Editing Clipperton Island (section)

== Politics and government ==
The island is an [[Overseas France|overseas state private property of France]] under direct authority of the [[Minister of the Overseas (France)|Minister of the Overseas]].<ref>Article 9 – {{Cite act |type=Loi |index=55-1052 |date=6 August 1955 |title=Loi n° 55-1052 du 6&nbsp;août 1955 modifiée portant statut des Terres australes et antarctiques françaises et de l'île de Clipperton |trans-title=Law No. 55-1052 of 6&nbsp;August 1955 on the status of French Southern and Antarctic Lands and Clipperton Island |url=http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do;jsessionid=2E14855B772D504D6D56073B3A3BFDAD.tpdjo13v_1?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000879815&categorieLien=cid&dateTexte= |language=fr |access-date=2022-04-27 |archive-date=2015-06-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627190857/http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do;jsessionid=2E14855B772D504D6D56073B3A3BFDAD.tpdjo13v_1?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000879815&categorieLien=cid&dateTexte= |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite act |type=Décret |index= |date=31 January 2008 |title=Décret du 31 janvier 2008 relatif à l'administration de l'île de Clipperton |trans-title=31&nbsp;January 1966 Order Respecting the Administration of Clipperton Island |url=http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000018048991&fastPos=1&fastReqId=2007253908&categorieLien=id&oldAction=rechTexte |language=fr |access-date=2022-04-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150704211325/http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000018048991&fastPos=1&fastReqId=2007253908&categorieLien=id&oldAction=rechTexte |archive-date=2015-07-04 |url-status=live}}</ref> Although the island is French territory, it has no status within the European Union.<ref>{{Citation |last=Murray |first=Fiona |title=Article 227(4): European Member State Territories for Whose External Relations a Member State is Responsible |date=2012 |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-90-6704-826-2_6 |work=The European Union and Member State Territories: A New Legal Framework Under the EU Treaties |pages=37–40 |access-date=2023-04-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410154007/https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-90-6704-826-2_6 |url-status=live |place=The Hague, Netherlands |publisher=T. M. C. Asser Press|doi=10.1007/978-90-6704-826-2_6 |isbn=978-90-6704-825-5 |archive-date=10 April 2023}}</ref> Ownership of Clipperton Island was disputed in the 19th and early 20th centuries between [[France]] and [[Mexico]], but was finally settled through [[arbitration]] in 1931; the [[Clipperton Island Case]] remains widely studied in [[international law]] textbooks.<ref name="Dickinson1933">{{Cite journal |last=Dickinson |first=Edwin D. |date=1933 |title=The Clipperton Island Case |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0002930000135754/type/journal_article |url-status=live |journal=[[American Journal of International Law]]|volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=130–133 |doi=10.2307/2189797 |issn=0002-9300 |jstor=2189797 |s2cid=147177707 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410153940/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-journal-of-international-law/article/abs/clipperton-island-case/AD446A982E29CC6941B99EA1259C4FB9 |archive-date=10 April 2023 |access-date=17 June 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Mark A. |date=1977 |title=Sovereignty Over Unoccupied Territories—The Western Sahara Decision |url=https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2180&context=jil |url-status=live |journal=[[Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law]] |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=135–159 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716205856/https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2180&context=jil |archive-date=16 July 2022 |access-date=16 July 2022}}</ref>

In the late 1930s, as [[flying boat]]s opened the Pacific to air travel, Clipperton Island was noted as a possible waypoint for a trans-Pacific route from the Americas to Asia via the [[Marquesas Islands]] in French Polynesia, bypassing Hawaii. However, France indicated no interest in developing commercial air traffic in the corridor.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Pacific Airways |author=D. |journal=Foreign Affairs |date=October 1939 |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=62, 69 |jstor=20028976 |doi=10.2307/20028976}}</ref>

After France ratified the [[United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea]] (UNCLOS) in 1996,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rimaboschi |first=Massimiliano |url=http://books.openedition.org/puam/934 |title=L'unification du droit maritime: Contribution à la construction d'un ordre juridique maritime |date=2006 |publisher=Presses universitaires d'Aix-Marseille |isbn=978-2-7314-0561-3 |language=fr |trans-title=The unification of maritime law: Contribution to the construction of a maritime legal order |doi=10.4000/books.puam.934 |access-date=6 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408211122/https://books.openedition.org/puam/934 |archive-date=8 April 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>

{{cite act |type=Décret |index=96-774 |date=30 August 1996 |title=Décret n° 96-774 du 30 août 1996 portant publication de la Convention des Nations unies sur le droit de la mer (ensemble neuf annexes), signée à Montego Bay le 10 décembre 1982, et de l'accord relatif à l'application de la partie XI de la Convention des Nations unies sur le droit de la mer du 10 décembre 1982, fait à New York le 28 juillet 1994 |trans-title=Decree No. 96-774 of August 30, 1996 publishing the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (all nine annexes), signed in Montego Bay on December 10, 1982, and the agreement relating to the application of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of December 10, 1982, done at New York on July 28, 1994 |url=https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000000378591 |language=fr |access-date=2023-04-06 |archive-date=2023-04-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412214026/https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000000378591 |url-status=live}}</ref> they reaffirmed the [[Exclusive economic zone of France|exclusive economic zone]] off Clipperton island which had been established in 1976.<ref>{{cite report |url=https://www.un.org/Depts/los/doalos_publications/LOSBulletins/bulletinpdf/bulletin74e.pdf |title=Law of the Sea |date=2011 |publisher=United Nations, Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs |location=New York, New York, United States of America |pages=63–68 |docket=Bulletin No. 74 |access-date=2023-04-12}}</ref> After changes were made to the area nations were allowed to claim under the third convention of UNCLOS<ref>{{cite report |url=https://www.un.org/Depts/los/doalos_publications/LOSBulletins/bulletinpdf/LOS_99_WEB.pdf |title=Law of the Sea |date=2019 |publisher=United Nations, Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs |location=New York, New York, United States of America |pages=24–25 |docket=Bulletin No. 99 |access-date=2023-04-12}}</ref> France in 2018 expanded the outer limits of the territorial sea to {{cvt|12|nmi|km|order=flip}} and the exclusive economic zone off Clipperton Island to {{cvt|200|nmi|km|order=flip}}, encompassing {{convert|431273|km2|mi2}} of ocean.<ref>{{cite act |type=Décret |index=2018–23 |date=16 January 2018 |title=Décret n° 2018–23 du 16 janvier 2018 établissant les limites extérieures de la mer territoriale et de la zone économique exclusive au large de l'île de Clipperton |trans-title=Decree No. 2018-23 of January 16, 2018 establishing the outer limits of the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone off Clipperton Island |url=https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/eli/decret/2018/1/16/2018-23/jo/texte |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Belgium |title=Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase: Maritime Boundaries and Exclusive Economic Zones (200NM) |date=2019 |url=http://www.vliz.be/en/imis?dasid=6316&doiid=386 |access-date=2023-04-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408211122/https://www.vliz.be/en/imis?dasid=6316&doiid=386 |url-status=live |chapter=Boundaries |others=Salvador Jesús Fernández Bejarano, Britt Lonneville, Paula Oset Garcia, Lennert Schepers, Lennert Tyberghein, Bart Vanhoorne, Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Belgium |publisher=VLIZ|doi=10.14284/386 |archive-date=8 April 2023}}</ref>

On 21 February 2007, administration of Clipperton was transferred from the [[High commissioner|High Commissioner]] of the Republic in [[French Polynesia]] to the Minister of Overseas France.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Murray |first=Fiona |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/772633376 |title=The European Union and member state territories : a new legal framework under the EU treaties |date=2012 |publisher=T.M.C. Asser Press |isbn=978-90-6704-826-2 |location=The Hague |oclc=772633376 |access-date=April 12, 2023 |archive-date=7 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230707144327/https://www.worldcat.org/title/772633376 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|99}}

In 2015, French MP [[Philippe Folliot]] set foot on Clipperton becoming the first elected official from France to do so. Folliot noted that visiting Clipperton was something he had wanted to do since he was nine years old.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-12-28 |title=Philippe Folliot, le sénateur des petits bouts de France |url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/philippe-folliot-le-senateur-des-petits-bouts-de-france-20211228 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230401090616/https://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/philippe-folliot-le-senateur-des-petits-bouts-de-france-20211228 |archive-date=1 April 2023 |access-date=2023-04-01 |website=LEFIGARO |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=FOLLIOT Philippe |url=https://www.nato-pa.int/members/folliot-philippe |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230401090621/https://www.nato-pa.int/members/folliot-philippe |archive-date=1 April 2023 |access-date=2023-04-01 |website=North Atlantic Treaty Organization Parliamentary Assembly}}</ref> Following the visit, Folliot reported to the [[National Assembly (France)|National Assembly]] on the pressing need to reaffirm French sovereignty over the atoll and its surrounding maritime claims. He also proposed establishing an international scientific research station on Clipperton and administrative reforms surrounding the oversight of the atoll.<ref>{{cite report |title=Rapport No. 4219 |date=2016-11-16 |language=fr |last=Folliot |first=Philippe |publisher=Assemblée Nationale |location=Paris, France |url=https://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/14/rapports/r4219.asp |access-date=2023-10-30}}</ref>

In 2022, France passed legislation officially referring to the island as "La Passion–Clipperton".<ref>{{cite act |type=Loi |index=2022-217 |date=2 February 2022 |article=263 |article-type=Article |legislature=French Assemblée nationale and Sénat |title=Relative à la différenciation, la décentralisation, la déconcentration et portant diverses mesures de simplification de l'action publique locale (1), Titre VIII : Dispositions relatives à l'Outre-Mer (Articles 239 à 268) |trans-title=Relating to differentiation, decentralization, deconcentration and on various measures to simplify local public action (1), Title VIII: Provisions relative to l'Outre-Mer |url=https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/article_jo/JORFARTI000045197535 |language=fr |access-date=2023-04-01 |archive-date=2022-11-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104220718/https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/article_jo/JORFARTI000045197535 |url-status=live}}</ref>