Reference no: EM133338936
Case: Goodland is a global economic and political superpower country with a massive and very powerful military. It is a UN member state and a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Goodland is also a state party to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. It lies entirely to the north of Konzania and the two countries share a common border.
Konania is a small, natural resource-rich, country whose coastline lies along part of Orca Bay, a very large body of water extending for hundreds of nautical miles in every direction. It is inhabited by over fifty indigenous ethnic groups who often fiercely contend for power. Konzania was colonized in the nineteenth century by Goodland. In 1963, Goodland withdrew its military, political and economic personnel from Konzania, and installed a transitional government in Konzania, headed by a Prime Minister and assisted by a ministerial cabinet. This transitional government runs the country day-to-day. However, to this day, the Queen of Goodland remains the ceremonial head of state of Konzania. Konzania's transitional government is recognized de facto by most states in the world. Thus far, only Goodland has recognized it de jure. In January 1989, Konzania ratified the Charter of the Global Currency Fund which created an international organization that directly manages the currency of its member states. In August 2021, Konzania undertook a detailed population census. The results of this census have been fiercely disputed by prominent members of many of the ethnic groups in Konzania. This dispute is currently the subject of litigation in the Supreme Court of Konzania.
Marineland a large and powerful country whose coastline also lies along a portion of Orca Bay. Marineland is a UN member state and a state party to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Marineland has set up hundreds of offshore oil and gas oil rigs in Orca Bay since late December 2021 and has been drilling and exporting oil and gas from there since then. Marineland drills oil and gas in Orca Bay both from an area extending to twelve nautical miles from the baseline on its coast on that Bay and another more extensive area extending three hundred and sixty nautical miles from that same baseline.
On 5th of January 2022, the foreign minister of Konzania sent a diplomatic to his counterpart in the Government of Marineland urging them to immediately cease and desist all oil and gas exploration and export from Orca Bay, until the two countries have had a chance to negotiate an agreement on how the oil and gas reserves in that bay are to be shared. By diplomatic note sent three days later, the foreign minister of Marineland restated his country's determination to continue to exploit those oil and gas reserves, claiming that all the disputed resources belong to the people of Marineland. On 12th of January 2022, a unit of the Konzanian Navy, supported by a large unit of air and naval forces from the Goodland Defence Force, attacked and defeated Marineland's military forces in Orca Bay, and seized total control all of Marineland's oil and gas rigs lying beyond twelve nautical miles from the baseline on Marineland's shore on Orca Bay. The following day, the Minister of Information of Marineland publicly alleged that Goodland's and Konzanian troops had used bombed a hospital ship that it had sent to treat and evacuate wounded oil and gas workers from the war zone. This minister also alleged that Marineland had found evidence of the use of biological weapons on its troops and oil workers by those same forces.
On the 14th,15th and 16th of January 2022, the UN Secretary-General held three ZOOM meetings with the foreign ministers of Konzania, Marineland and Goodland by the end of which all three countries agreed to immediately end the hostilities and share the oil and gas resources in Orca Bay equally between Konzania and Marineland. Each of these ZOOM meetings was video recorded. On the evening of 16th January 2022, the UN Secretary-General announced this agreement and declared that all the warring countries had assured him that the agreement, which he referred to as "the Memorandum of Peace" would be strictly respected, and had agreed that any breach of the Memorandum of Peace should be referred to the International Court of Justice.
Identify all the legal issues involved in this fact pattern and discuss the position of international law in relation to each of those issues. In the course of doing so, consider what viable international legal arguments and options are available to Goodland, Konzania, and Marineland.
Organize your answers either by issue-area or as they relate to each of the three countries.