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United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an international agreement that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. As of May 2023, 168 countries and the European Union are parties.

Signed

10 December 1982

Montego Bay, Jamaica

16 November 1994[1]

60 ratifications

157[2]

Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish

The convention resulted from the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III), which took place between 1973 and 1982. UNCLOS replaced the four treaties of the 1958 Convention on the High Seas. UNCLOS came into force in 1994, a year after Guyana became the 60th nation to ratify the treaty.[1] In 2023, agreement was reached on a High Seas Treaty to be added as an instrument of the convention, to protect ocean life in international waters. This would provide measures including Marine Protected Areas and environmental impact assessments.


While the secretary-general of the United Nations receives instruments of ratification and accession and the UN provides support for meetings of states party to the convention, the United Nations Secretariat has no direct operational role in the implementation of the convention. A UN specialized agency, the International Maritime Organization, does play a role, however, as do other bodies such as the International Whaling Commission and the International Seabed Authority (ISA), which was established by the convention itself.

Background[edit]

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea replaces the older "freedom of the seas" concept, dating from the 17th century. According to this concept, national rights were limited to a specified belt of water extending from a nation's coastlines, usually 3 nautical miles (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) (three-mile limit), according to the "cannon shot" rule developed by the Dutch jurist Cornelius van Bynkershoek.[4] All waters beyond national boundaries were considered international waters: free to all nations, but belonging to none of them (the mare liberum principle propounded by Hugo Grotius).[5]


In the early 20th century, some nations expressed their desire to extend national claims: to include mineral resources, to protect fish stocks, and to provide the means to enforce pollution controls. The League of Nations called a 1930 conference at The Hague, but no agreements resulted.[6] Using the customary international-law principle of a nation's right to protect its natural resources, President Harry S. Truman in 1945 extended United States control to all the natural resources of its continental shelf. Other nations were quick to follow suit. Between 1946 and 1950, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador extended their rights to a distance of 200 nautical miles (370 km; 230 mi) to cover their Humboldt Current fishing grounds. Other nations extended their territorial seas to 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi).[7]


By 1967, only 25 nations still used the old three nautical mile limit,[8] while 66 nations had set a 12-nautical-mile (22 km) territorial limit[9] and eight had set a 200-nautical-mile (370 km) limit. As of 15 July 2011, only Jordan still uses the 3-mile (4.8 km) limit.[10] That limit is also used in certain Australian islands, an area of Belize, some Japanese straits, certain areas of Papua New Guinea, and a few British Overseas Territories, such as Gibraltar.[11]


UNCLOS does not deal with matters of territorial disputes or to resolve issues of sovereignty, as that field is governed by rules of customary international law on the acquisition and loss of territory.[12][13]


The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14 has a target regarding conservative and sustainable use of oceans and their resources in line with UNCLOS legal framework.[14]

entry into force: 10 September 1964

Convention on the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone

entry into force: 10 June 1964

Convention on the Continental Shelf

entry into force: 30 September 1962

Convention on the High Seas

entry into force: 20 March 1966

Convention on Fishing and Conservation of Living Resources of the High Seas

In 1958, the United Nations held its first Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS I) at Geneva, Switzerland. UNCLOS I[16] resulted in four treaties concluded in 1958:


Although UNCLOS I was considered a success, it left open the important issue of breadth of territorial waters.[15]

UNCLOS II[edit]

In 1960, the United Nations held the second Conference on the Law of the Sea ("UNCLOS II"); however, the six-week Geneva conference did not result in any new agreements.[15] Generally speaking, developing nations and third world countries participated only as clients, allies, or dependents of the United States or the Soviet Union, with no significant voice of their own.[8]

: Covers all water and waterways on the landward side of the baseline. The coastal state is free to set laws, regulate use, and use any resource. Foreign vessels have no right of passage within internal waters. A vessel in the high seas assumes jurisdiction under the internal laws of its flag state.

Internal waters

: Up to 12 nautical miles (22 kilometres; 14 miles) from the baseline, the coastal state is free to set laws, regulate the use, and use any resource; in essence, the coastal State enjoys Sovereign rights and sovereign jurisdiction within its territorial sea. Vessels were given the right of innocent passage through any territorial sea, with strategic straits allowing the passage of military craft as transit passage, in that naval vessels are allowed to maintain postures that would be illegal in the territorial sea. "Innocent passage" is defined by the convention as passing through waters in an expeditious and continuous manner, which is not "prejudicial to the peace, good order or the security" of the coastal state. Fishing, polluting, weapons practice, and spying are not "innocent", and submarines and other underwater vehicles are required to navigate on the surface and to show their flag. Nations can also temporarily suspend innocent passage in specific areas of their territorial sea, if doing so is essential for the protection of their security.

Territorial sea

: The convention set the definition of "Archipelagic States" in Part IV, which also defines how the state can draw its territorial borders. A baseline is drawn between the outermost points of the outermost islands, subject to these points being sufficiently close to one another. All waters inside this baseline are designated "Archipelagic Waters". The state has sovereignty over these waters mostly to the extent it has over internal waters, but subject to existing rights including traditional fishing rights of immediately adjacent states.[17] Foreign vessels have right of innocent passage through archipelagic waters, but archipelagic states may limit innocent passage to designated sea lanes.

Archipelagic waters

: Beyond the 12-nautical-mile (22 km) limit, there is a further 12 nautical miles (22 km) from the territorial sea baseline limit, the contiguous zone. Here a state can continue to enforce laws in four specific areas (customs, taxation, immigration, and pollution) if the infringement started or is about to occur within the state's territory or territorial waters.[18] This makes the contiguous zone a hot pursuit area.

Contiguous zone

(EEZs): These extend 200 nmi (370 km; 230 mi) from the baseline. Within this area, the coastal nation has sole exploitation rights over all natural resources. In casual use, the term may include the territorial sea and even the continental shelf. The EEZs were introduced to halt the increasingly heated clashes over fishing rights, although oil was also becoming important. The success of an offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico in 1947 was soon repeated elsewhere in the world, and by 1970 it was technically feasible to operate in waters 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) deep. Foreign nations have the freedom of navigation and overflight, subject to the regulation of the coastal states. Foreign states may also lay submarine pipes and cables.

Exclusive economic zones

: The continental shelf is defined as the natural prolongation of the land territory to the continental margin's outer edge, or 200 nautical miles (370 km) from the coastal state's baseline, whichever is greater. A state's continental shelf may exceed 200 nautical miles (370 km) until the natural prolongation ends. However, it may never exceed 350 nmi (650 km; 400 mi) from the baseline; nor may it exceed 100 nmi (190 km; 120 mi) beyond the 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) isobath (the line connecting the depth of 2 500 m). Coastal states have the right to harvest mineral and non-living material in the subsoil of its continental shelf, to the exclusion of others. Coastal states also have exclusive control over living resources "attached" to the continental shelf, but not to creatures living in the water column beyond the exclusive economic zone.

Continental shelf

The issue of varying claims of territorial waters was raised in the UN in 1967 by Arvid Pardo of Malta, and in 1973 the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea convened in New York. In an attempt to reduce the possibility of groups of nation-states dominating the negotiations, the conference used a consensus process rather than majority vote. With more than 160 nations participating, the conference lasted until 1982. The resulting convention came into force on 16 November 1994, one year after the 60th state, Guyana, ratified the treaty.


The convention introduced a number of provisions. The most significant issues covered were setting limits, navigation, archipelagic status and transit regimes, exclusive economic zones (EEZs), continental shelf jurisdiction, deep seabed mining, the exploitation regime, protection of the marine environment, scientific research, and settlement of disputes.


The convention set the limit of various areas, measured from a carefully defined baseline. (Normally, a sea baseline follows the low-water line, but when the coastline is deeply indented, has fringing islands or is highly unstable, straight baselines may be used.) The areas are as follows:


The area outside these areas is referred to as the "high seas" or simply "the Area".[19][20]


Aside from its provisions defining ocean boundaries, the convention establishes general obligations for safeguarding the marine environment and protecting freedom of scientific research on the high seas, and also creates an innovative legal regime for controlling mineral resource exploitation in deep seabed areas beyond national jurisdiction, through an International Seabed Authority and the common heritage of mankind principle.[21]


The convention also established the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg, Germany.


Landlocked states are given a right of access to and from the sea, without taxation of traffic through transit states.[22]

Part XII – Protecting the marine environment[edit]

Part XII of UNCLOS contains special provisions for the protection of the marine environment, obligating all states to collaborate in this matter, as well as placing special obligations on flag states to ensure that ships under their flags adhere to international environmental regulations, often adopted by the IMO. The MARPOL convention is an example of such regulation. Part XII also bestows coastal and port states with broadened jurisdictional rights for enforcing international environmental regulation within their territory and on the high seas.[25]

Virginia Commentary

 – Intergovernmental body to regulate mineral-related activities on the seabed

International Seabed Authority

 – Automatic tracking system that uses transceivers on ships

Automatic identification system

 – Law of the oceans and their use

Admiralty law

 – Regulation of fishing

Fisheries management

 – International maritime legal concept

Freedom of navigation

 – Intergovernmental organization

International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea

 – International law concerning maritime environments

Law of the sea

 – Principle of maritime law

Law of salvage

 – Evaluation of action by Israeli navy

Legal assessments of the Gaza flotilla raid

 – Security portions of customary maritime law

Maritime Security Regimes

 – 1936 agreement on the Turkish Straits

Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits

 – Naval blockade of Adriatic, 1993–96

Operation Sharp Guard

 – Disputes over ownership of islands in the South China Sea

Territorial disputes in the South China Sea

 – Coastal waters that are part of a sovereign state's sovereign territory

Territorial waters

 – American involvement in drafting but non-ratification

United States and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

 – 1989 statement of common understanding

US/USSR Joint Statement on Uniform Acceptance of Rules of International Law Governing Innocent Passage

United Nations General Assembly resolution

 – 1971 international agreement limiting nuclear weapons on the sea floor

Seabed Arms Control Treaty

 – Issues around EU cable infrastructure

European Union submarine internet cables

List of territories governed by the United Nations

Enyew, Endalew Lijalem (2022). "". 21(3) Chinese Journal of International Law.

Sailing with TWAIL: A Historical Inquiry into Third World Perspectives on the Law of the Sea

Sara McLaughlin Mitchell and Andrew P. Owsiak (2021). "." American Journal of International Law.

Judicialization of the Sea: Bargaining in the Shadow of UNCLOS

(pdf)

Text of the treaty

List of countries that have ratified Law of the Sea Conventions

International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea

Permanent Court of Arbitration – Past and Pending Cases

and Contents & Indexes

Decisions of the World Court Relevant to the UNCLOS (2010)

United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea

UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf

(PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 May 2013. Retrieved 12 September 2011. (4.89 MB)

"Technical aspects of the UN Law of the Sea"

UNEP Shelf Programme, UN organisation set up to assist States in delineating their continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles (370 km)

UNCLOS Italian Database

EEZ/CS Boundaries Canadian Database

Digital Map of the World's Exclusive Economic Zones

SOPAC Maritime Boundaries Database

procedural history note and audiovisual material on the 1958 Geneva Conventions on the Law of the Sea in the Historic Archives of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law

Introductory note by Tullio Treves

procedural history note and audiovisual material on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in the Historic Archives of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law

Introductory note by Tullio Treves