The right of innocent passage: The challenge of the proliferation security initiative and the implications for the territorial waters of the åland islands

Abstract

The legal status of the Åland Islands is a special case in international law. Åland is an area that is demilitarised, is neutralised and enjoys wide autonomy under Finnish sovereign rule. The demilitarisation regime is regulated directly by a multilevel legal framework, and Finland’s sovereign rights as a coastal State are significantly restricted by the 1921 Åland Convention. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea sets out a comprehensive legal framework for marine activities. The Convention contains specific articles on the right of innocent passage. The Proliferation Security Initiative launched by the United States in 2004 has raised the questions of its application on the territorial sea against a foreign ship exercising the right of innocent passage. This Chapter attempts to examine the relationship of the PSI to the right of innocent passage and to the 1921 Åland Convention. This chapter is written as a part research project “Demilitarisation in an increasingly militarised world. International perspectives in a multilevel framework – the case of the Åland Islands”. The research project is a co-operation between the Åland Islands Peace Institute (ÅIPI) and the University of Lapland and its Arctic Center in Rovaniemi (Finland). The Project is funded by the KONE Foundation. The writer is working as a Post-doc researcher in the Project.