Module 1

Introduction and Definitions of International Law

International Law consists of the rules and principles of general application dealing with the
conduct of States and of international organizations in their international relations with one
another and with private individuals, minority groups and transnational companies.

The term ‘International law’, also referred to as Laws of Nations was first coined by Jeramy
Bentham in 1780.

1. L. Oppenheim: “Law of Nations or International Law is the name for the body of
customary and conventional rules which are considered legally binding by the civilized
states in their intercourse with each other.”

2. J.G. Starke: International law may be defined as that body of law which is composed for
its greater part of the principles and rules of conduct which States feel themselves bound
to observe, and, therefore, do commonly observe in their relations with each other.

3. Georg Schwarzenberger: International law is the body of legal rules which apply
between sovereign States and such other entities as have been granted international
personality.

International Legal Personality

International legal personality refers to the entities or legal persons that can have rights and
obligations under international law.

1. States: A State has the following characteristics: (1) a permanent population; (2) a
defined territory; (3) a government; and (4) the capacity to enter into relations with
other States. Some writers also argue that a State must be fully independent and be
recognized as a State by other States. The international legal system is a horizontal
system dominated by States which are, in principle, considered sovereign and equal.
International law is predominately made and implemented by States.
2. International Organizations: International Organizations are established by States
through international agreements and their powers are limited to those conferred on
them in their constituent document. International organizations have a limited degree
of international personality, especially vis-à-vis member States. They can enter into
international agreements and their representatives have certain privileges and
immunities. The constituent document may also provide that member States area
legally bound to comply with decisions on particular matters. The powers of the
United Nations are set out in the United Nations Charter of 1945.

3. Nationality of individuals, companies, etc.: Individuals are generally not regarded

as legal persons under international law. Their link to State is through the concept of
nationality, which may or may not require citizenship. Nationality is the status of
being treated as a national of a State for particular purposes. Each State has wide
discretion to determine who is a national. The most common methods of acquiring
nationality at birth are through one or both parents and/or by the place of birth.
Nationality can also be acquired by adoption and naturalization. Companies, ships,
aircraft and space craft are usually considered as having the nationality of the State in
whose territory they are registered.
Sources of International Law
It is generally accepted that the sources of international law are listed in the Article 38(1) of
the Statute of the International Court of Justice, which provides that the Court shall apply:

a) International conventions, whether general or particular, establishing rules expressly

recognized by the contesting states; (treaties)
b) International custom, as evidence of a general practice accepted as law;
c) The general principles of law recognized by civilized nations;
d) Subject to the provisions of article 59, judicial decisions and the teachings of the most
highly qualified publicists of the various nations, as subsidiary means for the
determination of rules of law.

1. TREATIES
 International conventions are generally referred to as treaties. Treaties are written
agreements between States that are governed by international law. Treaties are referred to
by different names, including agreements, conventions, covenants, protocols and
exchanges of notes. If States want to enter into a written agreement that is not intended to
be a treaty, they often refer to it as a Memorandum of Understanding and provide that it
is not governed by international law. Treaties can be bilateral, multilateral, regional and
global.

 The law of treaties is now set out in the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of
Treaties which contains the basic principles of treaty law, the procedures for how treaties
becoming binding and enter into force, the consequences of a breach of treaty, and
principles for interpreting treaties.

 The basic principle underlying the law of treaties is pacta sunt servanda which means
every treaty in force is binding upon the parties to it and must be performed by them in
good faith. The other important principle is that treaties are binding only on States parties.
They are not binding on third States without their consent. However, it may be possible
for some or even most of the 4 provisions of a multilateral, regional or global treaty to
become binding on all States as rules of customary international law.
 If a State becomes a signatory to such a treaty, it is not bound by the treaty, but it
undertakes an obligation to refrain from acts which would defeat the object and purpose
of the treaty. A State expresses its consent to be bound by the provisions of a treaty when
it deposits an instrument of accession or ratification to the official depository of the treaty.

 If a State is a signatory to an international convention, it sends an instrument of

ratification. If a State is not a signatory to an international convention but decides to
become a party, it sends an instrument of accession. The legal effect of the two
documents is the same.

 The preparatory work of the treaty and the circumstances of its conclusion, often called
the travaux preparatoires, are a supplementary means of interpretation in the event of
ambiguity.

 Example: the Charter of the United Nations, Vienna Convention on Diplomatic

Relations, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities etc.
2. CUSTOM
 Customary international law refers to international obligations arising from established
international practices, as opposed to obligations arising from formal written conventions
and treaties. Customary international law results from a general and consistent practice of
states that they follow from a sense of legal obligation.

 Example - Requiring States to grant immunity to a visiting Head of State, principle of

non-refoulement etc.

What are the methodologies for identifying the rules of customary international law?

Two-Element Approach - ICJ held in the Libya/Malta Continental Shelf case, the substance
of customary law must be looked for primarily in the actual practice and opinio juris of
states.

State Practice

 Unlike domestic law, duration is not important of the components of state practice. It
depends on the circumstances of the case and the nature of the usage in question. In
certain fields, such as air and space law, the rules have developed quickly; in others, the
process is much slower.

 The State alleging the existence of a rule of customary law has the burden of proving its
existence by showing a uniform, continuous and consistence practice among States,
including those States specially affected by the rule or having the greatest interest in the
matter.

 Asylum case - The ICJ declared that a customary rule must be in accordance with a
constant and uniform usage practiced by the States in question.
 Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries case - The ICJ emphasized its view that some degree of
uniformity amongst state practices was essential before a custom could come into
existence in the.
 North Sea Continental Shelf cases - The ICJ remarked that state practice, ‘including that
of states whose interests are specially affected’, had to be ‘both extensive and virtually
uniform in the sense of the provision invoked’.
 Nicaragua v. United States – It was held that it is not necessary that the practice in
question has to be ‘in absolutely rigorous conformity’ with the purported customary rule.

Example, to examine the practice of States on military uses of outer space, one would look in
particular at the practice of States that have activities in space.

Opinio Juris

 “Opinio juris sive necessitatis,” which means "an opinion of law or necessity” –
psychological element.
 Opinio juris denotes a subjective obligation, in that a state perceives itself to be bound by
the law in question.
 Opinio juris can be inferred by the context and manner in which states comply with
customary international law.
 North Sea Continental Shelf cases. The Court noted that:

“for a new customary rule to be formed, not only must the acts concerned ‘amount to a settled
practice’, but they must be accompanied by the opinion juris sive necessitatis. Either the
States taking such action or other States in a position to react to it, must have behaved so that
their conduct is ‘evidence of a belief that this practice is rendered obligatory by the existence
of a rule of law requiring it. The need for such a belief, i.e. the existence of a subjective
element, is implicit in the very notion of the opinio juris sive necessitates”

 Undisputed examples of rules of customary law are

(a) Giving foreign diplomats criminal immunity;
(b) Treating foreign diplomatic premises as inviolable;
(c) Recognizing the right of innocent passage of foreign ships in the territorial sea;
(d) Recognizing the exclusive jurisdiction of the flag state on the high seas;
3. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF LAW
 General principles of law recognized by civilized nations are often cited as a third source
of law. These are general principles that apply in all major legal systems.
 General principles of law are usually used when no treaty provision or clear rule of
customary law exists. International tribunals rely on these principles when they cannot
find authority in other sources of international law.
 Examples of these general principles of law are laches, good faith, res judicata, and the
impartiality of judges.
 In Chorz´ow Factory case, the Permanent Court of International Justice declared that ‘it
is a general conception of law that every violation of an engagement involves an
obligation to make reparation’.
 Corfu Channel case - The ICJ, when referring to circumstantial evidence, pointed out
that ‘this indirect evidence is admitted in all systems of law and its use is recognized by
international decisions’.
 Rann of Kutch Arbitration between India and Pakistan – Equity
4. SUBSIDIARY MEANS FOR THE DETERMINATION OF RULES OF
LAW
 Subsidiary means are not sources of law, instead they are subsidiary means or evidence
that can be used to prove the existence of a rule of custom or a general principle of law.

 Article 38 lists only two subsidiary means - the writings of the most highly qualified
publicists international law scholars and judicial decisions of both international and
national tribunals if they are ruling on issues of international law. Writings of highly
qualified publicists do not include law student articles or notes or doctoral theses.

 'Teachings of the most highly qualified publicists of the various nations' are also among
the 'subsidiary means for the determination of the rules of law’. Writers such as Gentili,
Grotius, Pufendorf, Bynkershoek and Vattel were the supreme authorities of the sixteenth
to eighteenth centuries and determined the scope, form and content of international law.

 Court often refers to its past decisions and advisory opinions to support its explanation of
a present case. One example of this is the Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries case, with its
statement of the criteria for the recognition of baselines from which to measure the
territorial sea, which was later enshrined in the 1958 Geneva Convention on the
Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone

 Resolutions of the UN General Assembly adopted at major international conferences are

only recommendations and are not legally binding. However, in some cases, although not
specifically listed in article 38, they may be subsidiary means for determining custom. If
the resolution purports to declare a set of legal principles governing a particular area, if it
is worded in norm creating language, and if is adopted without any negative votes, it can
be evidence of rules of custom, especially if States have in practice acted in compliance
with its terms.

 Examples of UN General Assembly Resolutions which have been treated as strong

evidence of rules of customary international law include the following:
1. GAR 217A Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
 2. GAR 2131 Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention in the Domestic
Affairs of States and the Protection of their Sovereignty (1965) [Declaration on
Non- Intervention]

Hierarchy of norms

In theory there is no hierarchy among the three sources of law listed in Article 38 of the ICJ
Statute. In practice, however, international lawyers usually look first to any applicable treaty
rules, then to custom, and last to general principles.
There are two types of norms or rules – not previously discussed - which do have a higher
status.

1. First, peremptory norms or principles of jus cogens are norms that have been accepted
and recognized by the international community of States as so fundamental and so
important that no derogation is permitted from them. Examples of jus cogens principles
are the prohibitions against wars of aggression and genocide. A war of aggression is the
use of armed force to take over another State or part of its territory. Genocide is the
killing or other acts intended to destroy, in whole or in part, of a national, ethnical, racial
or religious group.

2. Second, members of the United Nations are bound by the Article 103 of the United
Nations Charter, which provides that in the event of a conflict between the obligations of
members under the Charter – including obligations created by binding decisions of the
Security Council - the Charter obligations prevail over conflicting obligations in all other
international agreements.
International law and municipal law
With the rise and extension of international law, questions begin to arise paralleling the role
played by the state within the international system and concerned with the relationship
between the internal legal order of a particular country and the rules and principles
governing the international community as a whole.

Municipal law governs the domestic aspects of government and deals with issues between
individuals, and between individuals and the administrative apparatus, while international
law focuses primarily upon the relations between states. Nevertheless, there are many
instances where problems can emerge and lead to difficulties between the two systems.

The general rule with regard to the position of municipal law within the international sphere
is that a state which has broken a stipulation of international law cannot justify itself by
referring to its domestic legal situation. It is no defence to a breach of an international
obligation to argue that the state acted in such a manner because it was following the dictates
of its own municipal laws. The reasons for this inability to put forward internal rules as an
excuse to evade international responsibility are obvious. Any other situation would permit
international law to be evaded by the simple method of domestic legislation.

Accordingly, state practice and decided cases have established this pro- vision and thereby
prevented countries involved in international litigation from pleading municipal law as a
method of circumventing international law.

Article 27 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 1969 lays down that in so far
as treaties are concerned, a party may not invoke the provisions of its internal law as
justification for its failure to carry out an international agreement, while article 46(1)
provides that a state may not invoke the fact that its consent to be bound by a treaty has been
expressed in violation of a provision of its internal law regarding competence to conclude
treaties as invalidating its consent.'' This is so unless the violation of its internal law in
question was 'manifest and concerned a rule of fundamental importance'.

Such provisions are reflected in the case-law. In the Alabama Claims arbitration of 1872,
the United States objected strenuously when Britain allowed a Confederate ship to sail from
Liverpool to prey upon American shipping. It was held that the absence of British legislation
necessary to prevent the construction or departure of the vessel could not be brought forward
as a defence, and Britain was accordingly liable to pay dam- ages for the depredations caused
by the warship in question.

In the Polish Nationals in Danzig case, the Court declared that 'a State cannot adduce as
against another State its own constitution with a view to evad- ing obligations incumbent
upon it under international law or treaties in force'.''

The International Court, in the Applicability of the Obligation to Arbitmte case, has
underlined 'the fundamental principle of international law that international law prevails
over domestic law', while Judge Shahabuddeen emphasised in the Lockerbie case 'that
inability under domestic law to act was no defence to non-compliance with an international
obligation.’

However, such expressions of the supremacy of international law over municipal law in
international tribunals do not mean that the provisions of domestic legislation are either
irrelevant or unnecessary. On the contrary, the role of internal legal rules is vital to the
workings of the international legal machine. One of the ways that it is possible to understand
and discover a state's legal position on a variety of topics important to international law is by
examining municipal laws. A country will express its opinion on such vital international
matters as the extent of its territorial sea, or the jurisdiction it claims or the conditions for the
acquisition of nationality through the medium of its domestic law-making. Thus, it is quite
often that in the course of deciding a case before it, an international court will feel the
necessity to make a study of relevant pieces of municipal legislation. Indeed, there have been
instances, such as the Serbian Loans case of 1929,

Further, a court may turn to municipal law concepts where this is necessary in the
circumstance. However, it is clear that caution is necessary where an international court or
tribunal is considering concepts of national law in the absence of an express or implied
requirement so to do and no automatic transposition should occur. In addition to the role of
municipal law in revealing the legal position of the state on topics of international
importance, the rules of municipal law can be utilised as evidence of compliance or non-
compliance with inter- national obligations.

Nevertheless, and despite the many functions that municipal law rules perform within the
sphere of international law, the point must be emphasised that the presence or absence of a
particular provision within the internal legal structure of a state, including its constitution if
there is one, cannot be applied to evade an international obligation. Any other solution would
render the operations of international law rather precarious.
Theories and approaches in International Law

NATURAL LAW THEORY

 Most of the jurists of 16th and 17th century were of the view that the basis of any law is
law of nature and international law being part of law has the same basis and for the same
reason is binding on the states. At a point of time, Natural Law was regarded to be Divine
Law connected with religion, but later this definition changes and Natural Law was
considered to be an ideal law which dictated as to what is right and wrong behaviour of
human.
 Natural Law- Ideal Law
 Normative in nature which differentiated right and wrong behavior of human.
 According to this approach, states, as members of universal community, are obliged in
order to conserve peace and security to act always in accordance with the principle that
the common good of mankind is paramount to their individual interest.
 Thus, international law was considered to be binding in nature by this school of thought
because its basis was natural law.

POSITIVE LAW THEORY

• This school of thought was in vogue in the 19th century and was of the view that people
would be bound to obey law if it was created by appropriate legislative authority or
sovereign irrespective of its being reasonable or unreasonable.
• Morality, ethics, Reason, Natural Law was rejected because they were vague and
unscientific
• According to them, law must be analyzed empirically, irrespective of its ethical elements,
i.e., law must be studied as it exists and law is the command of the sovereign having
sanction.
• Hart says that the rules of international law do not as yet constitute a ‘system’ but are
merely a ‘set of rules’ .
• This approach to law in society reached its height with Kelsen’s ‘Pure Theory of Law’
• For Kelsen international law is a primitive legal order because of its lack of strong
legislative, judicial and enforcement organs and its consequent resemblance to a pre-state
society
REALIST THEORY

• According to Realist legal scholars, states adopt only international legal norms that either
enhance their power, formalize the subordination of weaker states, or that they intend to
violate deliberately to their own advantage.
• International Law may thus address only peripheral matters that do not impact the
states' power or autonomy.
• Realists believe that international politics in modern times generally recognizes no
authority above the nation-state.
• The Nation States have separate legal entities and have their own rights, duties and
obligations which they can possess under International law. So, according to the followers
of the Realist theory, Nation-states are the ultimate and only subjects of International law.
• Agreements among states are enforceable only by the agreeing states themselves.
• Reciprocity serves as the main tool to enforce agreements in international politics.
• Enforcement of an agreement is devolved to the parties themselves. Damaged parties
have the option to respond with retaliatory sanctions to a violation of an agreement
thereby enhancing the deterrent and coercive effects of a stable balance of power

FEMINIST THEORY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

• A feminist approach takes as its central concern the position of women and denotes a
form of analysis. It takes gender as its primary organizing category, places women at the
center of inquiry, and works for an end to the oppression of and discrimination against
women.
• Women’s campaigning for the international legal system to address structural inequality
in global political, social and economic systems and to take account of particular
concerns, for example modern forms of slavery, human trafficking, gender-based crimes,
and the nationality of married women.
• The emergence of a global women’s movement gained impetus from the International
Women’s Year proclaimed by the United Nations (UN) in 1975 and subsequently
extended to the International Decade for Women, 1975–85.

Major Issues In International Law From A Feminist Perspective

1. Lack of representation of women interests -World and international politics are controlled
by men. Very little scope of representation of women interests like domestic violence,
lack of political participation.
2. No Women SG of the UN, Very less number of women judges in the ICJ (4 out of 15)
Human rights violation different for both men and women.
3. State-building, or post-conflict reconstruction are all experienced differently by women
and men. However, it is the male experiences and male knowledge that are privileged and
have shaped the framework for traditional legal inquiry and analysis. These are made to
appear objective, natural, and universal in contrast to women’s experiences that appear as
exceptional, deviant, and the other. Example GBV, genital mutilation, rape, trafficking,
wartime rape.

LIBERAL THEORY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

 Contemporary liberal theory is grounded on the assumptions that people are morally
equal and that each individual should be free to pursue his or her own conception of the
good life, constrained by the requirement that one’s actions not cause harm to others.
 The subject of international law is state – very little opportunity for individuals to be part
of the global order through international law. Liberalism counters this place of
international law by putting the individuals at the center point of international law.

1. “Bottom –up” focus on the demands of individuals and social groups, and their
relative power in society, as fundamental forces driving state policy. For liberals,
every state is embedded in an interdependent domestic and transnational society
that decisively shapes the basic purposes or interests that underlie its policies, its
interaction with other states, and, ultimately, international conflict and order.
2. Rejection of power politics as the only possible outcome of international relations;
it questions security/warfare principles of realism

3. Mutual benefits and international cooperation

4. The role of international organizations and nongovernmental actors in shaping
state preferences and policy choices

The first stage in a liberal explanation of politics is to identify and explain the preferences
of relevant social and substate actors as a function of a structure of underlying social
 identities and interests. They treat globalization, as transnational interdependence,
material or ideational, among social actors. Such interdependence creates varying
incentives for cross-border political regulation and interaction. State policy can facilitate,
block, or channel globalization, thereby benefitting or harming the interests or ideals of
particular social actors.

MARXIST COMMUNIST THEORY

• Classic Marxist theory described law and politics as the means whereby the ruling classes
maintained their domination of society.
• Classical International Law founded on the idea of Nation State and National states were
dominated by the capitalist class and would have to disappear in the re-organizing
process.
• Professor Tunkin emphasized on new series of international legal ideas: (a) principles of
socialist internationalism in relations between socialist states, (b) principles of equality
and self-determination of nations and peoples, primarily aimed against colonialism, and
(c) principles of peaceful coexistence aimed at relations between states with different
social systems.
• Professor Tunkin defined international law as : “the aggregate of norms which are
created by agreement between states of different social systems, reflect the concordant
wills of states and have a generally democratic character, regulate relations between
them in the process of struggle and co-operation in the direction of ensuring peace and
peaceful co-existence and freedom and independence of peoples, and are secured when
necessary by coercion effectuated by states individually or collectively.”

THIRD WORLD APPROACHES TO INTERNATIONAL LAW (TWAIL)

• Perceives international law as facilitating the continuing exploitation of the Third World
through subordination to the West.
• International law was created during the colonial era and that it was used to legitimize the
global processes of marginalization and domination of the colonized people by Western
powers.
• TWAIL scholars seek to change what they identify as international law's oppressive
aspects, through the re-examination of the colonial foundations of international law.
• They refuse to accept the universal character of the international legal system as it
emerged solely from the European.
• International law tries to put a limitation of the Third World states’ sovereignty through
transferring their autonomous powers to international institutions controlled by the First
World. Ex. Humanitarian Intervention.
• Indian Scholars: R.P.Anand, Upendra Baxi, B.S.Chimni
Module 2

Common Heritage of Mankind,

 The seabed and ocean floor and subsoil thereof beyond the limits of national jurisdiction
constitute the “Area”. The Convention under Article 136 of UNCLOS 1982 provides that
the Area and its resources are the “common heritage of mankind”. In this context, the
Convention defines “resources” as “all solid, liquid or gaseous mineral resources in situ in
the Area at or beneath the seabed, including polymetallic nod- ules.”
 No State can claim or exercise sovereignty or sovereign rights over any part of the Area
or its resources, nor can any State or natural or juridical person appropriate any part
thereof. On the contrary, all rights in the resources of the Area are vested in mankind as a
whole.
 An organization established by the Convention, the International Seabed Authority,
organizes and controls activities in the Area, particularly with a view to administering
resources in the Area.
 The Convention provides that activities in the Area shall be carried out for the benefit of
mankind. Both the high-seas and the Area can only be used for peaceful purposes.

Exclusive Economic Zone

 Each coastal State may claim an EEZ beyond and adjacent to its territorial sea that
extends seaward up to 200 nautical miles from its baselines.

Within its EEZ, a coastal state has:

- Sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring, exploiting, conserving and managing
natural resources, whether living or non-living, of the seabed and subsoil.
- Rights to carry out activities like the production of energy from the water, currents
and wind.
 Right to resources in the EEZ was “probably one of the most significant elements of state
claims”, as while only around 36 per cent of the oceans are covered by EEZS, they
contain around “90 per cent of Harvestable resources”. States also have exclusive rights
 for exploring and exploiting natural resources on its continental shelf, which in some
instances can extend beyond the EEZ.
 Under the Convention, responsibility for ensuring the long-term exclusive economic zone
rests with coastal States.
 Only islands can have EEZS as under Article 121 of UNCLOS 1982 rocks which cannot
sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic
zone or continental shelf.

Continental Shelf (Read North Sea Continental Shelf Cases)

 Part VI of the Convention sets forth provisions relating to the continental shelf, which
extends to the outer edge of the continental margin or to a distance of 200 nm from the
baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured up to 350 nm, as
described in Para 1 of Article 76 UNCLOS 1982.
 Paragraphs 4 to 6 of Article 76 provides for the limits provided for the continental shelf
of a coastal State.
 In the cases in which the continental shelf extends beyond 200 nautical miles from the
baselines, coastal States are required by the Convention to submit information on the
outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles to the Commission on the
Limits of the Continental Shelf for its consideration.
 Further, under Article 77 of the Convention a coastal State exercises sovereign rights
over its continental shelf for the purpose of exploring and exploiting its mineral and other
non-living resources of the seabed and subsoil together with living organisms belonging
to sedentary species.
 The Convention also gives coastal States jurisdiction over their continental shelf with
regard to the establishment and use of artificial islands, installations and structures;
drilling of the continental shelf; cables and pipelines constructed or used in connection
with exploration of the continental shelf and exploitation of its natural resources or to the
operations of artificial islands, installations and structures; marine scientific research; and
the prevention, reduction and control of pollution of the marine environment arising from
or in connection with seabed activities. (these are just other rights given, can shorten
them)
Rights and Duties of Coastal States (UNCLOS 1982 based)

Duties of the coastal State

Article 24

1. The coastal State shall not hamper the innocent passage 1 of foreign ships through the
territorial sea except in accordance with this Convention. In particular, in the application
of this Convention or of any laws or regulations adopted in conformity with this
Convention, the coastal State shall not:
(a) Impose requirements on foreign ships which have the practical effect of denying
or impairing the right of innocent passage; or
(b) Discriminate in form or in fact against the ships of any state or against ships
carrying cargoes to, from or on behalf of any state.
2. The coastal State shall give appropriate publicity to any danger to navigation, of which it
has knowledge, within its territorial sea.

Rights of protection of the coastal State

Article 25

1. The coastal State may take the necessary steps in its territorial sea to prevent passage
which is not innocent.
2. In the case of ships proceeding to internal waters or a call at a port facility outside
internal waters, the coastal State also has the right to take the necessary steps to
prevent any breach of the conditions to which admission of those ships to internal
waters or such a call is subject.
3. The coastal State may, without discrimination in form or in fact among foreign ships,
suspend temporarily in specified areas of its territorial sea the innocent passage of
foreign ships if such suspension is essential for the protection of its security, including
weapons exercises. Such suspension shall take effect only after having been duly
published.

1
Passage is innocent so long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal State.