The Right of Innocent Passage in Territorial Waters and National Security Considerations: An Analysis of the Scope and Limits of Coastal State Criminal Jurisdiction under the International Law of the Sea

The right of innocent passage is one of the fundamental principles of the international law of the sea, allowing foreign vessels to pass through a coastal state's territorial waters without disturbing its security or order. At the same time, the coastal state may intervene under certain conditions for security or criminal reasons during such passage. The key question is what the limits and conditions are for exercising this criminal jurisdiction and under what circumstances the coastal state can, based on national security considerations, prevent passage or take action against crimes committed during the passage. This article, relying on the ۱۹۸۲ United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), international practice, and legal scholarship, examines the balance between freedom of passage and the coastal state's right to exercise criminal jurisdiction. The article concludes that although the right of innocent passage is a widely accepted rule in international law, it is not absolute and is subject to limitations in light of legitimate security and criminal concerns of the coastal state.

کلیدواژه ها:

Right of innocent passage ، territorial waters ، criminal jurisdiction ، coastal state ، law of the sea ، national security