UNCLOS, UNDRIP & TARTUPALUK: The Grim Tale of Hans Isle and Graense

“Inuit have lived in the Arctic from time immemorial.” The Arctic, in the face of climate change, has become a hot spot for exploration, resource extraction, and increased shipping and scientific activity. “[The] Inuit . . . have had a common and shared use of the sea area and the adjacent coasts” among their own communities, and contemporaneously with the world. This vast circumpolar Inuit Arctic region includes land, sea, and ice stretching from eastern Russia (Chukotka region) across the Berring Strait, to Alaska, the Canadian Arctic, and Greenland, representing an Inuit homeland known as Nunaat. Hans Isle, a small Arctic Island, is located within the territorial limits of both Canada and Greenland, resulting in both nations asserting claim to the island, its maritime boundaries, seabed and resources, despite the long Inuit traditional occupation and use there.