International legal news mainly developments in litigation and arbitration, and sometimes my own updates
29 July 2020
COVID-19と国際法(8) 永住者・定住者の再入国制限措置と自由権規約上の「自国」に戻る権利
28 July 2020
COVID-19と国際法(7) 国連安全保障理事会が最初のCOVID-19関連決議を採択
24 July 2020
カタール航空、湾岸周辺4か国を相手取り国際投資仲裁申立て
11 July 2020
オランダ、MH17便撃墜事件につきロシアを相手取り欧州人権裁判所に国家間申立
04 July 2020
Enrica Lexie事件(イタリア対インド)仲裁判断の抜粋が公開
03 July 2020
南シナ海仲裁解説(3) 欠席手続と証明責任分配
1180. [...] China has been free to represent itself in these proceedings in the manner it considered most appropriate, including by refraining from any formal appearance, as it has in fact done. The decision of how best to represent China’s position is a matter for China, not the Tribunal. [...]
131. With respect to the duty to satisfy itself that the Philippines’ claims are well founded in fact and law, the Tribunal notes that Article 9 of Annex VII does not operate to change the burden of proof or to raise or lower the standard of proof normally expected of a party to make out its claims or defences. [...]
991. The Tribunal cannot make a definitive finding that China has prepared an environmental impact assessment, but nor can it definitely find that it has failed to do so in light of the repeated assertions by Chinese officials and scientists that China has undertaken thorough studies. Such a finding, however, is not necessary in order to find a breach of Article 206. To fulfil the obligations of Article 206, a State must not only prepare an EIA but also must communicate it. The Tribunal directly asked China for a copy of any EIA it had prepared; China did not provide one. While acknowledging that China is not participating in the arbitration, China has nevertheless found occasions and means to communicate statements by its own officials, or by others writing in line with China’s interests. Therefore had it wished to draw attention to the existence and content of an EIA, the Tribunal has no doubt it could have done so. [...] Accordingly, the Tribunal finds that China has not fulfilled its duties under Article 206 of the Convention.
南シナ海仲裁解説(2) 伝統的漁業権の証明方法
812. In the Tribunal’s view, it is not necessary to explore the limits on the protection due in customary international law to the acquired rights of individuals and communities engaged in traditional fishing. The Tribunal is satisfied that the complete prevention by China of fishing by Filipinos at Scarborough Shoal over significant periods of time after May 2012 is not compatible with the respect due under international law to the traditional fishing rights of Filipino fishermen. [...]
805. Based on the record before it, the Tribunal is of the view that Scarborough Shoal has been a traditional fishing ground for fishermen of many nationalities, including the Philippines, China (including from Taiwan), and Viet Nam. The stories of most of those who have fished at Scarborough Shoal in generations past have not been the subject of written records, and the Tribunal considers that traditional fishing rights constitute an area where matters of evidence should be approached with sensitivity. [...]
805. [...] That certain livelihoods have not been considered of interest to official record keepers or to the writers of history does not make them less important to those who practise them. With respect to Scarborough Shoal, the Tribunal accepts that the claims of both the Philippines and China to have traditionally fished at the shoal are accurate and advanced in good faith.
南シナ海仲裁解説(1) 海図の証拠価値
■海図の証拠価値
南シナ海の海洋地勢について、高潮時に水没してしまう低潮高地か、それとも水没しない「高潮地勢'high-tide features'」かを判断するに際して(この用語法は、仲裁判断のpara.280参照)、仲裁廷は、古い海図資料を重視する立場を一般論として示します。というのは、島も低潮高地も「自然に形成された陸地」であることが要件であるため(UNCLOS13条・121条1項)、自然状態を検討するためには、人工島建設や埋め立て工事が進められてしまった現在の姿ではなく、そうした中国の活動が行われる以前の状態を知る必要があるからであります。
327. Given the impossibility of direct, contemporary observation and the limitations on what can be achieved with remote sensing, the Tribunal considers that more convincing evidence concerning the status of features in the South China Sea is to be found in nautical charts, records of surveys, and sailing directions. Each of these sources, the Tribunal notes, represents a record of direct observation of the features at a past point in time. [...]
つまり、過去の海図が海洋地勢の性質決定に際して証拠価値を持つのは、それが過去の一定時点における作成者の直接的な知覚を表現するものであるからであり、ここから、海図の発行それ自体よりも、海図作成に至る調査活動がいつどのように行われたかを重視するアプローチが導かれるわけです。これに基づいて、具体的には、英国海軍および旧日本帝国軍が1930年代までに行った調査を重視するとの立場を示します(para. 329)。
■メディア報道の類推?
他方、フィリピン側弁護団はこれらに限らず、上記以外の国(フィリピン、中国、マレーシア、ヴェトナム・・・)が作成したとされる多くの海図を提出していました(Merits Hearing Day 2 Transcript p. 35)。しかし、仲裁廷はこれらを基本的には退けます。その理由は、それらの海図が、結局のところ英国および日本の海図のコピーに過ぎないとの判断によります。
330. The majority of the nautical charts of the South China Sea issued by different States, however, are to a greater or lesser extent copies of one another. Often, information is incorporated or outright copied from other, existing charts without express attribution. Where a chain of sources can be established, even very recent charts will often trace the majority of their data to British or Japanese surveys from the 1860s or 1930s. A more recently issued chart may, in fact, include little or no new information regarding a particular feature. Multiple charts depicting a feature in the same way do not, therefore, necessarily provide independent confirmation that this depiction accords with reality.
仲裁判断は特段先例を引用しておりませんが、この説示が念頭に置いているのは明らかに、無数のメディア報道は時として単一の情報源に帰着することがあり、その場合には、その元々の情報源しか証拠価値は持ちえないという、下記に掲げるICJニカラグア事件判決(1986年)の一節であります。
63. [...] The Court has however to show particular caution in this area. Widespread reports of a fact may prove on closer examination to derive from a single source, and such reports. however numerous, will in such case have no greater value as evidence than the original source. It is with this important reservation that the newspaper reports supplied to the Court should be examined in order to assess the facts of the case, and in particular to ascertain whether such facts were matters of public knowledge.