Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A: It refers to the obligation of every state towards the international community as a whole. All states
have legal interest in its compliance. (Vinuya v. Romulo, 2010)
International Organizations. The status and power of an IG is determined by agreement and not by
general or customary international law. They are considered subjects of international law "if their legal
personality is established by their constituent instrument.” Further, its constituent rights and duties or
capacities and immunities, are limited to those set forth in the treaty creating the international
organization. Thus, legal personality in this context is a relative concept. (Magallona)
Individuals. Individuals may assume the status of subjects of international law only on the basis of
agreement by states and in specific context, not in accordance with general or customary international
law.
Diplomatic negotiations are privileged in order to encourage a frank exchange of exploratory ideas
between the parties shielding the negotiations from public view. (Akbayan Citizens Action Party v. Aquino,
2008)
Q: Define a treaty.
A: It is an international agreement concluded between states in written form and governed by
international law. (Art. 2 (1) (a), Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties)
Exception: The peremptory norms of international law known as “jus cogens,” which means compelling
law. (Art. 53, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties)
Limitations:
(a) Applies only to treaties of indefinite duration;
(b) Vital change claimed as justification for discontinuance of the treaty must be unforeseen or
unforeseeable;
(c) Must not be caused by party invoking the doctrine;
(d) Must be invoked within a reasonable time from occurrence of change asserted; and
(e) Cannot operate retroactively.
The President makes treaties with the advice and consent of the Senate; but he alone negotiates.
Q: Define Nationality.
A: It is the character, status or condition with reference to the rights and duties of a person as a member
of a state or nation rather than another. (Bouvier’s Law Dictionary, 3rd Edition, 1914)
Fundamental Rights:
(1) Right to life, liberty, and security of person; and
(2) Right to social security, realization of economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for
dignity development of personality.
Under the ICESCR, state parties are required to undertake the necessary steps to the maximum of its
available resources, with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the rights enumerated in
the covenant by all appropriate means.
All ships and aircraft are entitled to the right of archipelagic sea lanes passage [Magallona; Article 53(1) in
relation to Article 53(3) UNCLOS]. The archipelagic state designates the sea lanes as proposals to the
“competent international organization.”
It is up to a limit not exceeding twelve (12) nautical miles measured from the baseline Ships of all states,
whether coastal or not for an innocent passage through the territorial sea. (Art. 3, UNCLOS)
The following are the rights of the coastal state in the exclusive economic zone:
(1) Sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring and exploiting, conserving, and managing the
living and non-living resources in the superjacent waters of the seabed and the resources of the
seabed and subsoil;
(2) Sovereign rights with respect to the other activities for the economic exploitation and exploration
of the zone or EEZ, such as production of energy from water, currents and winds;
(3) Jurisdictional right with respect to establishment and use of artificial islands;
(4) Jurisdictional right as to protection and preservation of the marine environment;
(5) Jurisdictional right over marine scientific research;
(6) Other rights and duties provided for in the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea or the
UNCLOS. (Art. 56, UNCLOS)
Q: Enumerate the different maritime zones and the various rights and obligations under it.
Maritime zone Rights and obligations
Territorial sea A coastal state is entitled to claim a belt of sea adjacent to its coast its
“territorial sea.” This may extend up to 12 miles from the coast, and in this
belt of sea the coastal state may exercise full sovereignty. Foreign vessels are
entitled to innocent passage but this does not apply to overflight.
Contiguous zone Within this zone the coastal state is not sovereign, but it may exercise the
control necessary to prevent and punish infringements of the customs,
fiscal, immigration, and sanitary laws and regulations that apply in
territorial sea. The contiguous zone may extend up to 24 miles from the
coast.
Exclusive economic zone A coastal state may claim a belt of sea up to 200 miles from its coast as its
“EEZ”. In this area the coastal state is entitled to exercise sovereign rights
over the living and non-living resources of the sea, the seabed, and subsoil
of the seabed. Other user states are however entitled to inclusive rights, such
as freedom of navigation and overflight, freedom to lay submarine cables
and pipelines and other internationally lawful uses of the sea related to
those freedoms, such as those associated with the operation of ships, aircraft
and submarine cables and pipelines.
Continental shelf The LOS Convention recognizes the legal right of every coastal state to
control and exploit the natural resources of its continental shelf up to 350
miles from its coast. Other user states enjoy freedom of navigation and
overflight, right to lay submarine cables and pipelines (but consent required
for routing), right to fishing (except sedentary species) and right to marine
scientific research in the water column (but consent required for the sea
bed).