Territorial disputes: remedies [Post 10]

We introduced yesterday the main issues at stake when dealing with TERRITORIAL DISPUTES. They range from strategic location of the territory to sociological and financial reasons.

POST 9: Territorial disputes: issues at stake

Today we will introduce the many remedies that are available to deal with international disputes.

Following international public law, we have the UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States (GA Res.2625 XXV, 24/10/1970). In what is of importance here, it says:

 “States shall accordingly seek early and just settlement of their international disputes by negotiation, inquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or arrangements or other peaceful means of their choice.”

 

Merrills includes in his analysis of different means for dispute settlement:

1. Negotiation
2. Mediation
3. Inquiry
4. Conciliation
5. Arbitration
6. The International Court
7. The Law of the Sea Convention
8. International Trade Disputes
9. The United Nations
10. Regional Organizations
11. A legal and political perspective on dispute settlement today

 Merrills, J.G. 2017. International Dispute Settlement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 

With my latest book, I attempt to put a theoretical solution to sovereignty conflicts. In Chapter 5, I present a classification of different solutions to sovereignty conflicts or disputes divided into unilateral, bilateral an multilateral. For a basic understanding I follow Beck (1998) and his work on the Falklands/Malvinas’ case.


 
Unilateral variations:

a)   Fortress Falklands.

b)  Integration and free association.

c)   Independence.

International/Multilateral approach:

a)   A NATO-based Multilateral Security Approach.

b)  A SATO-based Security Approach.

c)   United Nations Trusteeship.

d)  The Antarcic Solution.

e)   The International Court.

Bilateral Approaches:

a)   Anglo-Argentine condominium.

b)  Shared dual sovereignty.

c)   Leasback with guarantees.

d)  A Sovereignty freeze.

e)   Abandonment.

f)    Titular Sovereignty and autonomy.

 

Núñez, Jorge Emilio. 2017. Sovereignty Conflicts and International Law and Politics: A Distributive Justice Issue. London and New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.

Beck, Peter. 1988. The Falkland Islands as an International Problem. Routledge: London and New York.

 

Jorge Emilio Nunez

Twitter: @London1701

9th March 2018