4.4 Rights of Landlocked States

The shelf itself: no direct share (the coastal state's inherent rights) — the landlocked states' interest protected indirectly: the Area's benefit-sharing (the common heritage's benefits distributed through the ISA — the landlocked's participation in the ISA's organs); the EEZ's surplus participation (Unit 5.4 — the living resources' access); the access-and-transit regime (Unit 7 — the sea's reach); the technology-and-research faces (the marine research's participation). Nepal's position (the course's theme): the landlocked state's shelf-era strategy — the common-heritage's dividend, the transit's rights, the rivers' own resources (Units 9-10) as the landlocked's "sea". Exam Focus Long questions: (i) The shelf's concept and the inherent-rights doctrine (the banker); (ii) The shelf's definition under UNCLOS (the margin's craft — 200 minimum, 350 maximum). Short questions: the Truman Proclamation; the sedentary species; the CLCS; the Area's boundary. Trick areas: (i) The shelf's rights are INHERENT — no proclamation needed (the "claim- and-occupy" error); (ii) The rights cover the SEABED's resources ONLY — the waters above are the EEZ's/high seas'; (iii) 200 NM is the MINIMUM (where the margin is shorter), 350 the MAXIMUM — the definition's two ends; (iv) The shelf ≠ the Area — the Area (the deep seabed beyond the national shelves) = the COMMON HERITAGE.