The demilitarization of Åland has been recognized in the 20th century in three international legal agreements, which cannot be changed unilaterally.
10.4. 19:48
Åland dismantling demilitarization would be legally and politically vulnerable, according to two researchers of international law.
“Starting the discussion about demilitarizing Åland would seem to show that Russia is right when it says that the military alliance NATO is militarizing Russia’s immediate environment,” says the academic, professor emeritus of international law Martti Koskenniemi.
A new member of parliament from the coalition Jarno Limnéll proposed a re-evaluation of demilitarization due to NATO membership on Saturday Helsingin Sanomat in the interview. Similar views were presented on Sunday by the new MPs of the coalition Jarmo Lindberg and Pekka Toveri Ilta-Sanom.
Åland demilitarization has been recognized in the 20th century in three international legal agreements that are still valid today.
In 1922, the agreement on the non-fortification and neutrality of the Åland islands came into force, which was guaranteed by the League of Nations. Changing the agreement requires the approval of all 11 signatory states. One of them is India, which has close relations with Russia.
The Winter War after in 1940 an agreement was signed between Finland and the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics on the islands of Åland. In the agreement, Finland undertook to demilitarize the Åland Islands, not to fortify them and not to make them available to the armed forces of other states.
In the agreement, the Soviet Union is granted the right to maintain its consular office in Åland, whose competence includes monitoring the demilitarization and non-fortification of Åland.
of Paris in the peace treaty in 1947, the Soviet Union recognized Finland’s current borders and the islands of Åland remained demilitarized.
“The current borders of Finland are based on the Paris Peace Agreement, one of the conditions of which was the permanent demilitarization of Åland. If the agreement is to be changed, it requires Russia to re-recognize Finland’s borders without the condition of demilitarizing Åland. It might not be reasonable to start playing with something like this,” says the research professor of law at the British Academy of Sciences by Martin Schein.
Koskenniemi says that he completely agrees with Scheinin.
State contract law According to the Vienna Convention on However, this requires that no party to the agreement objects to the proposal.
“If Finland proposed demilitarizing Åland, it would be completely clear that Russia would oppose it. After that, the articles regarding the demilitarization of Åland would have been frozen as they are and would never get rid of them,” says Koskenniemi.
According to him, one option would be for Finland to become a “bombshell state” that would unilaterally, contrary to international law, announce that it would not comply with agreements on the demilitarization of Åland.
Koskenniemi compares the discussion about demilitarizing Åland to stomping a beehive.
“Finland would be playing into Russia’s pocket by proposing to change the status of Åland. Russia could start putting pressure on Finland by appealing to the fact that all other international legal contractual arrangements between the countries favorable to Finland can also be called into question. Ultimately, it would be about recognizing Finland’s borders.”
Read more: A demilitarized Åland is not modern, says the MP
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