IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/lawdev/v13y2020i1p1-29n4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the Borderline: Who Is a “Traditional Inhabitant” under the Torres Strait Treaty?

Author

Listed:
  • Corrin Jennifer

    (TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia)

Abstract

The Torres Strait Treaty between Australia and Papua New Guinea (“PNG”) came into force in 1985. This unique treaty, which defines the maritime, seabed and fisheries boundaries between Australia and PNG, is recognised as one of the most complex, but imaginative maritime delimitation solutions in existence. The Treaty creates a Protected Zone with a view to safeguarding the traditional way of life and livelihood of traditional inhabitants of the Torres Strait and adjacent coast of PNG. Traditional inhabitants are allowed relatively unrestricted cross-border movement into the Protected Zone for the purpose of performing traditional activities. “Traditional inhabitants” are defined by the treaty, but the relevant provision is ambiguous and the question of who is within the terms of the Treaty is highly contentious. The problem is exacerbated by the competing layers of law which govern the Strait and surrounding Borderlands, and by the dissonance between State law, customary laws, and the practical application of the Treaty. This paper looks at the meaning of “traditional inhabitants” and some of the other issues surrounding this question.

Suggested Citation

  • Corrin Jennifer, 2020. "On the Borderline: Who Is a “Traditional Inhabitant” under the Torres Strait Treaty?," The Law and Development Review, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 1-29, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:lawdev:v:13:y:2020:i:1:p:1-29:n:4
    DOI: 10.1515/ldr-2019-0002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/ldr-2019-0002
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/ldr-2019-0002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:lawdev:v:13:y:2020:i:1:p:1-29:n:4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.