Ethiopia’s sovereign right for its [sea out lates ] and international law:
Ethiopia’s sovereign rights to retain its territorial and historical sea out lates or maritime territory ports and the newly created state of Eritrea, that established through Tplf led Transitional regime over the state of Ethiopia, with no mandate to govern.
Under international law, Self-determination refers to a people’s right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage.
When self-determination follows the correct practice, it is a cardinal principle in modern international law, binding, as such, on the United Nations as an authoritative interpretation of the Charter’s norms. The principle does not state how the decision is to be made, nor what the outcome should be (whether independence, federation, protection, some form of autonomy or full assimilation), and the right of self-determination does not necessarily include a right to an independent state for every ethnic group within a former colonial territory. Further, no right to secession is recognized under international law.
Moluccans in The Hague protesting Indonesia under Suharto’s treatment of East Timor, calling for freedom for East Timor, Papua, Aceh and Maluku, 1986
The concept emerged with the rise of nationalism in the 19th century and came into prominent use in the 1860s, spreading rapidly thereafter.[9] During and after World War I, the principle was encouraged by both Soviet Premier Vladimir Lenin and United States President Woodrow Wilson.Having announced his Fourteen Points on 8 January 1918, on 11 February 1918 Wilson stated: “National aspirations must be respected; people may now be dominated and governed only by their own consent. ‘Self determination’ is not a mere phrase; it is an imperative principle of action.”
However, neither Wilson and Lloyd George nor Lenin and Trotsky considered the peoples of the Global South as the main target for their statements supporting self-determination. Nevertheless, their rhetoric resonated far beyond the European audiences they aimed to reach.
During World War II, the principle was included in the Atlantic Charter, jointly declared on 14 August 1941 by Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States, and Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who pledged The Eight Principal points of the Charter. It was recognized as an international legal right after it was explicitly listed as a right in the UN Charter.
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 that came into effect in 1994.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an international treaty that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. As of October 2024, 169 sovereign states and the European Union are parties,[4] including all major powers except the United States.
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
Logo of the Convention
* Signed10 December 1982LocationMontego Bay, JamaicaEffective16 November 1994[1]Condition60 ratificationsSignatories157[2]Parties170[2][3]DepositarySecretary-General of the United Nations:
* Languages; Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.
The convention resulted from the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III), which took place between 1973 and 1982.
UNCLOS replaced the four treaties of the 1958 Convention on the High Seas. UNCLOS came into force in 1994, a year after Guyana became the 60th nation to ratify the treaty.
[1] In 2023, agreement was reached on a High Seas Treaty to be added as an instrument of the convention, to protect ocean life in international waters. This would provide measures including Marine Protected Areas and environmental impact assessments.
While the secretary-general of the United Nations receives instruments of ratification and accession and the UN provides support for meetings of states party to the convention, the United Nations Secretariat has no direct operational role in the implementation of the convention.
Instead a UN specialized agency, the International Maritime Organization, does play a role, however, as do other bodies such as the International Whaling Commission and the International Seabed Authority (ISA), which was established by the convention itself.
The role of the convention on high sea 1982, and land locked countries full legal rights to own, access and use of “sea out late or Maritime territory or ports” ;
* International law does not grant every country an automatic right to acquire “sea out late” (likely meaning maritime territory or ports):
- But it does recognize the right of all states, including landlocked ones, to access the sea and use its maritime areas.
* Coastal states can claim sovereignty over a territorial sea of up to 12 nautical miles or A Coastal state’s claim of 12 nautical miles is (equivalent to approximately 22.2 kilometers).
* This distance defines the territorial sea, a belt of water over which the coastal state exercises full sovereignty, though foreign vessels are granted the right of “innocent passage” through this zone and
- “an exclusive economic zone (EEZ)
up to 200 nautical miles is, (equivalent of 108.11Kilometeres approximately).
All nations have the freedom to use the. “high seas” beyond these zones for. navigation and other activities under international law.
Coastal States’ Rights.
* Territorial Sea:
Coastal states have sovereignty over a. territorial sea, an area extending up to. 12 nautical miles from their coastlines.
* Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ):Within a 200-nautical-mile limit from their coastlines, countries have special rights to explore and exploit natural resources, like fish and oil.
Landlocked States’ Rights
* Access to the Sea:
Landlocked states have a right of. access to and from the sea to exercise their rights under the law of the sea.
* Freedom of Transit:Through transit agreements with neighboring coastal states, landlocked countries can use ports and transport facilities for sea access.
High Seas and Freedom of Navigation
* Common Heritage:The high seas, areas beyond national jurisdiction, are considered a “global commons” and are free to all countries for navigation.
* No Sovereignty:No single state can claim sovereignty over any part of the high seas.
* Right of Passage:All vessels have the right of “innocent passage” through the territorial waters of other countries, provided they are passing through continuously and expeditiously.
Do newly created states those who are established by secession after long civil warfare have rights to claim ports within their territories?
[The case in point is Eritrea v Ethiopia]:
Here is some, relevant points to look through;-
Under current international law, a newly established state created by secession generally has no automatic right to claim the ports within its territory; rather, the territorial integrity of the original state is protected, meaning the ports, as part of the sovereign territory, would remain with the main country. Establishing a new boundary and claiming statehood for the separated territory is a complex process, often requiring recognition by external actors to determine the exact division of territory and resources, including ports.
Key Principles of International Law
Territorial Integrity: International law protects the territorial integrity of states, meaning that a state’s territory, including its ports, is considered a whole and is not to be divided without its consent.
Prohibition of the Use of Force:
The use of force to acquire territory is prohibited, and any territorial acquisition resulting from the use of force is not to be recognized as legal.
Criteria for Statehood: For a new entity to be a state, it must possess a permanent population, a defined territory, a government, and the capacity to conduct international relations, according to the Montevideo Convention.
The Role of Civil Warfare and Secession
Secession vs. Partition: While a civil war might lead to a situation where a territory separates, this process (secession) must be distinguished from partition.
Imposition of Boundaries: Establishing a new boundary and the resulting division of territory, including ports, is often the result of an external agency and not automatically dictated by the act of secession itself.
State Recognition: A newly separated entity must be recognized as a state by other international bodies to be considered a new sovereign power and have its claims to territory, such as ports, formally acknowledged.
In summary, the existing country would likely retain sovereignty over its ports unless a specific agreement (like a peace treaty or a boundary delimitation agreement) is reached, or if an external agency intervenes to impose a new boundary that includes the ports within the new state.
New state secession and formation from the main territory could be by self-determination or by secession.
Self-determination refers to a people’s right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage.
Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law, binding, as such, on the United Nations as an authoritative interpretation of the Charter’s norms. The principle does not state how the decision is to be made, nor what the outcome should be (whether independence, federation, protection, some form of autonomy or full assimilation),and the right of self-determination does not necessarily include a right to an independent state for every ethnic group within a former colonial territory.
Note that, no right to secession is recognized under international law.
Moluccans in The Hague protesting Indonesia under Suharto’s treatment of East Timor, calling for freedom for East Timor, Papua, Aceh and Maluku, 1986.
The concept emerged with the rise of nationalism in the 19th century and came into prominent use in the 1860s, spreading rapidly thereafter.
During and after World War I, the principle was encouraged by both Soviet Premier Vladimir Lenin and United States President Woodrow Wilson.
Having announced his Fourteen Points on 8 January 1918, on 11 February 1918 Wilson stated: “National aspirations must be respected; people may now be dominated and governed only by their own consent.
‘Self determination’ is not a mere phrase; it is an imperative principle of action.” However, neither Wilson and Lloyd George nor Lenin and Trotsky considered the peoples of the Global South as the main target for their statements supporting self-determination. Nevertheless, their rhetoric resonated far beyond the European audiences they aimed to reach. During World War II, the principle was included in the Atlantic Charter, jointly declared on 14 August 1941 by Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States, and Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who pledged The Eight Principal points of the Charter. It was recognized as an international legal right after it was explicitly listed as a right in the UN Charter.
Implementing the right to self-determination can be politically difficult, in part because there are multiple interpretations of what constitutes a people and which groups may legitimately claim the right to self-determination. As World Court judge Ivor Jennings put it: “the people cannot decide until somebody decides who are the people”.
What are the principles and criteria governing the concept of state territory under international law?
The accepted criteria of statehood were laid down in the Montevideo Convention (1933), which provided that a state must possess a permanent population, a defined territory, a government, and the capacity to conduct international relations.
Therefore, based on international law established principles, l would like to point out to all sober, decent and genuine Ethiopians that to bring a meaningful debate, regarding the steps we should take to achieve our sovereign legitimate and historical claims to our Sea out late and make an end once for all.
Dr Aregawi Mebrhatu, Thank you for your comment on my piece. I have been sharing importatnt information on our common agenda several times with many people.
I have been doing this to educate our people and creating awareness.
Never to showing off my knowledge neither for credit or seeking recognition, as some Ethiopian intellectuals so doing it.
Those so-called scholars puts me off.
They are out of touch, sad.
I strongly admire and firmly support your movement (The Agaezi National Union; ANU).
Because you have started something big, reclaiming our heritage, ancient ancestral history, belonging to us.
As Agazian decendants of both Semetic (Abraham) and Hametic ( Cush),
we are the cradile of human kind, the first world civilzation and the faithful, that
[“God blessed; Amos 9:7-8] The evidence speaks for itself”.
Therfore, it is important we need to remind ourselves this very fact.
Go stronger and move even faster to reclaiming back our land, country, history, that belongs to us.
The Land civilization, history all, that was taken away from us by illegal, illegitimate invaders, who have been squatting into.
We are the owners, our claim is genuine honest, so we shouldn’t be afraid to teach our people and mobilise to the cause.
Keep expanding, spread the truth and reach out to our people.
Thank you again my comrade.
By Aregash G.tsadik
LLM lnternational Law