Innocent passage is a concept in the
law of the sea
Law of the sea (or ocean law) is a body of international law governing the rights and duties of State (polity), states in Ocean, maritime environments. It concerns matters such as navigational rights, sea mineral claims, and coastal waters juris ...
that allows for a vessel to pass through the
territorial sea
Territorial waters are informally an area of water where a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potentially the extended continental shelf ( ...
(and certain grandfathered
internal waters
According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a nation's internal waters include waters on the side of the baseline of a nation's territorial waters that is facing toward the land, except in archipelagic states. It includes wa ...
) of another state, subject to certain restrictions. The
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
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. , 169 sov ...
Article 19 defines innocent passage as:
Underwater vehicles like submarines are required by the treaty to surface and show their flags during innocent passage.
Innocent passage applies to the entire
territorial sea
Territorial waters are informally an area of water where a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potentially the extended continental shelf ( ...
, up to at most from coastal baseline.
Transit passage
Transit passage is a concept of the law of the sea, which allows a vessel or aircraft the freedom of navigation or overflight solely for the purpose of continuous and expeditious transit of a strait between one part of the high seas or exclusive ...
is a similar right that applies only to
strait
A strait is a water body connecting two seas or water basins. The surface water is, for the most part, at the same elevation on both sides and flows through the strait in both directions, even though the topography generally constricts the ...
s that divide two areas of
international waters; it has different requirements for transiting vessels.
Freedom of navigation
Freedom of navigation (FON) is a principle of law of the sea that ships flying the flag of any sovereign state shall not suffer interference from other states when in international waters, apart from the exceptions provided for in international ...
is a general right enjoyed in international waters; "freedom of navigation operations" enforces this right, in some cases to counter a claim by a sovereign state that certain waters are territorial.
History
Initially, the right of innocent passage in the current sense began to take shape in the 1840s (as a
customary rule) with the development of world trade and the emergence of steamships navigation, for which it was economically significant to use the shortest possible route often through the coastal waters of a foreign state.
The law was codified in
the 1958 Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone and affirmed in
the 1982 UNCLOS.
Suspension
The coastal state may temporarily suspend the innocent passage of foreign ships if "such suspension is essential for the protection of its security". The suspension must be applied without discrimination between foreign ships. Suspension is however not permitted in the
international straits.
[ Article 16.]
See also
*
1986 Black Sea incident
*
1988 Black Sea bumping incident
*
Corfu Channel incident
*
Transit passage
Transit passage is a concept of the law of the sea, which allows a vessel or aircraft the freedom of navigation or overflight solely for the purpose of continuous and expeditious transit of a strait between one part of the high seas or exclusive ...
References
Sources
*
External links
UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Part II Section 3 defines "innocent passage"
* Spadi, F. (2001),
The Bridge on the Strait of Messina: 'Lowering' the Right of Innocent Passage?, ''
International and Comparative Law Quarterly'', 50: 411–419.
Law of the sea
{{Water-transport-stub