Territorial Waters

All countries bordering the ocean and other large, natural bodies of water should be entitled to own and claim territorial waters up to 100 kilometers from their shores.

If there are bays or gulfs or other such bodies of water where their entrances are narrower than 200 kilometers, then the boundary should be drawn in the middle of the passage halfway between the two shores.

Countries with shorelines along straights or entirely inside bays or gulfs or other such bodies of water but with no territorial water directly connected to international waters, should be given the right to access international waters by establishing a semi-international corridor through the middle of the passageway with a width of no less than 4 kilometers to be jointly managed exclusively by the countries from which the waters in this corridor were taken and the country for which this corridor was created. None of these countries would be able to veto the other from using this waterway. If the narrowest point between dry land along this passageway is less than 10 kilometers wide, the international passage at that point should be 2 kilometers wide, and if the straight it is between 2 and 5 kilometers wide, the international passage should be 1 kilometer wide. If the natural passage at its narrowest point is less than two kilometers wide, then there should be no special jointly managed corridor and any country on the inside of the bay or gulf would be considered landlocked and would need to seek permission from either of the countries owning the territorial waters in order to pass through the passage. Furthermore, if the width of the passage is less than 2 kilometers wide, the country or countries bordering this passage should not be required to yield anything less than 100 kilometers of territorial waters to any ‘landlocked’ third country. International waters should never be closer than one kilometer from land above sea level at its lowest natural tide.

If bays, gulfs or other bodies of water with entrances narrower than 200 kilometers but with pockets inside which are farther than 100 kilometers from the nearest land, and if the land around the bay or gulf is surrounded entirely by only one country, then that same country can claim the entire bay or gulf as its own sovereign territory. If two countries surround the same type of bay or gulf, then the entire bay should be divided proportionately between the two countries according to their shorelines.

Manmade canals should not be forced into being classified as international waterways against the will of the canal’s owners because they are artificial waterways and usually too narrow. However, special treaties could be entered into voluntarily permitting passage through such waterways (either for a fee or for free) to countries which would otherwise be landlocked.

Territorial Airspace

Every country should be entitled to the full, sovereign control of all airspace located over its territory, including over its territorial waters, up to a height of 100 kilometers above sea level. Airspace above this altitude should be open to everyone.