Law of the Sea

The law of the sea is a corpus of international law that controls the territorial jurisdictions of coastal states. It defines the liability related to the environment, Maritime resources, business, boundaries, rights of the nation, and the resources available in the sea. Many people believe that maritime law and the law of the sea are the same, but this is not the case. There is a significant distinction, just as there is between private international law and public international law. The law of the sea deals with maritime commerce important to our economy. On the other hand, Maritime law, also known as admiralty law, is a body of law that governs private Maritime disputes and nautical issues.

United Nation Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)

The significant agreement in the law of the sea is the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982. It was formed after the third United Nations conference on this law, held between 1973 and 1982 across multiple sessions. The United Nations Convention on the sea law was signed on 10 December 1982 at Montego Bay, Jamaica, effective from 16 November 1994.

It took 16 years for this law to become effective since the treaty stipulated that it would enter into force after one year if 60 countries brought their massive truck regulations into compliance with the convention. On 18 November 1993, Guyana became the 16th country to ratify it. 

The United Nations Convention on the Sea Law is a large convention with 320 articles separated into seven divisions and nine annexures. This article covers all the significant aspects of the law. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) addresses the legal aspects of the 1958 and 1960 Geneva Conventions on the Law of the Sea.

History of the Law of Sea

As mentioned earlier, the law of sea comprises the rules for using the sea, including its resources and environment. It concerns sea mineral claims, coastal water during digestion, and maritime rights. It is one of the main subjects of international law and combines treaties and the establishment of customary law. There was a lot of controversy between countries about using the sea. All nations had different claims about the utility and in reconciling these claims and disagreements. Two United Nations conferences were held to resolve this matter. The first Geneva United Nations conference on the sea law happened in 1958. It was attended by 82 states, which adopted four traditions.

The second Geneva United Nations conference on the law of sea in 1960 was held to fix the breadth of the territorial sea. However, it could not achieve success. After the 3rd conference in 1973, the law was adopted to benefit developing nations.

Requirement of the Law of Sea

Many countries realised that there are many resources in the sea that they could use. Around 1960, people realised that they had the technology to extract those resources. The ocean floor contains magnetic iron, copper-nickel, cobalt, etc. But there was a problem. According to the prevailing law of the high seas, countries had no restrictions. This means anyone can take whatever they want because all the wealthy governments and corporations could have exploited these resources for their benefit. 

In particular, the landlocked countries, as well as the developing nations, would have got nothing. To solve this problem, the law of the high seas was changed, and the UNCLOS direction of the sea came to maintain the balance between all the countries related to the sea’s resources.

What changes does it bring?

UNCLOS 3 brought a huge change. The conference was held under the concept of the common heritage of humanity. Today everyone has the right to use the resources, but previously, only wealthy countries could do that under the freedom of the high seas. It was a positive change because the healthy, robust, and enormous army could not exploit all the resources. Subsequently, there can be an equal distribution between everyone. There was a black-and-white situation that stated complex fundamental rights around their boundaries.

Still, after the mentioned boundary, freedom of the high seas was absolute. In essence, people could do anything they wanted and extract anything from that part of the sea, which was changed. We can also say that the mare liberum, which means the sea is open to all nations, was changed. 

It has reduced the freedom of the high seas, but it has also brought changes to the reason rights faced by making certain zones. This means the rights are decreasing in the areas moving towards the sea; they made many zones.

Other Important Aspects of UNCLOS

• It establishes an international tribunal for the law of the sea as a dispute resolution body. Thus, anytime a dispute arises concerning the application and interpretation of the sea convention, it falls under ITLOS on all subjects provided in an argument conferring jurisdiction to the tribunal.
• It establishes an international seabed authority that specifies the boundaries of national jurisdiction; it has helped avoid many conflicts between countries. It sets the commission on the continental shelf’s borders; a country can gain an extra 150 nautical miles by applying here.
• A country must submit a continental shelf report indicating the size of its continental shelf. Then it determines whether they are correct or not, and it also determines the country’s actual continental shelf area. All scientists work together to organise things based on science and geography.