Gillian Triggs

International Frontiers and Boundaries: Law, Politics and Geography

Acknowledgements List of Illustrations 1. Introduction 2. Frontiers 3. The evolution of international boundaries 4. International boundary disputes 5. International Law and Territorial Boundaries 6. Maps as Evidence of Territorial Frontiers 7. River Boundaries and International Law 8. The Americas 9. The Middle East 10. Africa 11. Asia 12. Europe 13. Land boundaries on islands off Southeast Asia 14. Antarctica Annexes Illustrations Bibliograpy Legal Materials Table of Cases Table of International legal instruments Name index Subject index

8. The Americas

The boundaries, in the two continents, were produced by distinct processes and considered separately. This review suggests five conclusions. First the indigenous populations, that had established themselves in north, central and south America, played no significant role in fixing the international boundaries that divide the two continents. Second in North America, the early involvement of French and British colonists and administrators and Russian hunters, was overtaken by divisions between colonists seeking independence and British authorities maintaining control over Canada. Third in Central and much of South America, Spanish authorities and colonists overcame the indigenous population and the difficult terrain to establish several large colonies. Fourth in the beginning and medium term, the Portuguese seemed more successful than any of the other European invaders by spreading widely throughout the Amazon Basin. Finally it is clear that throughout the Americas the European colonists played the dominant role in fixing the international boundaries.Keywords: colonists; continents; European colonists; independence; indigenous populations; international boundaries; The Americas

13. Land Boundaries on Islands off Southeast Asia

Geography and the colonial policies of various maritime powers combined to give the history of international land boundaries on islands off Southeast Asia two distinct qualities. First there are only five land boundaries throughout this extensive zone and Indonesia is concerned with four of them. Second the procedures that resulted in the present divisions were appropriate to the ocean that Magellan called Pacific. Four of the boundaries were associated with the Netherlands East Indies that was established before the colonisation of Australia and the islands of the southwest Pacific Ocean and involved negotiations with Portugal or Britain. The boundary separating Indonesia and Papua New Guinea lies close to the limit of Dutch annexations in the first half of the 19th century.Keywords: Borneo; boundaries; Guinea; Indonesia; Southeast Asia; Timor

Public International Law: Is It Fit For Purpose?

This paper by Professor Gillian Triggs seeks to explore whether the traditional principles of public international law are ‘fit for purpose’ in responding to such contemporary threats to collective security by reference to three issues: the regulation of the use of force; the need to balance the sovereign rights of states with humanitarian concerns; and the relationship between human rights and the orthodox rules applicable to prisoners of war and security detainees.

Proposed Timor Sea Arrangements between Australia and the East Timor Transitional Administration

On 5 July 2001, the East Timor Transitional Administration and the Australian Government agreed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the ‘Timor Sea Arrangement’. The Timor Sea Arrangement is merely annexed to the MOU as ‘suitable for adoption… upon East Timors independence’. This article sets out the most striking features of the Timor Sea Arrangement and considers the current litigation in the Federal Court of Australia against Phillips Petroleum for compensation for the alleged expropriation of a concession in the Timor Gap granted by Portugal in 1974.