International Journal of Maritime Policy
Volume:1 Issue: 2, Spring 2021

Environmental risks and conflicts in the framework of the relations between countries and subsequently their role-playing in interaction and collaboration or conflicts and struggles between political actors especially in the level of states have reproduced serious discussions and disputes on the environment, security, and power which are interpreted as environmental geopolitics or ecopolitics by modern political geography.Geographically, the Persian Gulf is a semi-enclosed sea that has a very low capacity of self-dredging in comparison to that of high seas; hence, it retains the pollutants for longer periods of time. Some of its environmental problems arise from the various activities of the people residing along the northern and southern shores. If the situation is exacerbated by the factors such as oil and its subsequent pollutions, militarism and its subsequent destruction, desalination of seawater, and the construction of artificial islands, one can conclude that regional convergence between the countries neighboring this body of water in the process of bioregionalism would be of an essential necessity.According to the research findings, states acting in the geopolitical region of the Persian Gulf to produce power, security and to sustain them, from one hand, and to protect this shared aquatic ecosystem in the event of sustainable development, from the other hand, should mobilize all collective cooperations and operationalize the bioregionalism in regional and supranational scales.

Today, advances in science and technology have increased human power to change the environment; This situation has endangered human survival. Sustainable development is one of the solutions to solve this challenge. The emphasis of sustainable development is on intergenerational commitment and intergenerational and intergenerational justice, quality of life and participation of individuals in the development process. Since international judicial authorities play an important role in the development of international law, it is important to address the jurisprudence of these courts in the context of sustainable development and its principles. This article analyzes some of the rulings of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and states that in its decisions of the last two decades, the Court has made good use of the principles of sustainable development and revealed the normative element of the concept of sustainable development. The rulings of this court indicate the establishment of the position of these principles in the practice of this institution and its positive approach to the rights of future generations, while defending the interests of the current generation.

The sea pathways are extensively considers as a way to reach a safe zone for the forced people, who their lives are threatened for many reasons. A large number of the irregular migrants, asylum seekers and refugees are drowned daily in the sea, particularly in the Mediterranean Sea. The numbers of the deaths are worrying and alarming. It requires urgent and effective actions by States to prevent this disastrous human crisis. This paper through descriptive and analytical research method through a qualitative research examines the international legal framework for the protection of irregular migrants, asylum seekers and refugees’ rights and focuses on two essential rights of their rescue at sea and its related right of non-refoulement. The paper concludes that the security and military ironic measures of the coastal States, particularly those of certain European States, are considered as a serious risk for the rights of the people trafficked through the sea in order to be moved from the place of danger to a safe zone. Accordingly, States must play a more responsible role in assisting and protecting the desperate irregular, asylum seekers and refugees at sea in order to guarantee their fundamental rights.

The world witnessed a change in the arrangement of international actors after the Second World War and the rise of international organizations in the international landscape. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) was one of these entities, acting as the UN specialized agency in maritime affairs. This study mainly aims at reviewing the regulatory role of the IMO, particularly the Port State Control (PSC) regime, by addressing its concept, as well as the legal basis and the control procedures. This mainly descriptive–inductive study describes and analyzes the legal bases of the PSC. Generally, IMO is identified with two types of functions: legislation and regulation. IMO’s regulatory function is reflected in two main tools, namely, the Audit Scheme of its Member States and Port State Control (PSC). With its supplementary nature, PSC is in fact an efficient maritime system for the safety and protection of the marine environment, encouraging states to watch for the safety of ships other than those flying their flags, especially those visiting their ports. This control system has led to an effective and efficient implementation of IMO rules and regulations.

The concerns of the international community regarding the potential environmental crisis for future generations have being increased arising out of the intensification of the challenges and threats to the marine environment as well as diminution of the biological resources as a result of the aggregation of harmful human activities over the maritime zones. At the same time, conservation, sustainable use and governance of the oceans through the application of the rule of law is one of the most important issues that have been at the forefront of the international community's endeavor dealing with law of the sea and ocean affairs. The United Nations General Assembly in order to resolve the challenges of the existing legal framework governing marine biodiversity has established a legally binding instrument for conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction known as the BBNJ process within the framework of the Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The present paper, while considering the basic foundations of the existing international legal framework applicable to marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, describes the strengths and weaknesses of the current legal framework in order to improve the ongoing international legally binding instrument concerning BBNJ and will pursue the monitoring of the ongoing process from international law perspectives.

Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) was faced with the issue of maritime security against terrorist incidents. Accordingly, it adopted the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS Code) in December 2002 as part of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS 1974- as amended) in order to increase maritime security through fulfilling its regulations by Contracting Governments. This Code, entered into force on 1 July 2004, provides a set of regulations for ship and port facility security. The first part of this paper focuses on the introduction and analysis of the key regulations of the ISPS Code. The second part of this paper focuses on the successful practices of two Contracting Governments, namely Malaysia and South Korea. Accordingly, this paper evaluates the enforcement of the regulations of the ISPS Code by concentrating on these two countries in East Asia in order to measure the effectiveness of the Code in enhancing maritime security of these two countries. This paper concludes that to achieve the objectives of the ISPS Code, all Contracting Countries should fully implement its regulations and for achieving a higher standards in maintaining maritime security they are advised to take advantage of the experiences and practices of such successful countries as Malaysia and South Korea in fulfilling the regulations of the ISPS Code. The research method applied in this paper is based on the descriptive - analytical method.