By: Alex Oude Elferink
PDF Version: The Arctic Sunrise Incident and the International Law of the Sea
Decision commented on: The “Arctic Sunrise” Case (Kingdom of the Netherlands v Russian Federation, Request for the prescription of provisional measures, Order of 22 November 2013.
The Arctic in recent years has been the scene of increased efforts to exploit offshore oil and gas resources. All Arctic coastal states – Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Norway, the Russian Federation and the United States have been granting oil companies licenses to operate in their Arctic waters. The risk oil spill incidents pose to the fragile Arctic ecosystem has led to strong opposition to these activities from environmentalists. For instance, both the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Greenpeace International have called for a moratorium on offshore activities. Greenpeace International in this connection has been targeting the activities of oil companies in Arctic waters. On 18 September 2013, during one of these actions involving the vessel Arctic Sunrise Greenpeace activists tried to access the Prirazlomnaya oil rig, which was operating within the Russian Federation‟s exclusive economic zone in the Pechora Sea between the Russian mainland and Novaya Zemlya. The following day the Russian authorities boarded and arrested the Arctic Sunrise vessel and detained its crew. The vessel and crew were subsequently transferred to the Russian port of Murmansk and the crew was charged with various offenses.