INTERNATIONAL WATERWAYS
Narrow channels of marginal sea or inland waters through which international shipping has a right of passage.
In INTERNATIONAL LAW, international water-
ways are straits, canals, and rivers that connect
two areas of the high seas or enable ocean ship-
ping to reach interior ports on international seas,
gulfs, or lakes that otherwise would be land-
locked. International waterways also may be
rivers that serve as international boundaries or
traverse successively two or more states. Ships
have a right of passage through international
waterways. This right is based on customary
international law and treaty arrangements.
Straits
Some straits are more important than others
because they are the sole connecting links
between oceans and interior waters. For exam-
ple, the Strait of Gibraltar gives access from the
Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean and
Aegean Seas. Other straits are not as important.
The availability of alternate routes does not in
itself deprive a strait of its character as an inter-
national waterway. In the Corfu Channel case,
1949 I.C.J. 4, 1949 WL 1 (I.C.J.), the INTERNA-
TIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE rejected the test of
essentiality as the only route, ruling that “the
decisive criterion is rather [the strait’s] geo-
graphic situation as connecting two parts of the
high seas and the fact of its being used for inter-
national navigation.”
The 1958 GENEVA CONVENTION on the Ter-
ritorial Sea and Contiguous Zone (516 U.N.T.S.
205, 15 U.S.T. 1606, T.I.A.S. No. 5639) does not
deal comprehensively with international water-
ways, but does provide that “[t]here shall be no
suspension of innocent passage of foreign ships
through straits which are used for international
navigation between one part of the high seas
and another part of the high seas or the territo-
rial sea of a foreign state” (art. 16, § 4). A terri-
torial sea is the water that comes under the
sovereign control of a state.
A coastal state has somewhat greater control
of innocent passage through its territorial seas
than of innocent passage through a strait joining
two areas of high seas. Passage may be sus-
pended through TERRITORIAL WATERS when
essential for security. This means that warships
are free to pass through straits but may be
denied access to territorial seas.
Since the 1960s a great majority of coastal
states have extended their claims on territorial
seas from three miles to 12 miles from the low-
water mark, some even farther. This change has
been a matter of concern to the U.S. govern-
ment, as a 12-mile limit converts 121 straits to
territorial seas, some of which have strategic
military importance.
Canals
With respect to international marine traffic,
canals joining areas of the high seas or waters
leading to them are geographically in the same
position as straits. However, the significant
canals have been constructed in accordance with
international treaties or later placed under con-
ventional legal regimes. The Suez Canal, located
in Egypt, and the Panama Canal are the two most
important canals in international commerce.
The United States played the major role in
the construction of the Panama Canal, which
joins the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans across the
Isthmus of Panama. The canal is over 40 miles
long and has a minimum width of three hun-
dred feet.
In 1903, after several European-financed
efforts to build a canal across the isthmus had
failed, the U.S. government negotiated the Hay-
Bunau-Varilla Treaty (T.S. No. 431, 33 Stat.
2234, 10 Bevans 663). Under this treaty the
United States guaranteed the independence of
Panama (which had just broken away from
Colombia) and secured a perpetual lease on a
ten-mile strip for the canal. Panama was to
receive an initial payment of $10 million and an
ANNUITY of $250,000, beginning in 1913.
In 1906, President THEODORE ROOSEVELT
directed construction of the canal to begin
under the supervision of the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers. The Panama Canal was completed in
1914 and officially opened by President
WOODROW WILSON on July 12, 1920.
The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty stated that
the canal was to be neutralized and free and
open to vessels of commerce and war on terms
of equality, and without discrimination as to
tolls or conditions of passage. However, it did
