A Conceptual Approach to the Legality Underpinning the Ownership of Islands and the Basic Procedures of Maritime Boundary Delimitation of Islands in an Inter-State Context

Abstract

The islands’ legal status, i.e. their territorial sovereignty and ownership in States’ position, is highly valued since it ensures their jurisdictional rights, e.g., access to the islands’ resources, within, to the vicinity, and beyond. Moreover, their significance would be related to navigational plus security reasons affecting the parent State. However, once determined, parties address their jurisdictional rights based on the outcome of the islands’ boundaries. The entitlement of maritime zones concerning islands has become problematic due to their unique features, including geographical and geomorphological conditions, their historical debates, the economic, cultural, political, and social factors that contribute to the sovereignty’s judgement process. Naturally, the path leads to disagreements, controversies, and disputes among States, impacting peace and security worldwide. In case of a dispute, the common practice would be the peaceful settlement of international disputes, the methods outlined in article 33 of the Charter of the United Nations. The international regime of islands is inherently interdisciplinary, and the underpinned interrelated disciplines are sensible by a concise review of each case. Consequently, this paper provides arguments regarding the sovereignty of islands. It analyses the legal reasons for non-tropical territorial sovereignty and ownership with a brief approach to the three cases of international law of the sea (hereinafter — ILoS). These cases are the Abu Musa Island in the Gulf, where undetermined ownership led to an incomplete boundary agreement between Iran and the United Arab Emirates (hereinafter — UAE) in 1974. Additionally, it covers the Spratly and Paracel Islands in the South China Sea known to be a long-running matter of urgency, and the Falkland Islands, where debates revolve around political inheritance, geographical proximity, international treaties, the principle of territorial integrity, effective occupation, and self-determination. As a result, the first objective of the research would be to conclude the reasons for territorial sovereignty, and the second — to shed light on the basics of maritime boundary delimitation (hereinafter — MBD) in an inter-State context, mainly regarding the status of single islands irrespective of their nature, unless mentioned.