Legal Opinion on the Regime of Innocent Passage and the Due Diligence Obligations of Flag States under the International Law of the Sea
by ASCOMARE, 11 March 2025
This legal opinion was commissioned by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) National Committee to the Associazione di Consulenza in Diritto del Mare (ASCOMARE), and was prepared in a personal capacity by the following experts, listed alphabetically: Ademuni Odeke, Alice Ollino, Andrea Caligiuri, Andrea Pappalardo, Daud Hassan, Irini Papanicolopulu, Pierandrea Leucci17 and Tullio Scovazzi. Research support was provided by Pierre Clément Mingozzi, Andrea Valentina Salamino and Matteo Bedendi.
The legal opinion leaves no space for doubt: governments need to act now to stop their complicity in Israel’s illegal occupation, apartheid and genocide, including complicity related to maritime transfers.