The Case Concerning the Nagean Sea

The Jessup 2025 Problem presented the following issues: (1) the rights and obligations of other members of the international community when two persons claim to be the legitimate president of a state; (2) invocation of immunity for government officials accused of grave violations of human rights; (3) the legal consequences of receding coastlines for the maritime zones of coastal states; and (4) the interpretation of the compromissory clause in a treaty creating a regional organization.

The parties to the dispute were the Union of Ambrosia and the Republic of Rovinia, the northernmost and southernmost of seven states of the Paine Peninsula. Both Ambrosia and Rovinia have large fishing industries, accounting for 20 percent and 40 percent of GDP respectively. Ambrosia has a long coastline facing the Nagean Sea and most of the territory is no more than ten meters above sea level. Most of Rovinia’s territory is several hundred meters above sea level.

Ambrosia’s President Derey began a law enforcement campaign in 2013 and his minister of the interior, Gertrude Cross, launched the “Implementing the Law for a Safer Ambrosia” (ILSA) program.

All seven states of the Paine Peninsula formed a regional body, the Organization for Cooperation and Development in the Paine (ODCP), originally the idea of Ambrosia’s President Derey to combat drug trafficking and organized crime. The purposes of the OCDP were broadened to include protecting the rule of law, coordination in managing natural resources, respecting maritime rights and protecting inhabitants from natural catastrophes. The OCDP Charter also included a compromissory clause referring disputes between member states to the International Court of Justice, but excluding matters “essentially” within a member state’s jurisdiction. The OCDP Charter entered into force on March 17, 2016, with the compromissory clause effective five years after the OCDP Charter (i.e., March 17, 2021).

To combat the effects of sea-level rise, Ambrosia passed a Baseline Freezing Law in 2015 fixing its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) at the line at which it existed on November 1, 2015. Subsequently all other states in the Paine Peninsula except Rovinia adopted freezing laws. After a second state of the Peninsula adopted such a law, Rovinia began objecting and blocked all resolutions in OCDP meetings on the subject.

In 2018, oceanographers from the Ambrosian Institute of Science noted that due to global warming, water currents caused high concentrations of tuna on the Trioton Shoal, a fully immersed seamount. When research started in 2013, the Shoal, parts of which were within 200 nautical miles of the Ambrosian coast, were not of commercial significance, but by 2018 if baselines were measured at the actual low-water mark, all of the Triton Shoal would have been outside Ambrosia’s EEZ. In July 2018, Rovinia began issuing fishing permits for tuna in the entire Shoal, which it considered to be in the high seas. Ambrosia protested the issuing of the licenses.

Shortly after President Derey was elected to a second term of office, he suffered a hemorrhagic stroke in April 2022 and ended up in a coma in the Philippines. His vice president, Mary Zavala, assumed office under the Ambrosian Constitution.

A Canadian NGO, Human Rights International (HRI) published a report in August 2022 alleging that between June 2017 and July 2020, more than 150 Ambrosian citizens were abducted and held in an undisclosed location in Ambrosia without charges. A criminal investigation was launched in September by the Ambrosian prosecutor general. It concluded in January 2023 and resulted in charges against five police officers for kidnapping. Insufficient evidence against Ms. Cross was cited by the prosecutor. In the interim, Ms. Cross moved to Rovinia on a long-term visitor visa with her family.

In February 2023, a hurricane decimated an Ambrosian fishing village, Dovilina, while Acting President Zavala was out of the country. She refused to sign a Reconstruction Bill, leading to discontent. Rooney Piretis, a member of Ambrosia’s National Assembly for the hurricane hit district led a team of senior members of the National Assembly, several ministers who resigned and three military officers and formed a Transitional Council.

On her way back to Ambrosia, Ms. Zavala had her governmental plane, The Falcon, diverted to Rovinia due to the volatile situation. The Falcon was impounded by Rovinian police officers pursuant to a court order in a proceeding captioned O’Mander Corp. v. Union of Ambrosia, a contract dispute that had been ongoing since July 2016. Ms. Zavala declared the plane had immunity, while Ms. Piretis waived its immunity. The judge requested guidance from the Rovinian Foreign Ministry as to who had authority to speak for Ambrosia in the matter.

After demonstrators engaged in violent clashes with the police, the Transitional Council controlled all parts of Ambrosia. By June 2023, fifteen states continued to recognize Ms. Zavala as acting president and twenty-five states recognized the Transitional Council. The Rovinian Foreign Ministry recognized the Transitional Council and the court ordered the seizure and sale of The Falcon.

After new evidence came to light, HRI updated its report on ILSA in June 2023, implicating Ms. Cross in the abductions and claiming the prosecutor general had access to some of the evidence.

President Derey awoke from his coma in September 2023, and after rehabilitation, returned to Ambrosia in December. While proclaiming the Transitional Council’s assumption of power unconstitutional, he granted pardons to Zavala and all members of the Transitional Council.

On May 1, 2024, Rovinia’s general prosecutor filed a complaint against Ms. Cross for “enforced disappearance,” incorporated into the Rovinian Criminal Code and allowing prosecution wherever the acts may have occurred. Ms. Cross was taken into custody and remains in detention. Ambrosia declared that Ms. Cross was entitled to immunity, but the Rovinian court rejected the arguments. On May 10, 2024, Ambrosia requested Ms. Cross’s extradition, pursuant to a bilateral extradition treaty, but Rovinia has not responded to the request.

Ambrosia and Rovinia submitted the following claims to the Court:

1. a. Whether the Court has jurisdiction to entertain Ambrosia’s submissions regarding claim b.;

2. b. Whether Rovinia violated international law regarding jurisdiction and immunity by arresting and prosecuting Ms. Cross;

3. c. Whether Rovinia violated international law by issuing fishing licenses for the parts of the Triton Shoal within 200 nautical miles of Ambrosia’s fixed baseline; and

4. d. Whether Rovinia’s seizure and sale of Ambrosia’s aircraft The Falcon on the basis of the Transitional Council’s waiver of immunity violated international law.