Legal Status Of Island: Clarifying Article121(3) Of United Nations Convention On The Law Of The Sea

Islands could claim a200nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) andcontinental shelf under existing international law. Article121, paragraph3of theUnited Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) provides that "rockswhich cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have noexclusive economic zone or continental shelf." However, this provision is not clearenough to apply to state practice. There are four issues:1. The criteria to distinguishrock and island;2. The relationship between “human habitation” and “economic life”;3. The interpretation of “human habitation”;4. The interpretation of “economiclife”.The purpose of this article is to examine the interpretation, in particular its thirdparagraph, through a summary of the development of the "Regime of Islands" at theThird United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III), and views ofthe law of the sea experts on the interpretation and application of Article121(3).After analyzing, this article concludes that rocks have no exclusive economiczone or continental shelf while islands have exclusive economic zone or continentalshelf. The islands which can sustain human habitation or economic life of their ownhave exclusive economic zone or continental shelf. There are three criteria regarding“human habitation”: first, islands should have fresh water; second, there must benature food in the islands; third, there must be materials to build shelter in the islands.As for the interpretation of “economic life”, there are two criteria. One is the islandshave features which can bring economic benefits directly; another is fosteringprotection of the marine environment with economic benefits. Marine preserves, forexample, can have an “economic life of their own” within the meaning of Article 121(3) when a state uses them both to protect the marine environment and to gain anet economic benefit. Even though the economic benefit of the marine preservecannot sustain the life of its own, such States should be given an incentive to preservethe marine environment where such preservation is also economically beneficial andthus consistent with the "economic life" criterion of Article121(3).In order to implement the interpretation of121(3), a committee aiming to definewhether islands are in according with UNCLOS or not should be established. Theduty of the committee is to judge islands through marine scientific research andeconomic analysis. Furthermore, cooperation in ocean affairs should be strengthenedbetween countries that have conflicts in applying121(3) to the island (rock) betweenthem. They should negotiate to solve the issue. Consequently, the defects of UNCLOSmust be revised after a long time state practice.