Freedom Of Transit Under International Law: Reflections On 100 Years Of The Barcelona Convention

Dr Fazil Jamal, Assistant Professor of International Law, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi-110067

ABSTRACT

Every day human life in our world is facilitated by the movement of goods and people across borders. Thanks to the 1921 Barcelona Convention and Statute on Freedom of Transit and associated normative instruments over the last century, the concept of freedom of transit is firmly embedded in the doctrinal consciousness of international law in a number of its sub-fields such as international air law, law of the sea and international trade law. Yet, in a world of sovereign States, the freedom of transit through a State is a limited and specified right; a negotiated right available in defined contexts. The international community today is far more interconnected than at any point of time in history, with the criss-crossing of not just goods and people as in olden times, but also permanent installations such as high voltage power transmission cables and international energy pipelines. As the international community marks the centenary of the Barcelona Convention, this paper seeks to map the conceptual basis and historical trajectory of the development of freedom of transit through international legal instruments over the last century, and also explores contemporary challenges in the arena of transit, and reviews the prospects of a new multilateral treaty on transit of energy goods via international pipelines.

Keywords: freedom of transit, international law, Barcelona Convention, energy transit, pipelines, land-locked states, law of the sea