Vice presidents in charge of women`s affairs have generally been more protective of women`s rights and have advocated for a legal age limit for child marriage, but Khazali, the daughter of an ayatollah, apparently follows the ideology of most Muslim clerics in Iran, who do not believe marriage should be banned for girls under the age of 13. Until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the legal status of the Caspian Sea was governed by a series of Soviet-Iranian treaties concluded in the first half of the twentieth century. After the disintegration of the USSR and the resulting creation of four new sovereign coastal states, questions quickly arose about the legal nature of the Caspian Sea. Solving this question is crucial to determining how to divide the large amounts of natural resources it contains. 1. The Depositary shall notify the Contracting Parties of the date of submission of each instrument of ratification, the date of entry into force of the Convention and the date of entry into force of amendments and additions to the Convention. Finally, I would like to say that, while the Convention helps pave the way for the development of important pipelines and infrastructure, it does not address all the legal issues related to the exploitation of natural resources and the demarcation of the seabed is still not resolved. It remains to be seen whether the deal will actually lead to increased investment in pipelines in the Caspian Sea region. Since the Convention is currently awaiting ratification, a significant indicator of each Party`s commitment will be the time it takes for Parties to deposit their instruments of ratification with the Republic of Kazakhstan (as depositary under Article 22). The convention has been in the works for decades, but it will not change the region`s energy outlook. In view of the changes and processes that have taken place in the Caspian Sea region at the geopolitical and national levels, the existing agreements between the parties and, in this regard, the need to strengthen the legal order of the Caspian Sea, this Convention must be ratified. The instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Republic of Kazakhstan as depositary of the Convention.
This Convention shall enter into force on the date of receipt by the Depositary of the fifth instrument of ratification. The signing of the convention highlighted the growing cooperation in Central Asia and throughout the Caspian Sea. The cooperation of the Parties in the Caspian Sea with natural and legal persons of States that are not Parties to this Convention and with international organizations shall be compatible with this Convention. The Convention also allows riparian States to conclude their own bilateral agreements beyond their maritime borders. One of the most vocal critics of the caspian Sea`s new legal regime is Prince Reza Pahlavi, the heir to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, whose reign ended with the anti-Western Islamic revolution of 1979. Article 14 of the Convention also allows coastal States to construct oil and gas pipelines on the seabed through bilateral treaties, provided that they meet environmental standards. Due to the presence of numerous oil fields on the seabed of the Caspian Sea, the question of legal status was very important; Some countries have even tried to develop fields in disputed areas, which has almost led to military incidents. [3] The Convention grants each neighbouring country jurisdiction over 24 km (15 miles) of territorial waters, as well as an additional 16 km (10 miles) of exclusive surface fishing rights, while the rest are international waters. [4] The Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea is a treaty signed at the Fifth Caspian Sea Summit in Aktau, Kazakhstan, on August 12, 2018 by the Presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan. [1] Russia and other coastal countries hope that ratification of the Convention will pave the way for more energy exploration projects and pipelines. Overall, states with longer coasts advocated categorizing the Caspian Sea as a “sea,” while those with shorter coasts favored categorization as a “lake.” If the Caspian Sea is classified as a “lake”, customary international law would apply to border lakes, with legal agreements between adjacent states governing the use of water.
Such a proposal proposes an equal distribution of the Caspian Sea among the five riparian states, each controlling a 20% share. But the signing of the convention has sparked a number of criticisms among Iranians. Many on social media have complained about what they see as Iran`s unfair share in the Caspian Sea. During the Soviet Union, Iran held a 50% share of the Caspian Sea, as only two states bordered the world`s largest inland seawater. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, three new post-Soviet states were born, demanding their share of the sea, in addition to Russia, which took over the legal rights of the Soviet Union. Many Iranians look suspiciously at Russian President Putin`s speech at the party congress, in which he insisted that the new deal would replace the old treaties between Tehran and Moscow. Supporters of Prince Reza have launched a social media campaign against the new legal regime (convention). In order to elaborate a convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, an ad hoc working group at the level of Deputy Foreign Ministers was established by the Caspian Sea States in 1996. Negotiations on the document lasted more than 20 years before it was signed by the heads of state of five Caspian Sea states at the summit in Kazakhstan on August 12, 2018. During the years of adoption of the Convention (1996-2018), the parties held 51 meetings of ad hoc working groups, more than ten meetings of foreign ministers and four presidential summits in Ashgabat in 2002, Tehran in 2007, Baku in 2010 and Astrakhan in 2014. The Convention helps to solve this problem by granting the Caspian Sea a new “special legal status”.
It provides that each Party shall have exclusive control of an area extending up to 15 nautical miles from its coast for mineral and energy exploration and another ten miles for fishing. The rest of the territory must be divided jointly until negotiations continue. One of the greatest achievements of the Convention is the progress of the construction of subsea pipelines.1 Article 14(3) of the Convention confirms that a gas pipeline route requires agreement only between the countries through which the pipeline passes. This represents a positive deviation from the previous status quo as it is not clear which countries had licensing rights for submarine pipelines, given that Turkmenistan and Iran are not parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The agreement is positive for Serdar/Kapaz, which contains several hundred million barrels of resources. But the necessary political solution is still a long way off. The agreement has helped to overcome an important legal hurdle and provide a significant and important basis for future negotiations, but potentially complex issues still need to be clarified (e.B demonstrating cost competitiveness is crucial). The cost of transporting natural gas from Turkmenistan to Europe remains a challenge, especially since Turkmen gas will not find demand in either Azerbaijan or Turkey. It should therefore be transported along the entire route of the South Caucasus Gas Pipeline (SCP), the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) to eventually reach a viable market. Although the Convention has provided a framework for future bilateral talks, border demarcation and territorial ownership still need to be clarified. The prince also questioned lawmakers` “silence” over the new Caspian Sea Convention, which he said has undermined Iran`s interests and rights.
The Convention should help pave the way for the development of the above abridged tcp protocol. If the TCP is built, it will transport up to 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas from the east coast of the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan before being transported further to Europe. While the agreement removes some of the legal hurdles to the construction of the pipeline, significant business and policy challenges remain. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the coastal states of the Caspian Sea began negotiations on the legal status of the sea. But major divisions between these countries have led to a stalemate and prevented the sharing of the sea`s rich hydrocarbon resources. “On the basis of consensus and consideration of our common interests, we have created a modern and balanced international agreement. The convention will replace the Soviet-Iranian agreements of 1921 and 1940,” Putin said immediately after the signing of the new convention in Aktau. .
