An archipelagic state is an
island country that consists of an
archipelago. The designation is legally defined by the
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). In various conferences,
The Bahamas,
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
,
Indonesia,
Papua New Guinea, and the
Philippines are the five original
sovereign states that obtained approval in the UNCLOS signed in
Montego Bay
Montego Bay is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth-largest urban area in the country by population, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Por ...
,
Jamaica on 10 December 1982 and qualified as the archipelagic states.
Archipelagic states 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. The baselines must enclose the main islands of the archipelago and the enclosed water to land ratio must be "between 1:1 and 9:1".
The approval of the
United Nations (UN) for the five sovereign states as archipelagic states respect existing agreements with other countries and shall recognize traditional fishing rights and other legitimate activities of the immediately adjacent neighboring countries 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 countries concerned, be regulated by bilateral agreements between them. Such rights shall not be transferred to or shared with third countries or their nationals.
As of 20 June 2015, a total of 22
sovereign states have sought to claim archipelagic status.
[Archipelagic States Practice](_blank)
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List of archipelagic states
This is a list of the current archipelagic states in the world. These 22 island countries have sought to claim archipelagic status by utilising the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea provisions.The Law of the Sea — Practice of Archipelagic States
/ref>
Bolded are the five original official archipelagic states.
See also
* List of archipelagos
This is a list of archipelagos, organised by oceans then seas and finally arranged alphabetically.
Arctic Ocean
Archipelagos of the Arctic Ocean:
* Achton Friis Islands
*Anzhu Islands
* Arkticheskiy Institut Islands
* Barren Islands
* Berkeley I ...
* List of island countries
* Lists of islands
This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, by body of water
A body of water or waterbody (often spelled water body) is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another plane ...
* Thalassocracy
Notes
References
{{reflist
International law
Law of the sea
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State