Tri aktualna međunarodnopravna pitanja jugoslavensko-austrijskih odnosa
Three Current Issues of Yugoslav-Austrian Relations

Summary/Abstract: There are three current fields of Yugoslav-Austrian relations settled by international law: the status of national minorities, environmental protection and the exploitation and protection of the sea. A new dimension of the status of national minorities as reflected in international law is provided in the International Treaty on civil and political rights. In addition to the provisions guaranteeing the national minorities the rights to their own religious practice, the use of their language and their- national culture, the Treaty also establishes various forms of inspection over the realisation of these rights. Among the current environmental problems settled by international law, of especial importance is the consent of Austria to the conclusion of an international agreement on the protection of the waters of the Danube, which has not existed hitherto. As for the legal regulation of the exploitation and protection of the sea, a significant event is the ratification of the 1982 Convention on the Caw of the Seas, which elaborates the rights of Landlocked states in the exploitation of the sea and the sea-bed. Landlocked states are equal with coastal countries in the exploitation of the open seas, as well as within the international regime of the exploration and exploitation of the sea-bed outside national jurisdiction. In order to assert these rights, landlocked states are entitled to access to the sea and to free transit over the territory of transit states. However, they must bear part of the costs and burden of the protection and preservation of the sea and of its natural resources. All of this provides a good basis for a long-term co-operation between Yugoslavia and Austria also in these fields.

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