Archipelagic State

What is Archipelagic State?
Baseline of Archipelagic State.
Legal Status of Archipelagic Water.
Delimitation of Internal Water.
Other State Rights on ArchipelagicWater.

Archipelagic state

An archipelagic state means a large group of islands or a sea, such as the Aegean, containing a large

number of scattered islands. Example: Philippine is a archipelago state.

An archipelagic state is any internationally recognized state or country that comprises a series of islands that form an archipelago. The term is defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in order to define what borders such states should be allowed to claim.

According to Article 46 of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) III

For the purposes of this Convention:

(a)   "archipelagic  State"  means  a  State  constituted  wholly  by  one  or more archipelagos and may include other islands;

(b)  "archipelago" means a group of islands, including parts of islands, interconnecting  waters  and  other  natural  features  which  are  so closely  interrelated  that  such  islands,  waters  and  other  natural

features  form  an  intrinsic  geographical,  economic  and  political entity, or which historically have been regarded as such. 

In various conferences of the United Nations on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Fiji, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Bahamas, and the Philippines are the five sovereign states that obtained approval in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) held in Montego Bay, Jamaica on December 10, 1982 and qualified as archipelagic states. To date, 20 states have utilized these provisions by enacting archipelagic baselines, within which these states claim sovereign waters subject to the navigational rights of other states. This article systematically examines the degree to which the archipelagic claims of these states have complied with the requirements in the Law of the Sea Convention.

Archipelagic states are states that are composed of groups of islands forming a state as a single unit, with the islands and the waters within the baselines as internal waters. Under this concept ("archipelagic doctrine"), an archipelago shall be regarded as a single unit, so that the waters around, between, and connecting the islands of the archipelago, irrespective of their breadth and dimensions, form part of the internal waters of the state, and are subject to its exclusive sovereignty.

Baseline of Archipelagic State

According to Article 47 of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) III

1. An  archipelagic  State  may  draw  straight  archipelagic  baselines joining the outermost points of the
outermost islands and drying reefs of the archipelago provided that within such baselines are included the main islands and an area in which the ratio of the area of the water to the area of the land, including atolls, is between 1 to 1 and 9 to 1.

2. The length of such baselines shall not exceed 100 nautical miles, except that up to 3 per cent of the total number of baselines enclosing any archipelago may exceed that length, up to a maximum length of 125 nautical miles.

3. The drawing of such baselines shall not depart to any appreciable extent from the general configuration of the archipelago.

4. Such baselines shall not be drawn to and from low-tide elevations, unless lighthouses or similar installations which are permanently above sea level have been built on them or where a low-tide elevation is situated wholly or partly at a distance not exceeding the breadth of the territorial sea from the nearest island.

5. The system of such baselines shall not be applied by an archipelagic State  in  such  a  manner  as  to  cut  off  from  the  high  seas  or  the  exclusive economic zone the territorial sea of another State.

6. If  a  part  of  the  archipelagic  waters  of  an  archipelagic  State  lies between two parts of an immediately adjacent neighbouring State, existing rights and all other legitimate interests which the latter State has traditionally exercised in such waters and all rights stipulated by agreement between those

States shall continue and be respected.

7. For  the  purpose  of  computing  the  ratio  of  water  to  land  under paragraph l, land areas may include waters lying within the fringing reefs of islands and atolls, including that part of a steep-sided oceanic plateau which is  enclosed  or  nearly  enclosed  by  a  chain  of  limestone  islands  and  drying

reefs lying on the perimeter of the plateau.

8. The baselines drawn in accordance with this article shall be shown on  charts  of  a  scale  or  scales  adequate  for  ascertaining  their  position.

Alternatively,  lists  of  geographical  coordinates  of  points,  specifying  thegeodetic datum, may be substituted.

9. The archipelagic State shall give due publicity to such charts or lists of geographical coordinates and shall deposit a copy of each such chart or list with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Legal status of archipelagic waters

According to Article 49 of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) III

1. The  sovereignty  of  an  archipelagic  State  extends  to  the  waters enclosed by the archipelagic baselines drawn in accordance with article 47, described as archipelagic waters, regardless of their depth or distance from the coast.

2. This  sovereignty  extends  to  the  air  space  over  the  archipelagic waters,  as  well  as  to  their  bed  and  subsoil,  and  the  resources  contained therein.

3. This sovereignty is exercised subject to this Part.

4. The regime of archipelagic sea lanes passage established in this Part shall  not  in  other  respects  affect  the  status  of  the  archipelagic  waters, including  the  sea  lanes,  or  the  exercise  by  the archipelagic  State  of  its sovereignty over such waters and their air space, bed and subsoil, and the resources contained therein.

Delimitation of internal waters

According to Article 50 of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) III

Within its archipelagic waters, the archipelagic State may draw closing lines for the delimitation of internal waters, in accordance with articles 9, 10 and 11

Other States Legal Rights on Archipelagic Water

Existing agreements, traditional fishing rights and existing submarine cables

According to Article 51 of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) III

1. Without prejudice to article 49, an archipelagic State shall respect existing agreements with other States and shall recognize traditional fishing rights and other legitimate activities of the immediately adjacent neighbouring States  in  certain  areas  falling  within  archipelagic  waters.    The  terms  and conditions for the exercise of such rights and activities, including the nature, the extent and the areas to which they apply, shall, at the request of any of the States concerned, be regulated by bilateral agreements between them.  Such rights shall not be transferred to or shared with third States or their nationals.

2. An archipelagic State shall respect existing submarine cables laid by other States and passing through its waters without making a landfall.  An archipelagic  State  shall  permit  the  maintenance  and  replacement  of  such cables upon receiving due notice of their location and the intention to repair

or replace them.

Right of innocent passage

According to Article 52 of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) III

1. Subject to article 53 and without prejudice to article 50, ships of all States  enjoy  the  right  of  innocent  passage  through  archipelagic  waters,  in accordance with Part II, section 3.

2. The archipelagic State may, without discrimination in form or in fact among   foreign   ships,   suspend   temporarily   in   specified   areas   of   its archipelagic waters the innocent passage of foreign ships if such suspension is essential for the protection of its security.  Such suspension shall take effect

only after having been duly published.

Right of archipelagic sea lanes passage

According to Article 53 of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) III

1. An  archipelagic  State  may  designate  sea  lanes  and  air  routes thereabove, suitable for the continuous and expeditious passage of foreign ships and aircraft through or over its archipelagic waters and the adjacent territorial sea.

2. All  ships  and  aircraft  enjoy  the  right  of  archipelagic  sea  lanes passage in such sea lanes and air routes.

3. Archipelagic sea lanes passage means the exercise in accordance with this Convention of the rights of navigation and overflight in the normal mode  solely  for  the  purpose  of  continuous,  expeditious  and  unobstructed transit between one part of the high seas or an exclusive economic zone and another part of the high seas or an exclusive economic zone.

4. Such sea lanes and air routes shall traverse the archipelagic waters and the adjacent territorial sea and shall include all normal passage routes used  as  routes  for  international  navigation  or  overflight through  or  over archipelagic waters and, within such routes, so far as ships are concerned, all normal navigational channels, provided that duplication of routes of similar convenience between the same entry and exit points shall not be necessary.

5. Such  sea  lanes  and  air  routes  shall  be  defined  by  a  series  of continuous  axis  lines  from  the  entry  points  of  passage  routes  to  the  exit points.  Ships and aircraft in archipelagic sea lanes passage shall not deviate more than 25 nautical miles to either side of such axis lines during passage, provided that such ships and aircraft shall not navigate closer to the coasts than  10  per  cent  of  the  distance between  the  nearest  points  on  islands bordering the sea lane.