Law of the Sea United Nations

From 1982 to 1990, the United States accepted everything except Part XI as customary international law while attempting to establish an alternative regime for the exploitation of deep seabed minerals. An agreement has been concluded with other seabed mining countries and licences have been granted to four international consortia. At the same time, the Preparatory Commission was established to prepare for the possible entry into force of the rights of applicants sponsored by signatories to the Convention, as recognized by the Convention. The overlaps between the two groups have been resolved, but a decline in demand for seabed minerals has made the seabed regime much less relevant. Moreover, the decline of socialism and the fall of communism in the late 1980s removed much of the support for some of the more controversial provisions of Part XI. The issue of various territorial claims was raised at the United Nations in 1967 by Arvid Pardo of Malta, and in 1973 the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea met in New York. In an attempt to reduce the possibility of groups of nation-states dominating the negotiations, the conference used a consensus process instead of majority voting. With more than 160 nations participating, the conference lasted until 1982. The resulting convention entered into force on 16 November 1994, one year after the treaty was ratified by the 60th state, Guyana.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also known as the Convention on the Law of the Sea or the Law of the Sea, is an international agreement that emerged from the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III), which took place between 1973 and 1982. The Convention defines the rights and obligations of nations with respect to the use of the world`s oceans and establishes guidelines for business, the environment and the management of marine natural resources. The 1982 Convention replaced the 1958 Lake of Four Lakes Lakes Agreement. UNCLOS entered into force in 1994, a year after Guyana became the 60th country to ratify the treaty. [1] As of June 2016, 167 countries and the European Union had acceded to the Convention. The extent to which the Convention codifies customary international law is questionable. In 1960, the United Nations organized the Second Conference on the Law of the Sea (“UNCLOS II”); However, the six-week Geneva conference did not lead to new agreements. [12] In general, developing and Third World countries participated only as customers, allies, or dependents of the United States or the Soviet Union, with no significant voice of their own. [14] UNCLOS replaces the old concept of “freedom of the seas” of the 17th century.

According to this concept, national rights were limited to a specific water belt extending from the coast of a country, usually 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) (three-mile limit), according to the “cannon shot” rule developed by Dutch jurist Cornelius van Bynkershoek. [4] All waters beyond national borders were considered international waters: free for all nations, but not belonging to any of them (principle of mare liberum proclaimed by Hugo Grotius). [5] In the early 20th century, some nations expressed a desire to broaden national claims: include mineral resources, protect fish stocks, and provide the means to enforce pollution controls. (The League of Nations convened a conference in The Hague in 1930, but no agreement was reached. [6]) Applying the customary international principle of a nation`s right to protect its natural resources, President Harry S. Truman extended U.S. control to all natural resources on its continental shelf in 1945. Other nations soon followed. Between 1946 and 1950, Chile, Peru and Ecuador extended their rights to a distance of 200 nautical miles (370 km) to cover their fishing grounds in the Humboldt Current. Other nations have extended their territorial seas to 12 nautical miles (22 km). [7] In 1967, only 25 nations were still using the old 3-mile (4.8 km) limit,[8] while 66 nations had established a territorial limit of 12 nautical miles (22 km)[9] and eight had established a boundary of 200 nautical miles (370 km).