We, the Indonesia Ocean Justice Initiative, learned that the CCG 5901, the biggest ship of the CCG, was maneuvering in the North Natuna Sea close to the Tuna Block from Dec. 30, 2022 to Jan. 10, 2023. One could argue that this movement by the CCG was merely exercising its right to navigate freely in the EEZ of another state.

However, careful examination of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) shows us a different line of argument.

UNCLOS stipulates that ship of all states enjoy the right to sail in the EEZ of another state.

However, it was never the drafters’ intention to place no limitations on this freedom of navigation.

First, navigation means sailing in a particular direction, not the right to sail back and forth and stop for no reason in the vicinity of a coastal state’s vital offshore project located within that state’s EEZ.

Legally speaking, it is true that unlike innocent passage and transit passage, UNCLOS is silent on the meaning of the freedom of navigation. In the absence of textual clarity, interpretations might come into play.

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