The Principle Of Common Heritage Of Mankind In The New Law Of The Sea An African Perspective Based On Nasila S Rembe S Work

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2006 in the subject Law - European and International Law, Intellectual Properties, grade: B+, University of Dar es Salaam (Faculty of Law), course: Law of the Sea, 66 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Hailed as a milestone in the development of international relations and sparked by the remarks of the Ambassador of Malta - Arvid Pardo - at the United Nations General Assembly, besides the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the principle of Common Heritage of Mankind found entry in numerous international treaties. Changing the conception of the Freedom of the High Seas as brought about some 400 years ago by Dutch Lawyer Hugo Grotius and 'ruling the world' ever since, this paper analyzes the legal significance of the principle from an African perspective. Based on the notions brought forward by the Group of 77, of which the African contribution to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea was part, Nasila S. Rembe formulated the following African demands for the translation of the concept of Common Heritage of Mankind into the envisaged New Law of the Sea. These are namely: the usage of the seabed for exclusively peaceful purposes, ensuring the rational exploitation of the resources, and the minimization of likely adverse economic effects. Following the historical developments between the 1958 Geneva Conventions and the aftermath of the 1994 Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, adopted as United Nations General Assembly Resolution 48/263, the paper examines the legal character of the principle of Common Heritage of Mankind in different stages and to which extend the African demands were met. The significant changes mainly to Part XI of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea brought about by the 1994 Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the 1982 United N

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2006 in the subject Law - European and International Law, Intellectual Properties, grade: B+, University of Dar es Salaam (Faculty of Law), course: Law of the Sea, language: English, abstract: Hailed as a milestone in the development of international relations and sparked by the remarks of the Ambassador of Malta — Arvid Pardo — at the United Nations General Assembly, besides the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the principle of Common Heritage of Mankind found entry in numerous international treaties. Changing the conception of the Freedom of the High Seas as brought about some 400 years ago by Dutch Lawyer Hugo Grotius and ‘ruling the world’ ever since, this paper analyzes the legal significance of the principle from an African perspective. Based on the notions brought forward by the Group of 77, of which the African contribution to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea was part, Nasila S. Rembe formulated the following African demands for the translation of the concept of Common Heritage of Mankind into the envisaged New Law of the Sea. These are namely: the usage of the seabed for exclusively peaceful purposes, ensuring the rational exploitation of the resources, and the minimization of likely adverse economic effects. Following the historical developments between the 1958 Geneva Conventions and the aftermath of the 1994 Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, adopted as United Nations General Assembly Resolution 48/263, the paper examines the legal character of the principle of Common Heritage of Mankind in different stages and to which extend the African demands were met. The significant changes mainly to Part XI of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea brought about by the 1994 Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea — which however let to the universal international accession to the New Law of the Sea — are seen as disadvantageous to the African aspirations for a new international economic order. Concluding, this work contents that today’s New Law of the Sea has rendered the Principle of Common Heritage of Mankind to an empty term by — albeit its prominent position — eliminating any binding effect on the states, thus severing itself from the idea of an international utility and returning to the “Old” Law of the Sea.

Antarctica & the Southern Ocean cover one-tenth of the earth's surface. In a legal & environmental sense, Antarctica represents the geography of hope. It is the freshest & most pristine of regions, governed by a legal regime that offers Antarctica & its circumpolar water the unique possibility of becoming the world's first global wilderness preserve. But in today's age of resource scarcity, Antarctica still provokes much political, economic & legal debate. Over the past decade, international attention has increasingly focused on the legal status of the continent, the potential for hydrocarbon exploitation offshore, & opportunities for harvesting circumpolar living marine resources. In this fascinating treatment, Christopher C. Joyner undertakes the first serious examination of the intimate relationship between Antarctica & the law of the sea. Using Antarctica as a case study, Joyner probes large conceptual issues of ocean law & politics. He uses the intricate details of oceanography & law to unravel the dynamics of the Antarctic Treaty System. In doing so, he examines how the changing importance of Antarctic issues has affected the development of the law of the sea for the region, the ways in which states define their national interests, & the accommodation through various negotations that have contributed to the development of law for governing the Southern Ocean. While the study of law for the Antarctic is provocative in itself, this work goes much farther. The study critically analyzes the region's biogeography, the condition of sovereignty on the continent, the lawfulness of asserting jurisdictional zones offshore, & various legal implications for Antarctica's continental shelf, local island groups, circumpolar deep seabed, & the Southern Ocean's high seas. Moreover, the special legal efforts by the international community to protect the Antarctic seas from marine pollution & to conserve its living marine resources are comprehensively appraised. Thorough, authoritative, & objectively reasoned, Antarctica & the Law of the Sea provides an insightful assessment of how law can progressively develop for a resource-rich region of the world's ocean. As such, it should appeal to a broad range of international lawyers & social scientists who are interested in international relations, political economy, environmental politics, & the law of the sea.

This book seeks to fill a gap in the existing literature by examining the role of African States in the development and establishment of the regime of the deep seabed beyond national jurisdiction (the Area) and the concept of the Common Heritage of Mankind.

A treasure lies at the bottom of the oceans. This treasure takes the form of a legal and ethical principle which may illuminate the potential for an enriching international community in a world of growing disparities. It is the principle of the Common Heritage of Humanity. The 1982 United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea delineated an Area and then proclaimed the Area and its resources `the common heritage of mankind'. The author suggests that the terms `common', `heritage', and `humanity' invite a larger perspective on the law underlying the Convention. Cries of the Sea provides a unique view of `the deep blue sea' through the lens of the politics of international ocean law and policy and in particular through the exposition of the Common Heritage of Humanity as a fundamental principle of international law. The book explains why - and how - the Common Heritage principle constitutes an indispensable ingredient in any global programme for sustainable development. Legal philosophers and practitioners alike, in the ocean arena and beyond, will find that this work offers an intriguing intellectual and moral challenge. This book received the first Arvid Pardo Prize for outstanding scholarship on the Law of the Sea.