The Convention relating to the Non-Fortification and Neutralisation of the Åland Islands was concluded in 1921 after World War I. The Convention made the territorial waters of the Åland Islands part of Finnish internal and external territorial waters, but it limited the access of even Finnish warships into the area. The 1921 Åland Convention is still in force and regulates the use of territorial waters surrounding the Åland Islands. Nowadays it is applied, however, together with more recent international law and related practices, doctoral candidate Pirjo Kleemola-Juntunen, LL.Lic., says.
According to Article 5 of the 1921 Åland Convention, the Convention does not have an effect on warships' right to innocent passage in compliance with prevailing international regulations and practices. The wording implies, though, that warships’ right to innocent passage is to be observed through rules and practices of international law currently in force.
Kleemola-Juntunen's dissertation examines the many and varied stages that have taken place since 1921 in interpreting the right to use the territorial waters of the Åland Islands. Despite changes in legal praxis and related agreements, the right of innocent passage – as concluded in 1921 – is still in force.
The definition of innocence, however, has gone through some changes. The 1982 UN Law of the Sea Convention connects the assessment of innocent and non-innocent passage more strongly with the ship’s activity in the territorial waters. Therefore, the cargo, equipment, crew and condition are less significant when assessing the nature of the passage. Ergo, even warships can navigate in the territorial waters of the Åland Islands if their activity is peaceful.
Innocent passage does not equal to transit passage
The 1982 UN Law of the Sea Convention was approved with stipulations on the so-called right of transit passage. The right of transit passage is applicable to straits which are used for international navigation, located in the territorial waters of the coastal states, connecting different parts of the open sea or economic zones to each other.
The most significant difference between transit passage and innocent passage is that in transit passage submarines are allowed to navigate through the strait below the surface; the right of transit passage concerns also air transport. In innocent passage, then again, submarines are required to navigate on the surface and to show their flag; the right of innocent passage does not apply to air transport.
The right of transit passage is not applicable to straits where passage is regulated by long-standing international agreements. These straits are not mentioned by name in the 1982 UN Law of the Sea Convention. However, based on negotiations in Conferences on the Law of the Sea, it can be stated that the following straits are concerned: the Danish and Turkish straits, the Strait of Magellan located immediately south of mainland South America, and the Åland Strait between Finland and Sweden. The sea lane through the Åland Strait passes through Swedish territorial waters. Because the 1921 Åland Convention is applied in the Finnish part of the Åland Strait, the right of innocent passage is to be applied to passage through the Åland Strait as stipulated in the 1921 Åland Convention; stipulations about transit passage in the Law of the Sea Convention do not apply.
Information on the public examination of the dissertation:
The public examination of Licentiate of Laws; Master of Laws, trained at the bench; Pirjo Kleemola-Juntunen's dissertation "
Passage Rights in International Law: A Case Study of the Territorial Waters of the Åland Islands" took place in the Faculty of Law, University of Lapland, on Friday 29 August 2014. The opponent was Professor Said Mahmoudi from the University of Stockholm, and Research Professor Timo Koivurova from the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, was the custos.
Information on the doctoral candidate:
Pirjo Kleemola-Juntunen obtained her Bachelor of Laws degree at the Lapland University College in 1988. She was granted the title of Master of Laws, trained at the bench, in 1989. Kleemola-Juntunen attained her Licentiate of Laws degree at the University of Lapland in 2002.
Kleemola-Juntunen has previously worked in the central government, as a bank lawyer, as a researcher in the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law, and as an assistant and researcher in the Faculty of Law, University of Lapland.
More information:
Pirjo Kleemola-Juntunen
E-mail: pirjo.kleemola-juntunen (at) ulapland.fi
Press release copies of the dissertation are available at the Lapland University Press, tel. +358(0)40 821 4242, publications (at) ulapland.fi
Publication data:
Pirjo Kleemola-Juntunen:
Passage Rights in International Law: A Case Study of the Territorial Waters of the Åland Islands. Acta Universitatis Lapponiensis 284. ISBN (nid.) 978-952-484-752-0, ISSN 0788-7604. Pdf: Acta Electronica Universitatis Lapponiensis 151. ISBN (pdf) 978-952-484-753-7, ISSN (pdf) 1796-6310.
Sale of the publication:
Lapland University Press (ULapland Main Library, Yliopistonkatu 8, Rovaniemi), tel. +358(0)40 821 4242, publications (at) ulapland.fi, online orders:
www.ulapland.fi/lup
ULapland / Communications / TN
Translation: Annukka Jakkula