management project
The International Water Boundary Commission (US Section) between Mexico and United States
The International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
The IUCN Water and Nature Initiative (WANI)

Marine institutions [ edit ]

The International Maritime Organization (IMO)

The International Seabed Authority
The International Whaling Commission
The UNEP Regional Seas Programme
The UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC)
The International Ocean Institute
The IUCN Global Marine and Polar Programme (GMPP)

See also [ edit ]

Baseline
Birth aboard aircraft and ships
Continental shelf
Duty-free shop
Exclusive economic zone
Freedom of the seas
Hugo Grotius
Internal waters
Ocean colonization
Seasteading
Territorial waters

Notes [ edit ]

1. ^ Including Japan, India, the United States, an arbitral tribunal constituted under Annex VII to the 1982 United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea, and the People's Republic of China, which opposed any suggestion
that coastal States could be obliged to share the resources of the exclusive economic zone with other powers that had historically fished in those waters during the Third Conference of the United Nations on the Law of
the Seas.

References [ edit ]

1. ^ International Waters Archived 27 January 2009 at the 11. ^ http://strategicforesight.com/publication_pdf/20795water- 20. ^ "Regional Seas Program" . Unep.org. Retrieved 8 November
Wayback Machine, United Nations Development Programme cooperature-sm.pdf 2011.
2. ^ Text of CONVENTION ON THE HIGH SEAS (U.N.T.S. No. 12. ^ "International Freshwater Treaties Database" . 21. ^ "Convention for Co-operation in the Protection and Development
6465, vol. 450, pp. 82–103) Transboundarywaters.orst.edu. Retrieved 8 November 2011. of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the West and Central
3. ^ "What is the EEZ" . National Ocean Service. Retrieved 13. ^ "Yearbook of International Cooperation on Environment and African Region; and Protocol (1981)" . Sedac.ciesin.org.
8 September 2019. Development" . Archived from the original on 12 February Retrieved 8 November 2011.

4. ^ "THE HIGH SEAS" . Ocean Unite. Retrieved 7 January 2019. 2009. 22. ^ Lima Convention , 1986)

5. ^ UNCLOS article 92(1) Marine Environment 23. ^ Nairobi Convention , 1985);

Marine Living Resources 24. ^ "Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary
6. ^ UNCLOS article 105
Freshwater Resources Watercourses and International Lakes" . Unece.org. Retrieved
7. ^ Jesper Jarl Fanø (2019). Enforcing International Maritime
14. ^ "International Maritime Organization" . Archived from the 8 November 2011.
Legislation on Air Pollution through UNCLOS. Hart Publishing.
original on 26 October 2008. Retrieved 1 April 2017. 25. ^ "Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the
8. ^ Carnaghan, Matthew; Goody, Allison (26 January 2006),
15. ^ "United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea" . Un.org. Baltic Sea Area" . Helcom.fi. Archived from the original on 28
Canadian Arctic Sovereignty , Library of Parliament, retrieved
Retrieved 8 November 2011. September 2011. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
16 December 2016
16. ^ "CIW" (PDF). Retrieved 8 November 2011. 26. ^ "Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against
9. ^ 李侠. "学者：南海不存在公海 他国不能横行霸道_历史_环球
网" . Archived from the original on 22 April 2017. Retrieved 17. ^ "Bellagio Draft" (PDF). Retrieved 8 November 2011. Pollution" . Retrieved 1 April 2017.

1 April 2017. 18. ^ "Text of Ramsar Convention and other key original 27. ^ Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine

10. ^ Waslekar, Selim Catafago, Fadi Comair, Paul Salem, Sundeep. documents" . Ramsar.org. Archived from the original on 4 Environment of the Caspian Sea , 2003

"The Blue Peace: Rethinking Middle East Water" . Retrieved November 2011. Retrieved 8 November 2011. 28. ^ Convention for the Sustainable Management of Lake
1 April 2017. 19. ^ Text of the Convention on Biological Diversity especially Tanganyika , 2003
Articles 12–13, as related to transboundary aquatic ecosystems

External links [ edit ]

Bibliography on Water Resources and International Law Peace Palace Library

The GEF International Waters Resource Centre (GEF IWRC)
The Integrated Management of Transboundary Waters in Europe (TransCat )
The International Water Law Project
The International Water Resources Association (IWRA)
FAO
Ocean Atlas
Transboundary Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) article
OneFish fisheries research portal
Regional Fisheries Bodies of the World portal
The UNDP-GEF article describing international waters from which this article has been adapted.
UNEP freshwater thematic portal on transboundary waters
UNESCO thematic portals for oceans , water , coasts and small islands
WaterWiki : A new Wiki-based on-line knowledge map and collaboration tool for Water-practitioners in the Europe & CIS region

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Categories: Law of the sea International waters International water transport Water and politics

This page was last edited on 12 October 2019, at 22:55 (UTC).

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