The UNA USA supports the ratification of the Law of the Sea Convention.

The U.N. Convention of the Law of the Sea has been signed by the President but not yet ratified by the U.S. Senate.

Below is some background on this U.N. Treaty.

Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea

On 1 November 1967, Malta's Ambassador to the United Nations, Arvid Pardo, asked the nations of the world to look around them and open their eyes to a looming conflict that could devastate the oceans, the lifeline of man's very survival. In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly, he spoke of the super-Power rivalry that was spreading to the oceans, of the pollution that was poisoning the seas, of the conflicting legal claims and their implications for a stable order and of the rich potential that lay on the seabed.

Pardo ended with a call for "an effective international regime over the seabed and the ocean floor beyond a clearly defined national jurisdiction". "It is the only alternative by which we can hope to avoid the escalating tension that will be inevitable if the present situation is allowed to continue", he said.

When the Senate Foreign Relations las held hearings on the Law of the Sea under the chair of Senator Luger, they voted 19-0 to recommend the Law of the Sea be reatified.

Some of the key benefits the Senate Foreign Relations Committee cited include:

 - Helps restore U.S. Ocean Leadership, protect U.S. Ocean interests and enhance foreign policy.

 - Broad support from the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, Pew Ocean Commission,

    environmentalists, oil industry, fishing industry, shipping industry, international law

    enforcement, and antiterrorism organizations.

 - Representatives from the Dept. of Defense, Coast Guard, and Dept. of State said UNCLOS        

    would enhance national security and economic interests.

The Conference was convened in New York in 1973. It ended nine years later with the adoption in 1982 of a constitution for the seas - the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. During those nine years, shuttling back and forth between New York and Geneva, representatives of more than 160 sovereign States sat down and discussed the issues, bargained and traded national rights and obligations in the course of the marathon negotiations that produced the Convention.

Some of the Key Provisions of the Law of the Sea include:

 - Setting Limits a prescribed limit of 12 miles to claim as territorial waters

 - Allowing the right of navigation through waters for peaceful purposes

 - Allowing a country to create an exclusive Economic Zone (up to 200 miles)

 - Allowing for lager zones based on the Continental Shelf (beyond 200 miles)

 - Designating that deep sea bed mining is a common herritage for all people 

    and setting roayalties to be shared for all.

 - Creating the Sea Bed Authority in Jamaica (management of sea bed mining.) 

 - Protection of the Environment (perhaps the worlds best hope for addressing climate change)

 - Marine Scientific Research (coastal states retain jurisdiction but reasonable access is to be        

    given without delay for conducting research)

 - Settlement of Disputes (11 member panel is created to resolve ocean disputes)

There has been broad based support for ratification of the Law of the Sea Convention because most realize it as a good base for international marine policy.

One poll a few years ago reported that as many as 95 U.S. Senators were in favor of ratifying the treaty but then Majority leader Bill Frist would not allow it to come to a vote.

The Law of the Sea benefits the United States in many ways including:

 - Providing the ability for U.S. to engage

    constructively in international management of

    ocean resources.

 - Helping address the need for a new ocean

    ethic for emerging issues in offshore waters

    such as aquaculture, renewable energy, etc.

 - Providing the U.S. the ability to have international claim to its territorial waters as defined in

    the UNCLOS.

With the state of the Oceans in critical need of attention, it is time the Law of the Sea Convention be ratified. by the U.S. Senate.

Watch the NY Times Video Battle for the Arctic that describes the value of the Law of the Sea Convention. Video adapted from a one hour documentary.

Watch the video Clidk Here