International zone

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An international zone is any area not fully subject to the border control policies of the state in which it is located. There are several types of international zones ranging from special economic zones and sterile zones at ports of entry exempt from customs rules to concessions over which administration is ceded to one or more foreign states. International zones may also maintain distinct visa policies from the rest of the surrounding state.

Special economic zones

A special economic zone (SEZ) is an area in which the business and trade laws are different from the rest of the jurisdiction within which it is located. SEZs are generally established to increase

), in which goods stored or transhipped are treated as never having entered the host jurisdiction.

Uniquely, Svalbard is an entirely visa-free zone under the terms of the Svalbard Treaty,^[1] which recognises the sovereignty of Norway over the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard but subjects it to certain stipulations and consequently not all Norwegian law applies, including border controls. The treaty regulates the demilitarisation of the archipelago. The signatories were given equal rights to engage in commercial activities (mainly coal mining) on the islands. As of 2012^[update], Norway and Russia are making use of this right. Similarly, simplified visa policies are in force for Iran's special economic zones of Kish and Qeshm islands, and for Iraqi Kurdistan.

Concessions

A concession is a territory within a state over which another state has been granted jurisdiction. During the Age of Imperialism, concessions were frequently granted to colonial or imperial powers. Notably, the United Nations' headquarters in New York City and offices in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi^[2] are administered as international concessions by the United Nations, while still subject to most local and national laws.^[3] As the United Nations requires delegates from all member states to be permitted to attend meetings at its headquarters, host countries maintain special visa arrangements such as the C-2 visa which enables otherwise inadmissible foreign officials to enter the United States, provided they remain within the vicinity of the UN headquarters.^[4]

The Tangier International Zone was a 373 square kilometre concession administered by several countries in the Moroccan city of Tangier and its environs between 1923 and 1956. Much like the Shanghai International Settlement, the government and administration of the zone was in the hands of a number of foreign powers. The Zone had its own appointed International Legislative Assembly, which was subject to supervision by a Committee of Control consisting of the Consuls of Belgium, France, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain.^[5] Executive power was vested in an Administrator, and judicial power resided in a Mixed Court of five judges, respectively appointed by the Belgian, British, Spanish, French, and Italian governments.^[5] As a result of the creation of the Mixed Court, the various European powers withdrew the consular courts that previously exercised jurisdiction there.^[6] The Zone had a reputation for tolerance, diversity of culture, religion, and bohemianism. It became a tourist hotspot for literary giants and gay men from Western countries. Many of the latter were able to live an openly "out" life in the Zone.^[7][8] In July 1952 the protecting powers met at Rabat to discuss the Zone's future, agreeing to abolish it. Tangier joined with the rest of Morocco following the restoration of full sovereignty in 1956.^[9]

The Tomb of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire Osman I, has been located in northern Syria since the Empire's collapse. The 1921 Treaty of Ankara^[a] established the area surrounding the tomb as a Turkish concession. The tomb was moved in 1973 as the site was to be flooded by the creation of Lake Assad, and in 2015 it was relocated unilaterally by Turkey in response to the Syrian civil war. The Syrian government denounced the move as incompatible with the 1921 treaty; Turkey plans to move the tomb back to the second site.^[11]

Asia

The island port of

Treaty of Nanjing

, resulting in the area being administered as a British trading hub until 1997.

During the late

Beijing Legation Quarter

.

The foreign concessions in China continued to exist during the

Warlord era

and the collapse of central authority in the 1920s and the 1930s. Crime often flourished, especially organised crime by different warlord groups.

The majority of concessions in Asia were

in 1943. The international communities that were residues of the treaty port era ended in the late 1940s when the communists took over and nearly all foreigners left.

Within the concessions in China, the occupying foreign powers administered distinct legal systems. The two main courts judging extraterritorial cases were the Shanghai Mixed Court and the British Supreme Court for China.^[15] Similar courts were established for treaty countries, e.g. the United States Court for China.^[16] These had jurisdiction over the concession areas, which formally remained under Qing sovereignty.^[17] Initially, Chinese people who committed crimes in, say, the British zone, were remanded to Chinese authorities.^[18]

Suez and Panama canals

The

in which the United States voluntarily renounced its concession over the Panama Canal Zone.

Overseas military bases

Overseas military bases such as the American-administered Pituffik Space Base in Greenland and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba or the British-administered Akrotiri and Dhekelia on the island of Cyprus are a distinct category of concession ceded by a host state solely for military purposes. The jurisdictional authority ceded to the administering military force varies from base to base depending on the agreement concluded by the host and administering state. For example, Khmeimim Air Base in Syria is leased to the Russian government for a period of 49 years and the Russian government exercises extraterritorial jurisdiction over the air base and its personnel^[19][20] while the British government administers Akrotiri and Dhekelia (designated as "sovereign base areas" under the treaty establishing Cyprus independence) as an overseas territory.

Sterile zones at ports of entry

The sterile zone at a port of entry is the area where arriving international passengers have not formally entered the country by clearing arrival customs and immigration controls, and departing passengers have formally exited the country by clearing exit immigration control. Sterile zones are most commonly found in international airports, while they also exist at certain seaports and land crossings. Despite their usual exemption from local immigration and customs laws, international zones at ports of entry are fully under the jurisdiction of the country where they are located and local laws apply. Persons caught committing an unlawful act (e.g. possession of contraband such as illegal drugs) in the international zone are liable for prosecution.

Within international airports, transit passengers can usually take connecting international flights in the international zone without clearing customs and immigration controls, and in most cases do not require a visa.^[21][22][23] Some countries, however, require transit passengers of certain nationalities to hold a direct airside transit visa^[24] even when they would not need to pass through border controls. To exempt passengers transiting between international flights from clearing border controls, most international airports outside North America feature a sterile zone which only authorized employees and processed passengers with a valid ticket are allowed to enter.^[25]

Two major exceptions are the United States and Canada, where airports typically have no international transit zones. All passengers arriving on international flights are subject to customs and immigration inspections. Nationals of countries other than the United States and Canada at a U.S. airport requires at least a C-1 transit visa, or ESTA for eligible travellers. Meanwhile, transiting at a Canadian airport for nationals of countries other than Canada or the United States generally requires a visa or Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) except for individuals proceeding to or from the United States who qualify for the China Transit Program or Transit Without Visa Program.

A common feature of sterile zones at airports and occasionally land and sea borders,

EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg, an airport located in France 20 kilometres southeast of Mulhouse and 3.5 kilometres northwest of Basel (Switzerland), contains a binational sterile zone including a customs road allowing passengers travelling to and from Switzerland to access the airport without passing through French customs control. The airport has been jointly operated by the two countries since a 1946 treaty. Geneva Airport in Switzerland has similar facilities for French travellers.^[28][29]

Demilitarised zones

A demilitarised zone is an area in which treaties or agreements between nations, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities or personnel. They often lie along de jure or de facto frontiers or boundaries between two or more military powers or alliances. Demilitarised zones should not be confused with border zones, which are areas lying along a border established unilaterally by a state for border control purposes.

Many demilitarised zones are considered

because neither side is allowed to control it, even for non-combat administration. Some zones remain demilitarised after an agreement has awarded control to a state which (under the DMZ terms) had originally ceded its right to maintain military forces in the disputed territory. It is also possible for powers to agree on the demilitarisation of a zone without formally settling their respective territorial claims, enabling the dispute to be resolved by peaceful means such as diplomatic dialogue or an international court.

Several demilitarised zones have also unintentionally become

) from 21 July 1954 to 2 July 1976.

Asia

Vietnamese Demilitarised Zone separating North and South Vietnam

in 1969

As a result of the partition of the Korean peninsula by the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II, and exacerbated by the subsequent

The buffer zone that falls south of the Southern Limit Line is called the Civilian Control Zone. Barbed wire fences and manned military guard posts mark the CCLe. South Korean soldiers typically accompany tourist busses and cars travelling north of the CCL as armed guards to monitor the civilians as well as to protect them from North Korean intruders. Most of the tourist and media photos of the "Demilitarised Zone fence" are actually photos of the CCL fence. The actual Demilitarised Zone fence on the Southern Limit Line is completely off-limits to everybody except soldiers and it is illegal to take pictures of the Demilitarised Zone fence.

Similarly, the whole estuary of the

In 1962, the International Court of Justice had ordered the creation of a "provisional demilitarised zone" around the Preah Vihear Temple whose ownership is claimed by both Cambodia and Thailand.^[37]

During the Japanese occupation of

. The Vietnamese demilitarised zone was abolished following the reunification of the country in 1976.

Europe and the Middle East

Demilitarised zones are common in Europe and the Middle East, especially in areas with territorial disputes in the aftermath of military conflicts.

Contemporary:

• The Green Line separating Southern Cyprus and Northern Cyprus is a demilitarised border zone operated by the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus^[c] The buffer zone was established in 1974 due to ethnic tensions between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The green line is similar in nature to the 38th parallel separating the Republic of Korea and North Korea.
• Åland crisis
  , mandates that the Finnish government maintain the territory as a demilitarised area.
• Ceuta border fence and Melilla border fence – A de facto demilitarised zone exists between the Spanish territories of Ceuta and Melilla and Morocco. Perimeter fences around both cities have been constructed by Spanish and Moroccan authorities, creating a demilitarised zone between the Spanish and Moroccan fences.
• War of Transnistria, the Joint Control Commission peacekeeping mission monitors a demilitarised zone roughly outlining the Dniester between Moldova and Transnistria
  .
• Kuwait–Iraq barrier – The United Nations Security Council approved the creation of a demilitarised zone between Iraq and Kuwait in Resolution 689 after the Persian Gulf War
  . Although the demilitarised zone is no longer mandated by the council, it continues to exist.
• Sinai Peninsula – The Egypt–Israel peace treaty sets a limit to the amount of forces Egypt can place in the Sinai Peninsula. Parts of the peninsula are demilitarised to various degrees, especially within 20–40 kilometres of Israel. Israel also agreed to limit its forces within 3 kilometres of the Egyptian border.^[38] The areas are monitored by the Multinational Force and Observers.^[39] Because of the Sinai insurgency all sides agreed and encouraged Egypt to send large amounts of military forces into the area, including tanks and helicopters, to fight Islamist groups.^{[40][41][42][43]}
• Sudan – A 10 km demilitarised zone along the Sudan – South Sudan border.^[44][45]
• United Nations Disengagement Observer Force Zone – The United Nations Security Council approved the creation of a demilitarised zone in a portion of the Israeli-occupied territory of the Golan Heights in Syria in Resolution 350 after the Yom Kippur War. The zone is monitored by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force.
• Resolution 425 and 426, to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon which Israel had invaded in 1978, to restore international peace and security, and help the Government of Lebanon restore its effective authority in the area.^[46]

Historical:

• A neutral territory was established between the
  1727 siege. A strip of land 600 toises (about 1.2 km) long, more than two cannon shots' distance between the British and Spanish guns, was called "the neutral ground" and shown as such on older maps. In 1908, the British built a fence in a portion claimed to be the British half of the neutral territory. Spain does not recognise
  British sovereignty over the isthmus (including the border), asserting it is Spanish soil. Although both the United Kingdom and Spain used to be part of the European Union (before the United Kingdom's exit), the border was a de facto international frontier with customs and immigration checks; Spain does not formally recognise it as a "frontier", referring to it as a "fence".
• re-occupied and re-militarised in 1936 by Nazi Germany
  in violation of international treaties.
• Saudi–Iraqi neutral zone – The Uqair Protocol of 1922 established a demilitarised zone between the Sultanate of Nejd and the Kingdom of Iraq, which at the time was a League of Nations mandate administered by the British Empire. Nejd was later incorporated into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The zone was partitioned in 1981 but the treaty was not filed with the United Nations. The zone was finally officially abolished during the Persian Gulf War
  , when Iraq and Saudi Arabia cancelled all international agreements with each other.
• Saudi–Kuwaiti neutral zone – The Uqair Protocol established a neutral zone between the Sultanate of Nejd and the British protectorate of Kuwait
  in 1922. It was partitioned by mutual agreement in 1970.
• Israel and Egypt:
  • Following the
    El Auja Zone) was created by the 1949 Armistice Agreements
    between Israel and Egypt.
• Israel and Jordan:
  • The Israeli enclave and Jordanian area on Mt. Scopus was designated as a DMZ.
  • The area around the Latrun salient.
• Israel and Syria: Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, three demilitarised zone were created by the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and Syria.^[47]
• Norway and Sweden established a demilitarised zone of 1 km on each side of their border after the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905. The zone was abolished by mutual agreement in 1993.
• Kurdish and Turkish forces.^[48] The DMZ collapsed in October 2019, after Turkey dismissed the agreement and the United States ordered a withdrawal of US forces from northern Syria, allowing the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria to go ahead.^[49]
• Ground Safety Zone – A 5 km demilitarised area between Serbia and Kosovo was created under the Kumanovo Agreement following the Kosovo War that existed between 1999 and 2001. Following the Insurgency in the Preševo Valley, Serbian forces were allowed to enter GSZ.^[50]
• Syrian Civil War.^[51]
  The zone was never fully implemented.

South America

Martin García Island – The Rio de la Plata Boundary Treaty of 1973 between Argentina and Uruguay established that the island would remain under Argentinean sovereignty but could only be used as a natural reserve of flora and fauna.

The

(FARC).

Antarctica

Under the Antarctic Treaty, Antarctica is administered as an international zone. The treaty forbids military activity in Antarctica, such as "the establishment of military bases and fortifications, the carrying out of military maneuvers, as well as the testing of any type of weapon", although it does provide for the "use of military personnel or equipment for scientific research or for any other peaceful purpose".^[52] The treaty establishes the continent as a preserve for scientific research, suspends^[d] all territorial claims over the continent, and permits all states to establish research stations on the continent.

Antarctica currently has no permanent population and therefore it has no citizenship nor government. Personnel present on Antarctica at any time are almost always citizens or nationals of some sovereignty outside Antarctica, as there is no Antarctic sovereignty. Consequently, individuals who commit crimes in Antarctica are typically subject to the jurisdiction of their country of nationality, the victim's country of nationality (if applicable), or the country administering the base in or expedition during which the crime occurred.

Governments that are party to the Antarctic Treaty and its Protocol on Environmental Protection implement the articles of these agreements, and decisions taken under them, through national laws. These laws generally apply only to their own citizens, wherever they are in Antarctica, and serve to enforce the consensus decisions of the consultative parties: about which activities are acceptable, which areas require permits to enter, what processes of environmental impact assessment must precede activities, and so on. The Antarctic Treaty is often considered to represent an example of the

Outer space

Outer space is generally regarded as an international zone insofar as it falls outside the national jurisdiction of any state. Article II of the

Furthermore, the treaty explicitly allows the use of military personnel and resources to support peaceful uses of space, mirroring the Antarctic Treaty's position on military deployment in that continent.

While most satellites and space stations are administered by the state that deployed them, the International Space Station is governed by an international framework established by the Agreement Concerning Cooperation on the Civil International Space Station. Under the agreement, each state is responsible for any liability associated with the components it contributes to the station^[61] and for the management of their programmes and use of the station.^[62] Furthermore, each participating state exercises criminal jurisdiction over its personnel on the station except where the victim of a crime is a national of another participating state and the perpetrator's state of nationality does not prosecute the offence.^[63]

Other examples

• In 2024, Egypt announced the construction of a buffer zone around the Egypt-Gaza border. ^{[64] [65]}
• The Free City of Danzig was an international League of Nations protectorate that contained the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) and nearly 200 surrounding towns and villages that had a predominantly German population. It was created on 15 November 1920^[66][67] in accordance with the 1919 Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I, which excluded the area from Weimar Germany and the new Second Polish Republic.^[68] The Free City had a customs union with Poland.
• During the allied occupation of Vienna between 1945 and 1955, a small international zone in the historical city centre was governed in rotation by American, British, French, and Soviet troops.
• During the Cold War, the Friedrichstraße station was served by West Berlin S-Bahn and U-Bahn trains despite being located entirely in East Berlin.^[e] The station also served as a border crossing between West Berlin and East Germany.
• Under the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, the city of Jerusalem was supposed to become an international corpus separatum. This was never implemented; the city was the scene of fierce fighting in the 1948 war which culminated in its partition between West Jerusalem (Israel) and East Jerusalem (Jordan). In the 1967 war, East Jerusalem was captured and unilaterally annexed by Israel, in a move that has not been recognised by the international community. The idea of an international zone in Jerusalem, encompassing at least the highly sensitive Old City, continues to feature in many proposals to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
• The
  Treaty of Peace with Italy to accommodate an ethnically and culturally mixed population in a neutral environment free from the rule of either Italy or Yugoslavia, which made competing claims on the territory. The Free Territory was de facto given to its two neighbours in 1954 and this was formalised much later by the bilateral Treaty of Osimo of 1975, ratified in 1977.^[69]

Gallery

• 
  Flags of United Nations member states flying outside the United Nations Headquarters complex in New York City.
• 
  concession

  administered by multiple foreign powers during the late Qing Dynasty.
• 
  The four sectors of occupation in Vienna between 1945 and 1955.
• 
  United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, showing the city of Jerusalem as an international zone
• 
  Map of the Free Territory of Trieste, showing its two administrative zones, one of which was later absorbed by each of its two neighbours (Slovenia and Croatia were both part of Yugoslavia at the time).
• 
  Duty Free Shop in the sterile zone of

  Pyongyang Sunan International Airport

References

Notes

1. ^ The treaty, ratified by France, which ruled Syria at the time, states that the tomb "shall remain, with its appurtenances, the property of Turkey, who may appoint guardians for it and may hoist the Turkish flag there".^[10]
2. ^ According to the July 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement civil shipping was supposed to be permissible in the Han River estuary and allow Seoul to be connected to the Yellow Sea (West Sea) via the Han River.^[31] However, both Koreas and the UNC failed to make this happen. The South Korean government ordered the construction of the Ara Canal to finally connect Seoul to the Yellow Sea, which was completed in 2012. Seoul was effectively landlocked from the ocean until 2012. The biggest limitation of the Ara Canal is it is too narrow to handle any vessels except small tourist boats and recreational boats, so Seoul still cannot receive large commercial ships or passenger ships in its port.
3. ^ The peacekeeping force currently has its headquarters at the abandoned Nicosia International Airport, where the majority of peacekeepers are based and where talks between the two governments are held.
4. ^ The treaty neither affirms nor rejects territorial claims previously asserted by parties but provides that no new territorial claims shall be asserted while it is in force and provides for the continent to by administered as an international zone during that time. The majority of Antarctica is claimed by one or more countries, but most countries do not explicitly recognise those claims. The area on the mainland between 90 degrees west and 150 degrees west is the only major land on Earth not claimed by any country.^[53] Until 2015 the interior of the Norwegian Sector, the extent of which had never been officially defined,^[54] was considered to be unclaimed. That year, Norway formally laid claim to the area between its Queen Maud Land and the South Pole.^[55]
5. ^ West Berliners could transfer between the S-Bahn, U-Bahn and long-distance trains to the West without passing through East German border control. The station featured an East German government-run Intershop, which sold duty-free and high-quality items at lower prices compared to the West.

Sources

• Cassel, Pär (2012). Grounds of Judgment. New York: Oxford UP.
  ISBN 978-0-19-979205-4
  .
• Department of State, United States of America (1998). "AGREEMENT AMONG THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA, GOVERNMENTS OF MEMBER STATES OF THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY, THE GOVERNMENT OF JAPAN, THE GOVERNMENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION, AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONCERNING COOPERATION ON THE CIVIL INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION" (PDF). Retrieved 13 November 2021.