The geographical disadvantages faced by land-locked states place them in a particularly vulnerable position: unable to compete on equal trading terms with coastal neighbours, they are highly susceptible to all forms of economic and political ‘aggression’. Such measures produce more than the usual degree of ‘inconvenience’, but can so destabilise the state as to compromise its existence. Equity and the sanctity of ‘statehood’ require the protection of such states by furnishing them transit rights.Not only must international law recognise such rights as existing in one form or another, but must also provide adequate means of securing them. A society unwilling to redress natural imbalances and prepared to perpetuate an inherently unfair system is a society committed to conflict, rather than the maintenance of peace and security.
