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If rising seas render small islands uninhabitable, will displaced islanders become stateless? The modern intellectual and legal tradition tells us that states must have defined, habitable territory. If so, small islands will cease to be states, and their inhabitants will accordingly become stateless. Against this, leading scholars have recently argued that the principle of presumption of continuity of state existence implies that island states continue to be states even after becoming uninhabitable. We argue to the contrary: the principle of presumption of continuity of state existence implies no such thing. If nothing is done to prevent the loss of their territory, small islands will lose their statehood, making displaced islanders stateless.
these ‘sinking’ states to preserve sovereignty under international law: the construction of artificial islands, the acquisition of land within another state, and the resettlement of populations. Hence, this special issue encompasses various legal aspects of climate change: state liability for climate
Kiribati and Tuvalu, two independent small Island States in the South Pacific, that have become emblematic of the so-called “sinking States” and “climate refugee” phenomena. In fact, the disappearance of these islands on account of rising sea levels caused by global warming offers the author the
–191. 29 Derek Wong, ‘Sovereignty Sunk? The Position of “Sinking States” at International Law’, Melbourne Journal of International Law , vol. 14, 2013, 346–391. 30 Other notable contributions to the literature include, from the pages of this journal, Maxine Burkett, ‘The Nation Ex-Situ: On Climate
as the legal impli- cations for people fleeing sudden-onset disasters, slow-onset disasters, climate-change-related violence and conflict, and designated areas of high risk such as sinking states. McAdam, in her 610 Book reviews chapter, focuses on Pacific island states and the legal implications of
; and Derek Wong, ‘Sovereignty Sunk? The Position of ‘Sinking States’ at International Law’, Melbourne Journal of International Law, vol. 14 (2013), 346–391, 360. 35 Conveying an awareness of how approximations to the concept of State tend to be incom- plete, Charles Rousseau borrowed the words of
University Press, 2013 ; Gregory E. Wannier and Michael B. Gerrard, “Disappearing States : Harnessing International Law to Preserve Cultures and Society”, in Ruppel, Roschmann and Ruppel-Schlichting (eds.), op. cit., p. 615 ; Derek Wong, “Sovereignty Sunk – The Position of Sinking States at Inter
’) and the Holy See. D Wong, ‘Sovereignty Sunk: The Position of Sinking States at International Law’ (2013) 14 Melbourne Journal of International Law 346, 356–358. 52 D Raic, Statehood and the Law of Self-Determination (Kluwer, 2002) 32. 53 Crawford, above (n 1), 19. 54 L Oppenheim
approach with considerable caution”. Authors, who argue that there is in international law a “presumption of continuity of statehood”, include, for instance, D. Wong, “Sovereignty Sunk? The Position of Sinking States at International Law”, (2013) 14 Melbourne Journal of International Law , 362. 7
Statehood’, Sydney Law School Research Paper No. 11/59, p. 7. 22 Derek Wong, ‘Sovereignty Sunk? The Position of Sinking States at International Law’, Melbourne Journal of International Law , 14: 346–391 (2013), p. 384. 23 Re Duchy of Sealand (Administrative Court of Cologne) (1978) 80 ilr 683. 24