NLIU INTERNATIONAL POOL SELECTIONS, 2017 INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE SPECIAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE FEDERATION OF AARUNIA (APPLICANT) AND THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF NORTHERN RYCHAN (RESPONDENT) TO SUBMIT TO THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE PARTIES (CONCERNING CERTAIN ACTIVITIES IN THE BLACKBURT OCEAN Jointly notified to the Court on 12 June 2017 COUR INTERNATIONALE DE JUSTICE COMPROMIS ENTRE LA FEDERATION DES AARUNIA (DEMANDERESSE) ET LE REPUBLIQUE UNIE DES NORD RYCHAN (DEFENDERESSE) VISANT A SOUMETTRE A LA COUR INTERNATIONALE DE JUSTICE LES DIFFERENDS QUI OPPOSENT LES DEUX PARTIES CONCERNANT LES CERTAINES ACTIVITES DANS L’OCEAN BLACKBURT notifié conjointement & la Cour le 12 Juin 2017NLIU INTERNATIONAL POOL SELECTIONS, 2017 JOINT NOTIFICATION ADDRESSED TO THE REGISTRAR OF THE COURT: The Hague, 12 June 2017 On behalf of the Federation of Aarunia and the United Republic of North Rychan, and in accordance with Article 40(1) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, we have the honor to transmit to you an original of the Special Agreement for submission to the International Court of Justice of the Differences between the Applicant and the Respondent concerning certain activities in the Blackburt Ocean, signed in The Hague, The Netherlands, on the twelith day of Tune in the year two thousand seventeen, His Excellency Sagniko Dasier His Excellency Adityum Ladrov Ambassador of the Federation of Ambassador of the United Republic Aarunia to the Kingdom of the of North Rychan to the Kingdom of Netherlands the NetherlandsNLIU INTERNATIONAL POOL SELECTIONS, 2017 SPECIAL AGREEMENT SUBMITTED TO THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE BY THE FEDERATION OFAARUNIA AND THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF NORTH RYCHAN ON THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEM CONCERNING CERTAIN ACTIVTIES IN THE BLACKBURT OCEAN The Federation of Aarunia (“the Applicant”) and the United Republic of North Rychan (‘the Respondent”) (hereinafter “the Parties”); Considering that differences have arisen between them concerning the certain activities in the Blackburt Ocean; Recognizing that the Parties have been unable to settle these differences by direct negotiations; Desiring further to define the issues to be submitted to the International Court of Justice (“the Court”) for resolution; In furtherance thereof the Parties have concluded this Special Agreement: Article 1 ‘The Parties submit the questions contained in the Special Agreement (together with Corrections and Clarifications to follow) (“the Case”) to the Court pursuant to Article 40(1) of the Court’s Statute. Article 2 It is agreed by the Parties that the Federation of Aarunia shall appear as Applicant and the United Republic of North Rychan as Respondent, but such agreement is without prejudice to any question of the burden of proof. Article 3 (a) The Court is requested to decide the Case on the basis of the rules and principles of international Jaw, including any applicable treaties. (b) The Court is also requested to determine the legal consequences, including the rights and obligations of the Parties, arising from its Judgment on the questions presented in the Case.NLIU INTERNATIONAL POOL SELECTIONS, 2017 Article 4 (a) Procedures shall be regulated in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Official Rules of the NLIU International Pool Selections, 2017. (b) The Parties request the Court to order that the written proceedings should consist of Memorials presented by each of the Parties not later than the date set forth in the Official Schedule of the NLIU Intemational Pool Selections, 2017. Article 5 (a) The Parties shall accept any Judgment of the Court as final and binding upon them and shall execute it in its entirety and in good faith. (b) Immediately after the transmission of any Judgment, the Parties shall enter into negotiations on the modalities for its execution. In witness whereof, the undersigned, being duly authorized, have signed the present Special Agreement and have affixed thereto their respective seals of office Done in The Hague, The Netherlands, this twelfth day of June in the year two thousand seventeen, in triplicate in the English language. His Excellency Sagniko Dasier His Excellency Adityum Ladrov Ambassador of the Federation of Ambassador of the United Republic Aarunia to the Kingdom of the of North Rychan to the Kingdom of Netherlands the NetherlandsNLIU INTERNATIONAL POOL SELECTIONS, 2017 **SPECIAL AGREEMENT** THE CASE CONCERNING CERTAIN ACTIVITIES IN THE BLACKBURT OCEAN AARUNIA/NORTH RYCHAN 1. The Federation of Aarunia and the United Republic of North Rychan are neighbouring countries located in the Southern Hemisphere. To the south of both these countries lies the Blackburt Ocean. In the 19" century, both Aarunia and Rychan were under colonial rule for close to a hundred and fifty years and received independence in 1905 and 1907 respectively. Soon after independence, Rychan broke into civil war and was partitioned into two independent nations - North and South Rychan. However, Aarunia operated as the official ruling body of South Rychan from 8" October, 1910 to 3" August, 1913; while North Rychan remained under the civil administration of Rushanistan until the formation of its own government. 2. The relationship between North Rychan and South Rychan has been plagued by hostility and suspicion - with both countries having exchanged frequent artillery fires and skirmishes on their borders in the past. Aarunia and South Rychan are allies and have ‘maintained friendly relations with each other, partnering on several independent projects together. 3. Aarunia and North Rychan have maintained diplomatic but cautious relations with each other in light of Aarunia’s relations with South Rychan. While Aarunia is a developed and prosperous country, North Rychan is a developing and rapidly industrializing country. Both countries have a parliamentary system of democracy, with the President being the head of the State in Aarunia and the Prime Minister being the head in North Rychan. Aarunia possesses superior naval forces and aerial reconnaissance capabilities than North Rychan. Aarunia has been in possession of nuclear weapons since 2nd October, 1960 and became a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of the Nuclear Weapons (“NPT”) on 14" September, 1969. 4. Owing to the rapid industrialisation across the country, North Rychan had witnessed large- scale depletion of its fossil fuel reserves and an increasing demand for energy. Moreover, due to limited domestic production, North Rychan imports coal, oil, nitrogen andNLIU INTERNATIONAL POOL SELECTIONS, 2017 phosphatic fertilizers from other countries. In order to reduce dependence on these limited resources, North Rychan decided to invest in alternative sources of energy. Since the State had a rich uranium reserve, it signed and ratified the NPT, so as to obtain international assistance for establishing and developing its nuclear power sector. This ratification was made on 1* April, 2000, where the Prime Minister of North Rychan made the following statement at a press conference: “The fossil fuel reserves of North Rychan are at a risk of being depleted. To ensure that these limitations do not hamper the continued development of our State, we have decided to invest in nuclear energy. To achieve this we have now become a party to the NPT. We also believe that becoming a party to this treaty will contribute towards our goal of making the Blackburt ocean region a non-nuclear zone.” Over the course of the next ten years, North Rychan also developed its hydroelectric generation capabilities so as to minimise the use of fossil fuels and meet the increasing energy demands of the economy. In 2004, North Rychan passed the Nuclear Power Act through which the State established nuclear power plants for electricity generation. In the same year, North Rychan and Rushanistan, a nuclear weapon state under the NPT, signed a bilateral nuclear energy cooperation agreement which entered into force pursuant to the necessary notifications on 6th October, 2004. Under the agreement, two pressurised heavy water nuclear reactors were transferred from Rushanistan to North Rychan. In order to fuel the reactors, Rushanistan also agreed to enter into long term fuel supply commitments with North Rychan. Following the success of its nuclear power generating project, North Rychan announced its plans to strengthen this sector by building small indigenous plants that would recycle the fuel used to power the reactors. 1n 2005, Aarunia marked a hundred years ofits independence from colonial rule with State- wide celebrations. As a part of these celebrations, Aarunia and North Rychan ministers held a number of high-level meetings in which they reaffirmed their mutual goal of maintaining mutual friendship and cooperation between the two countries. In order to bolster and strengthen friendship between both the countries, they signed a number of bilateral agreements, the most significant of which was the Treaty of Friendship andNLIU INTERNATIONAL POOL SELECTIONS, 2017 10 Commerce and Promotion of Reciprocal Investments of 2005 (“2005 Treaty”), relevant Portions of which are extracted in Annex A to the Compromis. ions, In 2009, in an attempt to strengthen its military and naval capabilities and ammut North Rychan invited Aarunia to participate in a joint military and naval exercise. The military exercise was held in Sevarstol, the capital city of North Rychan, while the naval exercises were conducted in the Blackburt Ocean. This joint exercise was a highly successful affair and provided another instance of mutual trust and cooperation between the two countries. Since Aarunia possessed superior weapons, arms and other arsenal, as well as better technical capabilities in modern warfare, it was decided after the joint exercise that the Ministry of Defence of Aarunia would establish a permanent presence in North Rychan in order to ensure capacity building and personnel training in North Rychan and train personnel in their country. As per the terms of the 2005 Treaty, it was mutually agreed that the Defence Research and Analysis Wing (“DRAW”), which was an undertaking of the Ministry of Defence of Aarunia, would establish its presence in North Rychan, and would have the same rights as that of an “investor” under the terms of the treaty. It was agreed that the mandate of the DRAW would include establishing a plant in the city of Sevarstol, from where it would manufacture equipment necessary for modern military and naval warfare. These equipments would then be sold to the North Rychan government or shipped back to Aarunia, depending on the needs and demands of each party. There was also no prohibition on selling these equipments to the governments of third States. As a part of the capacity building process, the technicians of the DRAW establishment would employ engineers and other personnel of North Rychan in order to train them in manufacturing and handling such sophisticated equipment. By January 2011, the DRAW plant was established in Sevarstol and began operations by the next month itself. In late 2010, South Rychan in collaboration with Aarunia conducted its first massive scale joint muclear-test war exercise called the ‘Team Skeleton Army’. After the exercise, there was a huge uproar in North Rychan’s Parliament regarding the country’s safety and integrity. The minority party in the Parliament urged the Government to develop its own nuclear arsenal. In response, the North Rychan Defence Minister said, “North Rychan must consider all options that ensure its safety. What remains clear is that we can no longerNLIU INTERNATIONAL POOL SELECTIONS, 2017 remain bound 10 the NPT. We cannot allow restrictions under a treaty to impinge upon our national security and the integrity of our nation. Therefore, we shall be beginning the process of withdrawing ourselves from the NPT.” 11. As a result, on 1* April 2011, the government of North Rychan formally sent a notice of withdrawal from the NPT to the United Nations Security Council and all the other state parties to the NPT. The notice was accompanied by a letter from the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Union Republic of North Rychan, explaining the extraordinary events that had jeopardised the national interests of North Rychan, and resulted in such withdrawal This letter can be found in Annexure B to the Compromis. 12. North Rychan’s withdrawal notice to the NPT resulted in significant apprehension in the international community as nation states feared that North Rychan might acquire or ‘manufacture nuclear weapons. In order to mitigate this risk, Aarunia entered into high- level bilateral negotiations with the Foreign Minister of North Rychan. The bilateral talks were completed successfully and North Rychan suspended its notice of withdrawal from the NPT on 30" June, 2011 13, Although from 2011, operations in the DRAW plant continued for about three years without any issue, in March 2014, the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of North Rychan (“CAG”), an independent ombudsman of North Rychan tasked with investigating and unearthing corruption at the highest bureaucratic and political levels in North Rychan, published a report titled “The Corruption and Scams in the DRAW’s activities”. This 560 page report contained detailed allegations of corruption against the high-ranking officers of DRAW, especially its Chairman, Mr. Alee Thorman. The report stated that high level officials of the DRAW had used low quality materials in manufacturing defence equipment in order to significantly lower their raw materials’ cost, but in tum would continue to sell them at high rates to the Government of North Rychan. ‘Some bureaucrats and politicians of North Rychan were also alleged to be complicit in the corruption; overall, the loss to the exchequer was estimated to be at US$ 140 billion. 14. In response to this report, the North Rychan Prime Minister ordered the formation of a High-Level Inspection Committee to look into the allegations made by the CAG in its report. In June 2014, the High-Level Committee concluded that the allegations made by the CAG were in fact well-founded and the Committee identified the DRAW officials whoNLIU INTERNATIONAL POOL SELECTIONS, 2017 15 16 7. were primarily responsible for the corruption scandal. Thereafter, on 6" July, 2014, the Central Agency of Investigation (“CAI”) of North Rychan, entered into the DRAW premises in Sevarstol and arrested the top officials of DRAW who were implicated in the CAG report, including its Chairman. In the ensuing trial, the Criminal Court of First Instance in Sevarstol found that the DRAW officials had in fact indulged in corrupt practices at the highest level and in accordance with the domestic laws of North Rychan, ordered for the deportation of these officials back to Aarunia. In response to this decision of the Criminal Court, the President of Aarunia, Mr. Joseph Cusi, issued the following statement: “The recent actions of the Government of North Rychan are deeply troubling. Not only have they arrested and tried such senior officials of the DRAW, an arm of the Aarunian Government, but they have now even gone to the extent of deporting them, in flagrant violation of the 2005 Treaty in force between us and against all the goodwill and friendly relations we have built over the years. The absence of such senior DRAW officials will deeply impact the ability of the plant at Sevarstol to function sustainably and efficiently.” Over the course of the next few months, the plant at Sevarstol ran into a number of issues. In the absence of most of their top personnel, who had been deported to Aarunia, the plant could not function effectively. Finally, in April 2015, the plant shut its operations permanently. The rest of the DRAW personnel were also asked by the Government of Aarunia to come back to their home country. In May 2015, the Government of Aarunia invoked the dispute settlement mechanism in the 2005 Treaty and accordingly initiated arbitration proceedings against the Government of North Rychan. In accordance with the terms of the Treaty, an arbitral tribunal consisting of three members was formed. The Government of Aarunia alleged violations of the 2005 ‘Treaty against the Government of North Rychan by claiming that the actions of the North Rychan government in arresting and deporting the officials of the DRAW amounted to an expropriation and a violation of the full protection and security clause of the Treaty. On 18" August, 2015, the arbitral tribunal started its proceedings and over the course of the next month in several subsequent hearings, the arbitral tribunal heard both the parties” claims.NLIU INTERNATIONAL POOL SELECTIONS, 2017 18. Finally, the tribunal concluded its hearings on 20 September, 2015. On 22“ September, the legal counsel of Aarunia wrote to the President of the arbitral tribunal, Mr. Vinayakum Panikkarin: “On behalf of the Government of Aarunia, I wish to bring to your kind notice that Government of Aarunia has just discovered some new evidence that would conclusive establish that the Government of North Rychan has indeed acted in a mala fide manner in arresting and deporting the senior DRAW officials of the Sevarstol plant. While we understand that the tribunal has concluded its hearings, the Government of Aarunia believes that this crucial evidence would have immense value in assisting the tribunal to arrive at a just and fair decision. We would therefore urge the tribunal to provide the Government of Aarunia an opportunity to present this evidence, before the tribunal arrives at its final decision.” In response to this letter, Mr. Panikkarin urgently convened a meeting of the tribunal at midnight on 23" September, and communicated to the legal counsel of the Government of Aarunia to appear before the tribunal and present the evidence. However, no communication was sent to the Government of North Rychan. Over the next three hours, {ill 3:00 am local time, the tribunal perused the evidence presented and the arguments made by the legal counsel of Aarunia. Thereafter, the tribunal concluded the session. 19. On 25* September, 2015, the tribunal pronounced its award. The award was pronounced by a majority to 2 to 1, with the arbitrator appointed by North Rychan dissenting. The award, in its entirety, read: “The arbitral tribunal by a majority of 2 to 1, finds that the actions of the Government of North Rychan amount to expropriation and accordingly violate Article VI of the Treaty of Friendship and Commerce and Promotion of Reciprocal Investments of 2005, in force between the parties. Therefore the Government of North Rychan is liable to compensate Aarunia, to the tune of US$ 150 million. Signed. Date- 25" September, 2015." 20. Immediately afier the tribunal passed its award, the Minister of External Affairs of North Rychan, Ms. Aradhnya A. Delacour, issued the following statement:NLIU INTERNATIONAL POOL SELECTIONS, 2017 21. 22. “The Government of North Rychan wholly and unequivocally rejects the award passed by the arbitral tribunal. The tribunal's actions were manifestly biased. The arbitrators took evidence from Aarunia after the hearings were closed, in the absence of North Rychan and without letting our Government contradict or examine the evidence presented to the tribunal. It is only later that the Government of North Rychan through its sources and diplomatic channels got to know of the secret hearing that took place at midnight, merely a day before passing of the award. Such actions of the tribunal go against all established principles of due process and natural justice! It therefore came as no surprise to us that the final award of the tribunal also did not contain reasoning and merely pronounced the amount of damages that we must pay. We will take all appropriate legal recourses to get this award nullified.” On 6 October, 2015, the Government of North Rychan filed an application at the District Court of The Nague, the capital city of Kinlands, for setting aside the arbitral award. The District Court of The Nague issued notice to the Government of Aarunia to appear as Respondent in the matter. However, the Government of Aarunia did not send any reply to the said notice, nor did it appear before the District Court in the ensuing proceedings. Proceeding ex-parte, on 21* October, 2015, the District Court of The Nague in its judgment decided that it had jurisdiction to hear the matter as it was the court at the seat of the arbitration. Applying the provisions of its domestic law, the District Court of The Nague proceeded to set aside the arbitral award of 25" September, 2015 between Aarunia and North Rychan. On 29" October, 2016, the President of Aarunia, Mr. Cusi made the following statement: “The Government of Aarunia calls upon North Rychan 1o forthwith pay the amount due to Aarunia by virtue of the arbitral award of 25" September, 2015. In case North Rychan refuses to pay us the amount lawfully due to us immediately, we will be forced to take enforcement action against the assets of North Rychan in Aarunia's territory. We do not recognize the decision of the District Court of The Nague, which had no authority to set aside an arbitral award between two sovereign States. In fact, the mere assumption of jurisdiction by the District Court in this matter, without our consent, is a flagrant violation of our rights and immunities under international law. As such, the arbitral award is validNLIU INTERNATIONAL POOL SELECTIONS, 2017 and we must call upon the Government of North Rychan to respect it immediately or face consequences.” On the same day, Mr. Cusi asked the Govemnor of the Central Bank of Aarunia (“CBA”), a state-owned enterprise, to freeze the account of the Bank of North Rychan which was ‘North Rychan’s central bank, in the CBA, in case the Government of North Rychan failed to pay the award amount within a particular stipulated time. 23. While these events were going on, in March 2015, the Government of Aarunia started conducting extensive naval exercises within their territorial waters in the Blackburt Ocean. As a part of their naval exercises, the Government of Aarunia also tested the capabilities of a fleet of stealth submarines that had the capacity to carry nuclear weapons undetected for long ranges. Some of these submarines could travel for long distances across the ocean, without being manned by anyone at all. These unmanned submarines were operated remotely from the naval base within Aarunia’s territorial waters. Concemed by such overt display of their naval power as well as the possible environmental impacts on the Blackburt Ocean of any such exercise, particularly those involving the stealth submarines, North Rychan’s Prime Minister, Mr. Sehviks Walsingham, on 22" March 2015, sent a Note Verbale to his counterpart in Aarunia, voicing these concerns of North Rychan. 24.In response to the Note Verbale, the Aarunian President reassured North Rychan of Aarunia’s bona fide intentions in conducting naval exercises and assured Mr. Walsingham of Aarunia’s continued commitment to ensure that the “Blackburt Ocean and its entire marine environment were not used for any non-peaceful activities and any naval exercise conducted by Aarunia would of course, in accordance with international law, remain confined to its own jurisdiction.” The exercises however continued and the use of the unmanned stealth submarines was increasingly becoming a more common feature of the exercise. It would often be the case that in order to test their potential, these unmanned submarines carrying some amount of nuclear material or weaponry would be operated outside the territorial waters of Aarunia, into the high seas. Since these submarines could not be detected by ordinary ships or other vessels passing through the high seas in the Blackburt Ocean, the naval force of Aarunia would always send two to four naval warships carrying the Aarunian flag, in order to warn nearby ships of the presence of a stealthNLIU INTERNATIONAL POOL SELECTIONS, 2017 25. 26. 27. submarine in the vicinity and to ensure that there is no interference with the free passage of other ships in the area. ‘Noting with concem these developments in the Blackburt Ocean, on 11" April, 2015, Mr. Sehviks Walsingham made the following statement in a publicly televised address, “North Rychan is concerned about the recent experiments involving stealth submarines that are being conducted by Aarunia. While it would be undoubtedly be the right of Aarunia to conduct such experiments within their own territorial waters, conducting them in the high seas of the Blackburt Ocean, where we and indeed all other nations of the world have equal rights, is a matter of grave concern. Since some of these submarines are unmanned, we are extremely anxious of what may happen if somehow Aarunia loses control of any of them while they are at large on the seas. We also reiterate that if any of these vessels were to enter those waters where North Rychan has exclusive sovereignty, then these vessels will be dealt with in accordance with our municipal laws.” On the night of 27 April, 2015, at around 10:30 pm, the Commander of North Rychan’s naval base within its territorial waters, Captain Mcdaar Shelfmake, noticed some suspicious activity within the exclusive economic zone of North Rychan. He noticed on his. ‘monitor that some vessel was continuously travelling in a circular path beneath the surface of the water and was not moving in any particular direction. Since the vessel was below the surface of the water, he could not ascertain the make or the type of vessel, or which county it belonged to, since the flag of the vessel was also not visible. He tried to establish some contact with the vessel by trying to send across a message through all the known radio frequencies commonly used in the area by ships or vessels. However, he could not establish contact with the vessel. Afier around an hour, the vessel seemed to be moving slowly towards the North Rychanian territorial waters, all the while moving below the surface of the water. Noticing the vessel approaching the North Rychanian territorial waters, Captain Shelfmake ordered his naval troops to reach the zone immediately. Within 20 minutes, the HMS Froster, one of the warships of the North Rychan naval fleet, reached the area where the vessel was moving, close to the territorial waters of North Rychan. On being at a distance of 5.5 nautical miles away from the vessel, the captain of the Froster sent the following ‘message to Captain Shelfmake:NLIU INTERNATIONAL POOL SELECTIONS, 2017 “The vessel seems to be a submarine that is currently about five nautical miles away from our territorial waters. We cannot say for sure, but it seems like one of the stealth submarines that are being used by Aarunia. There is no way of confirming whether the vessel is manned or unmanned. We await further instructions from you.” 28. Captain Shelfmake responded by asking the captain of the Froster to stand on guard and use the loudspeaker on board the ship to ask the vessel to come up to the surface and warn it that if it entered the territorial waters, then it would be subject to search or seizure as per the domestic laws of North Rychan. Having made this announcement, the captain of the Froster noticed that the submarine did not stop nor did it come up to the surface and instead kept moving towards the ship, entering into the territorial waters of North Rychan. Upon entering the territorial waters however, the submarine seemed to slow down as it neared the Froster and ultimately stopped. Once the submarine stopped, it started coming up to the surface level and the captain of the Froster noticed that the submarine bore the symbol of the Aarunian navy and was flying the Aarunian flag. He immediately contacted Captain Shelfmake asking for instructions. Captain Shelfmake ordered for the vessel to be immediately taken into custody and inspected properly. He ordered the navy troops to board the vessel and to declare it to be under the custody of the North Rychan navy. 29. When the North Rychan troops boarded the vessel, they found it to be completely unmanned. The vessel was also containing what appeared to be some nuclear material on board in nuclear equipped containers. On behalf of the North Rychan government, Captain Shelfmake sent the following message to the Aarunian navy: “The North Rychan navy has taken custody of an unmanned submarine bearing the symbol of the Aarunian navy and flying Aarunia’s flag, carrying nuclear materials, for operating in flagrant breach of the domestic laws of North Rychan and in violation of the norms of international law. Despite repeated warnings and repeated attempts to establish contact with the submarine, the submarine continued to move below the surface of the water and entered North Rychan’s territorial waters. We will now inspect the materials on board the vessel and determine whether there is any threat to the peace and security of North Rychan’s waters.” 30. On the 29" April, the Aarunian Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, made the following public statement:NLIU INTERNATIONAL POOL SELECTIONS, 2017 “The seizure of the Aarunian submarine by the North Rychan naval forces is unprecedented and one of the most egregious violations of international law. The Aarunian navy was testing the unmanned submarine, when momentarily it lost all communication with and control over the submarine. Unfortunately, the submarine could not be stopped from entering into the territorial waters of North Rychan. All of this happened because of a technical glitch. However, our technicians solved the problem within minutes and as soon as connection was re-established with the vessel, we brought the submarine to a halt and made it come up to the surface level. Once it stopped, it was plainly evident to the North Rychan navy that the vessel belonged to the Aarunian navy and was flying the Aarunian (flag. Instead of establishing contact with us at that point, North Rychan’s decision in boarding and subsequently capturing our vessel is in violation of all laws governing the seas, applicable between the two nations. We demand that our vessel be released immediately by the North Rychan Navy.” 31. In response to this public statement, in a nationally televised interview, Captain Shelfmake said: “We were well within our rights to seize the Aarunian vessel. Operating such stealth submarines, particularly those carrying inherently hazardous nuclear material within our sovereign waters is a violation of international law. Besides Aarunia has been operating such unmanned submarines for a while now and this by itself is a dangerous practice, posing a huge threat to all other vessels passing through the area peacefully. In such circumstances, we thought it fit to seize their vessel and it was a justified retort to Aarunia’s actions!" 32. In response to a question posed by a journalist, Captain Shelfmake said that if Aarunia were willing to apologize for its actions and offer guarantees of non-tepetition and that such testing of submarines will not occur in the future, then the North Rychan navy may be willing to consider Aarunia’s request for return of the vessel. Till date, the submarine remains in the custody of North Rychan’s navy. 33. Around the same time, on 15% April, 2015, the Coast Guard of North Rychan, while patrolling the State’s exclusive economic zone observed that three naval warships flying ‘Aarunia’s flag were in the high seas and heading towards the coast of South Rychan. TheseNLIU INTERNATIONAL POOL SELECTIONS, 2017 warships wamed other merchant ships of the existence of stealth submarines in the area. The Coast Guard reported this incident to the North Rychian Navy and the Government. 34, The North Rychian Prime Minister issued a public statement on 18" April, 2015, which said, “Another grave situation has arisen whereby the integrity and security of our State is being seriously endangered. The Aarunian submarines, equipped with nuclear weapons that were seen heading towards South Rychan are a clear indication of Aarunia's hostile policy towards North Rychan. As our state's supreme interests are most seriously threatened, the North Rychanian government declares an automatic and immediate effectuation of its withdrawal from the NPT, which it unilaterally suspended, according to the bilateral talks it had with Aarunia in June, 2011." 35. On 20"April 2015, in a nationally televised address, the Foreign Minister of Aarunia said:- “Aarunia is concerned about North Rychan’s announcement of its withdrawal from the ‘Nuclear Non-Proliferation Pact and the possible ramifications this may have. This pact is of major significance for preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and enhancing international peace and security. North Rychan’s withdrawal from the NPT has created significant uncertainty in the region. We would like to unequivocally state that Aarunia has no hostile intentions toward North Rychan and seeks a peaceful solution to this misunderstanding. We hope that North Rychan reverses its decision and seeks a diplomatic solution instead.” North Rychan did not issue any response to this statement. 36. On 21" June, 2015, various newspapers across North Rychan published news of land in an area 50 kms from a small North Rychanian village, which appeared to ‘rise and fall like a liquid’ and was followed by the formation of a large sinkhole in the area. This news gained international attention when the Aarunian Geological Survey, an Aarunian State agency responsible for monitoring seismic activity, reported seismic disturbances along the border with North Rychan. The epicentre of such disturbances were reported to be within North Rychan’s territory. Various international newspapers published articles arguing how theseNLIU INTERNATIONAL POOL SELECTIONS, 2017 37, 38. 39. events could only take place if underground nuclear tests had been conducted in such area. North Rychan’s Government refused to comment on this matter. President Cusi of Aarunia, called a press conference in Aarunia on 24" June, 2015, where he made the following statement, “North Rychan's decision to conduct underground nuclear weapon tests is a blatant violation of its international commitments of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and nuclear disarmament. Not only is the development of nuclear weapons through such tests @ possible threat to peace, it also has the strong likelihood of releasing radioactive radiation in the atmosphere, which risks the survival of generations to come. Such acts cannot be tolerated by any State party to the NPT and therefore, North Rychan must cease its nuclear armament at once.” In response, the Prime Minister of North Rychan issued a press note which read: “President Cusi has raised baseless allegations against our State. Since 2004 North Rychan has only used nuclear energy for peaceful purposes of electricity generation. There exists no proof of any underground nuclear tests conducted in our territory. Nonetheless, Aarunia can no longer enforce any other international obligations on us as we have already withdrawn from the NPT.” On 28" June, 2015, President Cusi delivered an internationally televised address on all of the major news networks announcing the following: “North Rychan’s withdrawal from the NPT, followed by its act of conducting underground nuclear weapon tests is proof of the threat that the State poses to international peace and security. It is evident that in such a scenario, all existing diplomatic relations between ‘Aarunia and North Rychan must be severed. Aarunia has always been a nation committed to the goal of nuclear non-proliferation. We cannot risk any attack or security threat against our citizens or the international community. Thus, to limit North Rychan’s ability to further develop its nuclear and warfare capabilities and halt this offensive build-up, a strict blockade on all shipment to and fromNLIU INTERNATIONAL POOL SELECTIONS, 2017 the State being initiated in the Blackburt Ocean. All ships of any kind bound for North Rychan, from whatever nation or port, will be blocked. This blockade shall continue until North Rychan declares and dismantles its nuclear weapon building faci s. We do not at this time, however, deny the movement of medical supplies which are necessities of life.” 40. Following this address, President Cusi ordered the Aarunian Commander-in-Chief of the Navy to deploy his warships along the exclusive economic zone of North Rychan. The warships were stationed outside the range of the coastal weapons of the North Rychan. The warships were to ensure that in accordance with President Cusi’s address, no ships of any type should be allowed to reach the ports of North Rychian or leave its exclusive economic zone. The Navy was also given the discretion to use naval mines to enforce the naval blockade. 41. On 30" June, 2015, the Prime Minister of North Rychan sent a telegram to President Cusi in which he warned him that Aarunia’s blockade of the Blackburt Ocean was a disguised economic coercive measure. He also wrote that such acts violated international law and the principle of sovereign equality of States. However, Aarunia issued no further response to this and continued the naval blockade. 42. The National Centre for Agricultural and Food Research (“NCAFR”), a State owned institution of North Rychan, published a study in April, 2017, which revealed that the average agricultural productivity in North Rychan had declined by 33-37% between 2015 and 2017. Further, the NCAFR also found that per capita overall food availability had declined by approximately 30%. 43. On 21" May, 2017, North Rychan’s ministry of home affairs released another study noting the effects of the blockade on the country’s industrial sector. The ministry’s study noted that the ships which were carrying fuels from the Rushanistan for the reactors were also not able to reach the North Rychan’s ports. As fuel was necessary to meet electricity demands of North Rychan’s industrialised sector — and therefore the GDP of North Rychan declined sharply. 44, Owing to growing hostilities, since 25 June, 2015, armed naval forces of North Rychan and Aarunia were engaged in situations of armed conflict. Both the countries had in fact, suffered loss of lives of its soldiers and incurred economic expenditures. However, the