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After an introductory chapter concerning the definition of `Straits used for international navigation', the author examines in detail the evolution of the question in the years prior to the convening of UNCLOS-III, during the preparatory works of the Sea-Bed Committee and throughout the Conference.
The second part of the book studies the legal norms set up by the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea concerning the regime of transit passage for maritime and air navigation applicable in most of the straits used for international navigation and the regime of innocent passage residually applied in the other straits.
In the final chapter, the author makes a critical appraisal of the new regimes of navigation and overflight in straits, exposes the implications of such regimes in Spain, analyzes the applicability of the Convention's regulations before their coming into force, and examines the practice followed in the last few years by the most important States which favoured or opposed the regime of transit passage.
From his position as Deputy-Head of the Spanish Delegation to the Law of the Sea Conference, Ambassador de Yturriaga participated from the very beginning in the work of UNCLOS-III and was an active protagonist in the debates of the straits' question.
The book offers a first hand testimony of the straits' negotiation, which will be extremely useful for scholars and students of the Law of the Sea.
List of contents
Preface. Part One: Introduction. Definition of Straits Used for International Navigation. Part Two: Historical Development. 1. Period prior to the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea. 2. The Sea-Bed Committee as Preparatory Committee for the Conference. 3. Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea. Part Three: Legal Analysis of the Convention. 4. Regime of Transit Passage for Maritime Navigation. 5. Regime of Transit Passage for Air Navigation. 6. Regime of Innocent Passage. Part Four: Critical Appraisal and Conclusions. Annex: Selected Bibliography. Index.
