CYIL vol. 15 (2024)

VERONIKA D’EVEREUX THE ISSUE OF COMPARISON OF STATELESS PERSON

WITH STATELESS SHIP IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE CURRENT INTERNATIONAL LAW Veronika D’Evereux

Abstract: The paper is aimed at examining the issue of the comparison of the status of a stateless person with a stateless ship on the high seas and in the other zones of the sea falling under the territorial jurisdiction of a coastal state in the perspective of the current international law. The right to nationality of every child is protected by international law. Regardless of it, there are currently over 4 million people that are stateless. The paper classifies the most common legal obstacles stemming from statelessness and includes the considerations on the behaviour of the states, which prevents the implementation of this fundamental right in their national legal practice. The paper deals with the question of the legal status of the stateless ships, which then do not sail under the flag of any state. There are identified measures the states are entitled to take against the stateless vessels and the rules for implying restrictions in their right to passage and navigation. Resumé: Příspěvek je zaměřen na srovnání postavení osoby bez státní příslušnosti s lodí bez registrace na volném moři a v ostatních mořských zónách spadajících pod územní jurisdikci pobřežního státu z pohledu současného mezinárodního práva. Právo na státní příslušnost každého dítěte je chráněno mezinárodním právem. Bez ohledu na to jsou v současnosti více než 4 miliony lidí bez státní příslušnosti. Článek klasifikuje nejčastější právní překážky vedoucí k tomu, že osoba nemá občanství žádného státu, a zahrnuje úvahy o chování států, které brání v implementaci tohoto základního práva v praxi. Příspěvek se zabývá otázkou právního postavení neregistrovaných lodí, které neplují pod vlajkou žádného státu. Jsou po psána opatření, která jsou státy oprávněny přijmout vůči plavidlům bez státní příslušnosti, a pravidla pro omezení jejich práva na průjezd a plavbu. Keywords: stateless person, right to nationality, stateless ship, flag state About the Author: JUDr. Veronika D’Evereux, Ph.D. is a post doc researcher mainly in various areas related to the Israeli Palestinian conflict according to the international law. She works in the Centre for Conflict and Post Conflict Studies at the Department of International Law, Faculty of Law at the Charles University in Prague. Introduction The research objective is to examine the status of a stateless person in comparison to the status of a stateless ship. Lassa F. L. Oppenheim, characterised as the father of the modern discipline of international law, noted in 1905 that the position of the individuals destitute of nationality might be compared to a stateless ship on the high seas. 1 This remark is still 1 Oppenheim’s 1905 characteristics of the stateless persons was as follows: ‘The stateless individuals fall under the territorial supremacy of the state on whose territory they live. But since they do not own a nationality, the link by which they could derive benefits from international law is missing, and thus they lack any protection whatever as far as this law is concerned. The position of such individuals destitute of nationality may be compared to vessel on the Open Sea, which likewise do not enjoy any protection whatever. In practise, stateless individuals are in most states more or less as though they were subjects of foreign states, but as a point of international legality, there is no restriction whatever upon

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