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MY'STORY

The MOVE Fire

This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985 Philadelphia police fired thousands of rounds at the MOVE house, city officials approved dropping an explosive device on the roof, the resulting fire was allowed to burn, 11 people—including five children—died, and 61 homes were destroyed. Philadelphia City Council later called it a “brutal attack carried out by the City of Philadelphia on its own citizens” and acknowledged that no individual faced criminal consequences for the bombing. One timeline correction worth preserving for the BHP record: the major previous MOVE-police confrontation was August 8, 1978, about seven years before the bombing, not a year or two earlier. Officer James Ramp was killed, other police and firefighters were wounded, nine MOVE members were later convicted, and television cameras recorded police beating Delbert Africa during his arrest. The 1985 MOVE Commission later specifically criticized city planners for failing to adequately use lessons from that 1978 confrontation. And that actually strengthens the point you’re making: 1985 did not happen without precedent or institutional memory. There had already been a deadly confrontation with MOVE, years of conflict, negotiations and police involvement before Osage Avenue.

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BLACK FACTS
The Truths They Never Taught You...

Shirley Chisholm — Unbought and Unbossed

In 1968 Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress. In 1972 she launched a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, breaking another political barrier.

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BHP gathered finds from its connected research sources. Showing the 4 strongest Black History matches.
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Wikipedia

Transit passage

Transit passage is a concept of the law of the sea that allows a vessel or aircraft the freedom of navigation or overflight solely for the purpose of continuous and expeditious transit of a strait from one part of the high seas or an exclusive economic zone to another. The requirement of continuous and expeditious transit does not preclude passage through the strait for the purpose of entering, leaving or returning from a state bordering the strait, subject to the conditions of entry to that state. The transit passage may be exercised regardless of the nationality (flag) of the ship, its form of ownership, the merchant or government status of a ship or warship, or the private or government status of an aircraft (under the Convention on International Civil Aviation of 1944).[1]

Within such straits (article 37 of UNCLOS), including Arctic straits,[citation needed] all ships and aircraft enjoy the right of transit passage (article 38 of UNCLOS), in accordance with Part III of UNCLOS, which means the right of navigation and overflight solely for the purpose of continuous and expeditious transit of the strait between one part of the high seas or an exclusive economic zone and another part of the high seas or an exclusive economic zone.

This navigation rule is codified in Part III of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.[2] Some countries have not ratified the convention,[3] but most of them, including the US,[4][5] accept the customary navigation rules as codified in the Convention. This navigation rule took on more importance with UNCLOS III as that convention confirmed the widening of territorial waters from three to twelve nautical miles, causing more straits not to have a navigation passage between the territorial waters of the coastal nations.[4]

Transit passage exists throughout the entire strait, not just in the area overlapped by the territorial waters of the coastal nations. The ships and aircraft of all nations, including warships, auxiliaries, and military aircraft, enjoy the right of unimpeded transit passage in such straits and their approaches. Submarines are free to transit international straits submerged, as that is their normal mode of operation.[4] Transit passage rights do not extend to any state's internal waters within a strait.[2]

The legal regime of transit passage exists for all straits used for international navigation where there is not a simple alternative route, and excluding those instances where there is a long-standing international convention governing the straits, namely the Danish Straits, the Sea of Åland,[6] the Turkish Straits, the straits of Tiran, the Strait of Magellan and the Beagle Channel. The major international trade routes of the Strait of Gibraltar, Dover Strait, Strait of Hormuz, Bab-el-Mandeb and Strait of Malacca are covered by the transit passage provisions.[4][1]

Artificial maritime canals, such as the Corinth Canal, are generally not covered by the UNCLOS and fall instead under the respective national laws, with the three notable exceptions of the globally important canals due to their prior treaties: the Kiel Canal, the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal.[4]

[edit]

Innocent passage is a similar right that applies to the entire territorial sea (and certain grandfathered internal waters) of states – not just straits – and has more restrictive requirements for passing vessels. Freedom of navigation is a similar right that applies to international waters.

Introduction of transit passage in UNCLOS III made the right of innocent passage in the straits relatively unimportant due to sheer dominance of the straits covered by the transit passage regime in terms of both numbers and importance.[7]

UNCLOS III also added the archipelagic sea lanes passage (ASLP) regime that is similar to the transit passage,[8] but applies to the sea lanes passing through the archipelagic waters.

In time of armed conflict

[edit]

The right of transit passage through international straits under UNCLOS remains valid during armed conflict. However, the laws of armed conflict are not negated in straits, and belligerents may take military action against vessels transiting straits in accordance with customary international law, codified in the San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea.[9]

When a coastal state bordering a strait is in an armed conflict, per the San Remo Manual, it can attack belligerent vessels under an enemy flag and neutral vessels of states that are assisting the enemy. Attacking is subject to the laws of armed conflict, including proportionality and military necessity.[9]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Bugajski, Dariusz R. (2021). Navigational rights and freedoms in the international law and practice. Polish Naval Academy. pp. 146, 305–308. ISBN 978-83-961549-1-0. OCLC 1267382284.
  2. ^ a b United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Part III, Article 38
  3. ^ "Chronological lists of ratifications of, accessions and successions to the Convention and the related Agreements as at 3 June 2011". Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea. UN. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
  4. ^ a b c d e Jon M. Van Dyke (2 October 2008). "Transit Passage Through International Straits" (PDF). The Future of Ocean Regime-Building. University of Hawaii. pp. 178, 179, 186–187, 194–197. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004172678.i-786.50. ISBN 9789004172678. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  5. ^ Reagan, Ronald (10 March 1983). "Presidential Proclamation 5030" (PDF). United States Department of State. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
  6. ^ Bugajski, Dariusz (2006). "The special status of the Strait of the Aland Islands as an exception of the transit passage principle (Art. 35 of the Convention on the Law of the Sea)". Prawo Morskie (12). The Gdańsk Branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences: 81–97. ISSN 0860-7338. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  7. ^ López Martín 2010, p. xv, Foreword by Luis Ignacio Sánchez [es].
  8. ^ Priestnall 1997, p. 10.
  9. ^ a b Oral, Nilufer (15 April 2026). "Passage Through Hormuz in a Time of War and Peace". Fulcrum. ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. Retrieved 22 April 2026.

Sources

[edit]

Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.

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Wikipedia

Transit passage

Transit passage is a concept of the law of the sea that allows a vessel or aircraft the freedom of navigation or overflight solely for the purpose of continuous and expeditious transit of a strait from one part of the high seas or an exclusive economic zone to another. The requirement of continuous and expeditious transit does not preclude passage through the strait for the purpose of entering, leaving or returning from a state bordering the strait, subject to the conditions of entry to that state. The transit passage may be exercised regardless of the nationality (flag) of the ship, its form of ownership, the merchant or government status of a ship or warship, or the private or government status of an aircraft (under the Convention on International Civil Aviation of 1944). Within such straits (article 37 of UNCLOS), including Arctic straits, all ships and aircraft enjoy the right of transit passage (article 38 of UNCLOS), in accordance with Part III of UNCLOS, which means the right of navigation and overflight solely for the purpose of continuous and expeditious transit of the strait between one part of the high seas or an exclusive economic zone and another part of the high seas or an exclusive economic zone. This navigation rule is codified in Part III of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Some countries have not ratified the convention, but most of them, including the US, accept the customary navigation rules as codified in the Convention. This navigation rule took on more importance with UNCLOS III as that convention confirmed the widening of territorial waters from three to twelve nautical miles, causing more straits not to have a navigation passage between the territorial waters of the coastal nations. Transit passage exists throughout the entire strait, not just in the area overlapped by the territorial waters of the coastal nations. The ships and aircraft of all nations, including warships, auxiliaries, and military aircraft, enjoy the right of unimpeded transit passage in such straits and their approaches. Submarines are free to transit international straits submerged, as that is their normal mode of operation. Transit passage rights do not extend to any state's internal waters within a strait. The legal regime of transit passage exists for all straits used for international navigation where there is not a simple alternative route, and excluding those instances where there is a long-standing international convention governing the straits, namely the Danish Straits, the Sea of Åland, the Turkish Straits, the straits of Tiran, the Strait of Magellan and the Beagle Channel. The major international trade routes of the Strait of Gibraltar, Dover Strait, Strait of Hormuz, Bab-el-Mandeb and Strait of Malacca are covered by the transit passage provisions. Artificial maritime canals, such as the Corinth Canal, are generally not covered by the UNCLOS and fall instead under the respective national laws, with the three notable exceptions of the globally important canals due to their prior treaties: the Kiel Canal, the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal.

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Wikipedia

Northwest Passage

The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea lane between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, near the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Arctic Archipelago of Canada. The eastern route along the Arctic coasts of Norway and Siberia is accordingly called the Northeast Passage (NEP). The various islands of the archipelago are separated from one another and from mainland Canada by a series of Arctic waterways collectively known as the Northwest Passages, Northwestern Passages or the Canadian Internal Waters. In British English, it is often spelled North-west Passage. For centuries, European explorers, beginning with Christopher Columbus in 1492, sought a navigable passage as a possible trade route to Asia, but were blocked by North, Central, and South America; by ice, or by rough waters (e.g. Tierra del Fuego). An ice-bound northern route was discovered in 1850 by the Irish explorer Robert McClure, whose expedition completed the passage by hauling sledges. Scotsman John Rae explored a more southerly area in 1854 through which Norwegian Roald Amundsen made the first complete passage entirely by ship in 1903–1906. Until 2009, the Arctic pack ice prevented regular marine shipping throughout most of the year. Arctic sea ice decline, linked primarily to climate change, has rendered the waterways more navigable for ice navigation. The contested sovereignty claims over the waters may complicate future shipping through the region: the Canadian government maintains that the Northwestern Passages are part of Canadian Internal Waters, but the United States claims that they are an international strait and transit passage, allowing free and unencumbered passage. If, as Tom Paddon, Baffinland's chief executive, told the Arctic Futures 2013 conference in Brussels, parts of the eastern end of the Passage are barely 15 metres (49 ft) deep, the route's viability as a Euro-Asian shipping route is reduced. In 2016, Chinese shipping line COSCO expressed a desire to make regular voyages of cargo ships using the passage to the eastern United States and Europe, after a successful passage by Nordic Orion of 73,500 tonnes deadweight tonnage in September 2013. Fully laden, Nordic Orion sat too deep in the water to sail through the Panama Canal.

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Wikipedia

Innocent passage

Innocent passage is a concept in the law of the sea that allows for a vessel to pass through the territorial sea (and certain grandfathered internal waters) of another state, subject to certain restrictions. Innocent passage applies to the entire territorial sea, up to at most 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi) from coastal baseline. Transit passage is a similar right that applies only to straits that divide two areas of international waters; it has different requirements for transiting vessels. Freedom of navigation is a general right enjoyed in international waters; "freedom of navigation operations" enforces this right, in some cases to counter a claim by a sovereign state that certain waters are territorial.

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Wikipedia

Strait of Dover

The Strait of Dover or Dover Strait is the strait at the narrowest part of the English Channel, marking the boundary between the Channel and the North Sea, and separating Great Britain from continental Europe. The shortest distance across the strait, at 20.6 miles (33.2 km), is from the South Foreland, northeast of Dover in the English county of Kent, to Cap Gris-Nez, a cape near to Calais in the French département of Pas-de-Calais. Between these points lies the most popular route for cross-channel swimmers. The entire strait is within the territorial waters of France and the United Kingdom, but a right of transit passage under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea allows vessels of other nations to move freely through the strait. On a clear day, it is possible to see the opposite coastline of England from France and vice versa with the naked eye, with the most famous and obvious sight being the White Cliffs of Dover from the French coastline and shoreline buildings on both coastlines, as well as lights on either coastline at night, as in Matthew Arnold's poem "Dover Beach".

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TOPIC OF THE DAY

Greenwood / Black Wall Street

Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.

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TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE DAY

Which heavyweight champion was known as the “Brown Bomber”?

Joe Louis.