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United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

Official Name

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

Dates

The Convention was first open to signature in Jamaica on 9 December 1984. It came into effect in 1994

Languages

The Convention was written in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Chinese

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was written to establish rules for the sea in areas that were considered blurred, such as fishing in waters near another nation's border. The Convention establishes the Right of Innocent Passage - the right to travel through all waters with peaceful intent; as well as the Exclusive Economic Zone - the distance from the coastline a country is permitted to have control over all natural resources, regardless of off-shore ports or establishments.

Key Points of the Treaty

Every sovereign state whose land borders any body of water that is not landlocked has the right to enforce their border up to 12 nautical miles from the coast. The country bordering the water has the right to utilise the resources in the water up to 200 nautical miles from the coast.

All ships, regardless of belonging to a particular country, have the right of travelling through all seas unharmed, unless they are travelling with intention of breaking the peace or laws of the country the ship is travelling through, such as firing weapons, the launching or taking of military craft, fishing, or interfering with communications of any other country.

Submarines must travel on the surface of the water flying the flag of their home country whilst travelling through foreign waters. Countries bordering the water cannot stop a ship from travelling freely through the water.

Current Events Concerning the Treaty

Since the Convention was brought into force many parties have had issues with illegal fishing in territorial waters, such as Australia and Japan. In the late 1990's the Japanese were caught in South Pacific waters, particularly Australian and New Zealand waters, fishing for Southern Bluefin Tuna. The Australian Government took legal action against Japan which lead to the Japanese being banned from fishing for Southern Bluefin Tuna. In more recent times there have been issues with the Japanese hunting whales in Australian and New Zealand waters that has yet to be resolved.

Resources Used:

"UNCLOS and Agreement on Part XI - Preamble and frame index." Welcome to the UN. It's your world. 11 Jan. 2009 <http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/closindx.htm>.

"Chronological lists of ratifications of." Welcome to the UN. It's your world. 12 Jan. 2009 <http://www.un.org/Depts/los/reference_files/chronological_lists_of_ratifications.htm>.

NewsBank, inc. A Premier Information Provider. 13 Feb. 2009 <http://www.newsbank.com/>.