Major Turki Saeed Al Dhuhoori, Chief of the Legislation Section at the Legal Affairs Department at the Ministry of Interior, obtained a master's degree with honors from the Faculty of Law at the Cairo University. His thesis that tackled the subject of “The Legal System of Artificial Islands” was supervised by Prof. Dr. Ahmed Abu Wafa, Head of the International Public Law Department at the Faculty of law, Cairo University.
The thesis touched on the importance of artificial islands nowadays, in terms of the legal aspects and political implications. It concluded that a coastal State has full sovereignty rights over its territorial waters; thus allowing it to create artificial islands, either in the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone or the continental shelf. Moreover, the coastal State enjoys jurisdiction over these areas with respect to the creation of artificial islands, or offshore installations or structures.
Furthermore, the thesis stated that the UAE State has established rules confirming its commitment to international law, and issued the federal law No. 19/1993, concerning the designation of maritime regions, which is consistent, in its general and specific rules, with the provisions of the Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982. It is noteworthy that the State adopted this approach upon creating several artificial islands in its maritime areas along the West and east coasts.
