CYIL vol. 15 (2024)

CYIL 15 ȍ2024Ȏ THE ISSUE OF COMPARISON OF STATELESS PERSON WITH STATELESS SHIP … referenced as a doctrinal opinion in the current textbooks of the international law. 2 In order to verify the fulfilment of the objective of this paper, a research question was formulated as follows: To what extent is it appropriate to compare the position of a stateless person to a stateless vessel on the high seas and in the other zones of the sea? In the author’s opinion this comparison is no longer applicable, she finds it rather a historical doctrinal opinion, which mostly does not reflect the current provisions of the international law. The reason to carry out this research was based on the fact that at the time this doctrinal view was originally formulated, international law of the sea had not yet been codified. L. Oppenheim’s opinion was based on international customary law of the sea as well as on the then practice of states in relation to their conduct towards stateless persons. The international treaties regulating the legal status of stateless persons and their protection were not yet created. International law has undergone many changes in the past nearly 120 years. There have been adopted two specialised international conventions directly aimed at protection of stateless persons. One of them, the Convention relating to the Status of Statelessness Persons of 28 September 1954, has its 70 th anniversary this year. Provisions on the protection of stateless persons can be also found in several other international treaties, which are aimed at i.e., protection of fundamental human rights, protection of refugees, or international humanitarian law. Last but not least, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was adopted on 10 December 1982, this year marks the 30 th anniversary of its entry into force (16 November 1994). A comparison of the status of stateless persons and ships without registration is not used as a starting point for the analysis, which would be the subject of further legal examination. On the contrary, this comparison is rather conceived as an attractive parable , the assessment of which is to point out the problem of statelessness, the causes, consequences, and legal context of which are examined. This paper is structured into four chapters. The first chapter distinguishes the 3 categories of stateless persons based on whether they do or do not fulfil the definition of the respective international convention. There is included the overview of the international conventions applicable to all persons regardless of the grounds for their statelessness. The second chapter deals with the most common causes of statelessness. The third chapter is aimed at legal issues affecting the birth registration stemming from statelessness. This issue is examined in relation to the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 1979 Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The fourth chapter is focused on the navigation of stateless ships on the high seas and the passage through zones which fall under the jurisdiction of a coastal state. It includes the comparison of the rights of the states in regard to the treatment of stateless ships and stateless persons. The conclusion includes the answer to the research question.

a state’s maltreating them to any extent.’ OPPENHEIM, L. International Law, A Treatise, vol. 1 Peace. London: Longmans, Green, and Co. 1905, p. 366. 2 e.g., ŠTURMA, P., ČEPELKA, Č. Mezinárodní právo veřejné, 2. vydání . [Public International Law, 2nd edition] Praha: C. H. Beck, 2018, p. 223.

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