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International Watercourses: Between the Division and the Border Unit

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Frontiers – Law, Theory and Cases

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Abstract

It is important to show that frontiers are not just set by land borders but also by watercourses. This takes relevance when rivers run between States without regard to the territorial delimitation. For that reason, it is important to show how this inevitable change in the course of the waters must be analyzed from a political, geographical, and economic perspective. With this purpose, this chapter will show a theoretical axis about watercourses, how international law interferes with this theme, its prohibitions, some cases about the legal protection to the watercourses and the human right to water before the watercourses; conclusions will be given at the end.

This chapter is the result of the research project entitled Contemporary Challenges for the Protection of Human Rights in Post-Conflict Scenarios from Interdisciplinary Approaches developed with the groups Person, Institutions and Demands for Justice and Phronesis, linked to the Socio-Legal Research Center (CISJUC) at the Faculty of Law of Universidad Católica de Colombia, in Bogotá.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Instituto Iberoamericano de Derecho Comparado (1920).

  2. 2.

    The European Parliament and The Council of the European Union (2000).

  3. 3.

    General Assembly of the United Nations (1997), p. 20.

  4. 4.

    The Economic and Social Council created the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in 1947. It is one of the five regional commissions of the United Nations. The main objective of the UNECE is to promote pan-European economic integration. To do this, it brings together 56 countries within the European Union, and some outside of it. All of these countries participate in dialogue and cooperation on economic and sectoral issues. However, all interested States members of the United Nations may participate in the work of UNECE. More than 70 international professional organizations and other non-governmental organizations participate in its activities.

  5. 5.

    Torres (2000), p. 229.

  6. 6.

    Economic Commission for Europe (1992), art.spiepr146 1.

  7. 7.

    Economic Commission for Europe (1992).

  8. 8.

    Castillo (1999), p. 129.

  9. 9.

    McCaffrey (2009), pp. 1–4.

  10. 10.

    General Assembly of the United Nations (1971), p. 217.

  11. 11.

    Maghfour (2008), p. 219.

  12. 12.

    United Nations (2008), p. 468.

  13. 13.

    McIntyre (2007), p. 51.

  14. 14.

    United Nations General Assembly (1997), art. 1.

  15. 15.

    Ibid., arts. 5–10.

  16. 16.

    McIntyre (2007), p. 156.

  17. 17.

    McCaffrey (2009), p. 1.

  18. 18.

    Maghfour (2008), p. 218.

  19. 19.

    McCaffrey (2009), p. 2.

  20. 20.

    Ibid., p. 2.

  21. 21.

    Maghfour (2008), p. 218.

  22. 22.

    Sereno Rosado (2014), p. 823.

  23. 23.

    Ibid.

  24. 24.

    Ibid., p. 817, 813.

  25. 25.

    Ibid., p. 817.

  26. 26.

    Ibid., p. 817.

  27. 27.

    See state of ratifications in https://treaties.un.org/Pages/showDetails.aspx?objid=0800000280025697.

  28. 28.

    The New York Convention in its third article, numerals 2 and 3 states that its provisions will not affect rights or obligations contained in previous agreements entered by the States. However, it warns that if the parties agree, they may harmonize its standards, or complete future agreements adapted to its provisions.

  29. 29.

    Maghfour (2008), p. 223.

  30. 30.

    United Nations (2003a), p. 450.

  31. 31.

    Organization pour la Mise en Valeur du Fleuve Senegal.

  32. 32.

    Author’s translation. Niasse (2004), pp. 27–28.

  33. 33.

    Kabunda (2008), p. 5.

  34. 34.

    Diagne (2004), p. 172.

  35. 35.

    Ibid.

  36. 36.

    Author’s translation. Niasse (2004), pp. 27–28.

  37. 37.

    Organization pour la Mise en Valeur du Fleuve Senegal, http://www.portail-omvs.org/presentation/cadrejuridique/conventions-base. (own translation).

  38. 38.

    Organization pour la Mise en Valeur du Fleuve Senegal, http://www.portail-omvs.org/presentation/cadre-juridique/charte-deseaux. (own translation).

  39. 39.

    Diagne (2004), p. 173.

  40. 40.

    Organization pour la Mise en Valeur du Fleuve Senegal, http://www.portail-omvs.org/presentation/cadre-juridique/traitedadhesion-guinee.

  41. 41.

    Nile Basin Initiative (2012), p. 12.

  42. 42.

    Klare (2003), p. 352.

  43. 43.

    During the time of colonization, the Nile was in the zone of influence of Great Britain, which watched zealously to maintain its presence in the area. This constant concern resulted in the signing of a series of agreements between 1890 and 1949 with Germany (July 1, 1890), Italy (April 15, 1891 and December 13, 1906), Belgium (May 12, 1894 and May 9, 1906), France (December 13, 1906), Ethiopia (May 15, 1902), and Egypt (May 7, 1929 and May 31, 1949). Tarek Majzoub, “Management of Shared Water Basins (Conflict versus Cooperation). Case study: the Nile basin.” Anuari IEMed de la Mediterrània, No. 5, (2008): 144.

  44. 44.

    Majzoub (2008), pp. 145–147.

  45. 45.

    Nile Basin Initiative (n.d.).

  46. 46.

    Suárez (2013), p. 18.

  47. 47.

    Nile Basin Initiative (n.d.).

  48. 48.

    Majzoub (2008), p. 143.

  49. 49.

    Organization of American States (n.d.).

  50. 50.

    Ibid.

  51. 51.

    Treaty between the Government of the United Mexican States and the Government of the United States of America of the distribution of the international waters of the Colorado, Tijuana and Bravo Rivers, from Fort Quitman, Texas, to the Gulf of Mexico (1944), art. 24.

  52. 52.

    Ibid. Article. 4. In cases of extraordinary drought or serious mishap in the hydraulic systems of the Mexican affluents, which make it difficult for Mexico to drain the 431,721,000 cubic meters (350,000 acres per year) that are assigned to the United States as a minimum contribution of the mentioned Mexican tributaries, in section c of paragraph B of this article, the shortages that exist at the end of the cycle referred to in 5 years will be replaced in the following cycle with water from the same tributaries.

  53. 53.

    Aguilar (2006), p. 285.

  54. 54.

    Sánchez (2004), p. 177.

  55. 55.

    Treaty between the Government of the United Mexican States and the Government of the United States of America of the distribution of the international waters of the Colorado, Tijuana and Bravo Rivers, from Fort Quitman, Texas, to the Gulf of Mexico. Op. Cit., arts. 3–9.

  56. 56.

    Ibid., arts 3–17.

  57. 57.

    Aguilar (2006), p. 285.

  58. 58.

    Organization of American States, Op. Cit.

  59. 59.

    Aguilar (2006), p. 289.

  60. 60.

    Hashimoto (2001), p. 6.

  61. 61.

    Among the most bitter enemies who have negotiated legal agreements to share water (…) Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, supported by the United Nations, have been able to cooperate since 1957 in the Framework of the Mekong River Commission, formerly known as the Committee of the Mekong, and they maintained technical exchanges during the Vietnam War. López (2009), p. 99.

  62. 62.

    Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin, Chiang Rai, Thailand, 1995.

  63. 63.

    Ibid., arts 11–42.

  64. 64.

    Zingari and Achouri (2007), p. 57.

  65. 65.

    Bearden (2010), p. 798.

  66. 66.

    Fierro González (2007), p. 158.

  67. 67.

    Campins (2009), p. 4.

  68. 68.

    Author’s translation. Agreement between the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan on cooperation in interstate sources water resources use and protection common management. Almaty, Kazajistán, 1992. Articles 1, 3, 4, 5, and 8.

  69. 69.

    Author’s translation. Agreement between the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan on co-operation in interstate sources’ water resources use and protection common management. art. 4.

  70. 70.

    Cabrejos (2005), p. 11.

  71. 71.

    Campins (2009).

  72. 72.

    Cabrejos (2005), p. 16.

  73. 73.

    United Nations (2010), p. 3.

  74. 74.

    United Nations (2003b).

  75. 75.

    Del Castillo (2013), p. 6.

  76. 76.

    Utrera (2014), p. 50.

  77. 77.

    Iñigo (2011) p. 244.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Law, Universidad Católica de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia

    Dayana Becerra

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  1. Dayana Becerra
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Law, Universidad Católica de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia

    Dimitri Endrizzi

  2. Faculty of Law, Universidad Católica de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia

    Jairo Becerra

  3. Faculty of Law, Universidad Católica de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia

    Eduardo Andrés Perafán Del Campo

  4. Faculty of Law, Universidad Católica de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia

    Jaime Cubides Cárdenas

  5. Faculty of Law, Universidad Católica de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia

    Laura Cecilia Gamarra-Amaya

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Becerra, D. (2023). International Watercourses: Between the Division and the Border Unit. In: Endrizzi, D., Becerra, J., Del Campo, E.A.P., Cubides Cárdenas, J., Gamarra-Amaya, L.C. (eds) Frontiers – Law, Theory and Cases. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13607-8_6

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