Act of State Doctrine in the Antipodes: The Intersection of National and International Law in Naval Constabulary Operations

Abstract

The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) have been stopping and boarding vessels in the Arabian Gulf intermittently since 1990 to enforce United Nations (UN) Security Council resolutions. 1 Such operations are a type of naval constabulary operation. Naval constabulary operations are coercive operations for a national or international law enforcement purpose and are a significant part of each navy's contribution to New Zealand and Australian maritime security." They are quite distinct from the conduct of naval warfare. In the international law of the sea, the right of a state to enforce UN Security Council resolutions, or national laws, balances against the rights afforded to states by the 1982 'United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea' (LOSC) to have their vessels exercise innocent passage in territorial seas and freedom of navigation" in international waters.