Law of the Sea and the Svalbard Islands: An analysis on the legal status of maritime zones around Svalbard Irina Ivanova Anr: 911311 Tilburg University LLM International and European Law Master of Laws Thesis Submitted: August 2018 Supervisor: Dr Morag Goodwin Acknowledgements First and foremost, I am especially grateful to Dr Morag Goodwin, for her supervision, useful comments and valuable insights throughout my research. Many thanks to my study colleagues in Tilburg Law School, for interesting discussions and meaningful friendships. To mama, I owe everything. Thank you for inspiring and helping with this thesis, continuously listening to my legal nonsense and always answering my calls when I needed you. You always gave me the liberty to follow my interests and encouraged me every step of the way, Thank you for being my ultimate role model. My girls, you’ve supported me during the writing process by making me laugh and being the necessary distraction. I couldn’t have done it without our ‘perfect club’. Always grateful to my Strasbourg friends, for bouncing ideas with me and despite the time and the distance, being there. And lastly, I would like to thank the Verschoor family, for welcoming me and making this foreign country my home. ii Contents Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................... i Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................................... iv I. Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 1 Thesis structure ................................................................................................................................................... 4 II. Historical background on the Svalbard Islands and drafting of the Treaty ...................... 6 Historical context before 1907 ......................................................................................................................... 6 Negotiations of 1907, 1910, 1912 and 1914 .................................................................................................... 8 The Paris Peace Conference of 1920 .............................................................................................................. 9 The Svalbard Treaty (earlier the Spitsbergen Treaty of 1920) ............................................................ 10 III. Importance of Svalbard and positions of High Contracting Parties ................................ 13 Geographic and economic importance of Svalbard ................................................................................ 13 Brief history of mineral and natural resources in Norway and on Svalbard .................................... 17 Party positions on maritime zone interpretation around Svalbard ..................................................... 19 IV. Legal and Interpretive background ........................................................................................... 23 Historical development of maritime law and UNCLOS ......................................................................... 23 The equidistance principle and the equitable principle ................................................................................. 25 Neil MacCormick’s analytical framework and VCLT ........................................................................... 28 Interpretation of historical treaties ............................................................................................................. 32 V. Analysis of the Svalbard Treaty ................................................................................................... 36 Discussion on systemic arguments ............................................................................................................... 36 Discussion of linguistic arguments ............................................................................................................... 42 Discussion on teleological arguments .......................................................................................................... 46 VI. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 48 References ............................................................................................................................................... 50 Table of cases .................................................................................................................................................... 50 Legislation .......................................................................................................................................................... 51 Books, journals and websites… .................................................................................................................... 51 iii Abbreviations CLCS Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf EC European Commission EEZ exclusive economic zone FPZ fishery protection zone HCP High Contracting Parties ICJ International Court of Justice ITLOS International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea miles nautical miles NPD Norwegian Petroleum Directorate PCA Permanent Court of Arbitration TPA Territory for Petroleum Activity UN United Nations UNCLOS United Convention on the Law of the Sea VCLT Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties iv I. Introduction Officially titled the Treaty recognising the sovereignty of Norway over the Archipelago of Spitsbergen, but today most commonly referred to as the Svalbard Treaty, established a unique type of sovereignty over the Svalbard archipelago.1 It was signed on February 9th, 1920 at the Paris Peace Conference and went into effect on August 14, 1925.2 The year it went into effect, Norway renamed the islands from the Dutch name of ‘Spitsbergen’ which meant jagged mountains, to Old Norse name of ‘Svalbard.’3 The treaty determined the legal status of the Svalbard Islands located in the Norwegian Arctic, in the Barents Sea. What makes this treaty truly special is that a joint decision of nine countries determined that Norway will have sovereignty over the Svalbard Archipelago, maintain the legal and administrative governance over them, however, all treaty parties have non- discriminatory access to resources on land and territorial waters of Svalbard.4 In classic international law, sovereignty means dividing up the world up into exclusive portions and allowing states to exercise control over their portion to the exclusion of all other states. 5 This makes the Norwegian sovereignty over Svalbard Islands one of a kind, as Norway can administer 1 This thesis chooses to refer to the Treaty recognising the sovereignty of Norway over the Archipelago of Spitsbergen, as the Svalbard Treaty. This is done in light of the fact that today the treaty is commonly referred to as the ‘Svalbard Treaty’ by government officials of Norway and many scholars. Some examples of this include, the Governor of Svalbard referring to the treaty as the ‘Svalbard Treaty’ on their official website https://www.sysselmannen.no/en/Toppmeny/About-Svalbard/Laws-and-regulations/Svalbard-Treaty// ; Arctic Portal, a comprehensive gateway to information on the Arctic at http://library.arcticportal.org/1909/1/The_Svalbard_Treaty_9ssFy.pdf . In the Norwegian language, the Svalbard Treaty is also called ‘Svalbardtraktaten,’ rather than ‘Spitsbergentraktaten.’ Some examples of this include the Norwegian Government’s official website at https://www.regjeringen.no/no/dokumenter/svalbardtraktaten/id2395472/ ; by Svalbard’s Police official website at https://www.politiet.no/en/om/organisasjonen/sarorganene/sysselmannen-pa-svalbard/ ; and by the Svalbard Museum at http://svalbardmuseum.no/no/kultur-og-historie/svalbardtraktaten/ . It is also necessary to make clear that choosing the title ‘Svalbard Treaty’ over ‘Spitsbergen Treaty of 1920’ does not affect my legal analysis, it is done merely done in light of the current trend. 2 Treaty recognising the sovereignty of Norway over the Archipelago of Spitsbergen (adopted on 9 February 1920, entered into force 14 August, 1925), hereinafter referred to as the Svalbard Treaty 3 Roald Berg, 'From “Spitsbergen” To “Svalbard”. Norwegianization In Norway And In The “Norwegian Sea”, 1820–1925' (2013) 30 Acta Borealia. 4 Svalbard Treaty, articles 2, 3 and 7. 5 Daniel Philpott, 'Sovereignty' (Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, 2018) <https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sovereignty/#1> accessed 17 August 2018. the islands, however, all parties to the treaty can have access to the territories and all natural resources on equal terms as citizens of Norway. The Svalbard Treaty was signed almost a century ago and there have been many changes in the international maritime law since. The treaty states that High Contracting Parties (HCP) have access to resources on land and the ‘territorial waters’ of Svalbard Islands as stated in article 2 and 3 Svalbard Treaty. When the Treaty was signed, it was a custom that states could control the territorial sea which extended four nautical miles into the sea.6 Today, the HCPs to the treaty have raised questions concerning the maritime application of the Svalbard Treaty. The modern maritime zones were established with United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), during 1982