Guardians of the SEA

A Presentation on UNCLOS
The law of the sea is one of the oldest
disciplines in international law. It is primarily
concerned with the rules which bind states in
their international relations concerning
maritime matters which are basically molded by
the political, geographical and economic
relations of states.
 Brief Background

UNCLOS 1
UNCLOS 2
The First and Second UN Conferences on the Law of the Sea
aimed to develop agreements that would govern uses of the oceans,
establish seaward limits on the breadth of the territorial sea, and settle
on the jurisdiction of coastal states over resources beyond the
territorial sea. The first conference, held in 1958, produced four
treaties: on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, on the
Continental Shelf, on the High Seas, and on Fishing and the
Conservation of Living Resources on the High Seas. That conference,
however, could not reach agreement on the maximum breadth of the
territorial sea or the seaward extent of national jurisdiction over the
continental shelf. The second conference, held in 1960, aimed to
standardize the breadth of the territorial sea, but also failed to reach
agreement, mainly because the United States and other maritime
countries refused to accept a territorial sea broader than 6 miles.
UNCLOS 3
The Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III)
convened in 1973 with 160 countries participating in nine years of
negotiations with the goal of creating a comprehensive framework for the
regulation of all activities on, under, and over the ocean. Important features
of the Convention include navigational rights, territorial sea limits, economic
jurisdiction, legal status of resources on the seabed beyond the limits of
national jurisdiction, passage of ships through narrow straits, conservation
and management of living marine resources, protection of the marine
environment, a marine research regime and, a binding procedure for the
settlement of disputes between States. In 1982, the UN Convention on the
Law of the Sea was adopted, despite strong objections to many of the
provisions of Part XI, on seabed mining from the industrialized states. On 16
November 1994, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea entered into force,
and presently, around 138 countries including the European Union have
become parties to the agreement.
 definition
• A treaty is an international agreement
embodied in a single formal instrument made
between entities that are subject to
international law possessed of international
states and treaty-making capacity, intended to
create rights and obligations, or to establish
relationships.
• Types of Waters Recognized Under The Convention
•

• There are seven types of waters with varying regimes recognized under the Convention, namely: (1) Internal Waters; (2) Territorial Sea; (3) Archipelagic Waters; (4) Contiguous Zone; (5)
200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone; (6) Straits used for International Navigation; and (7) High Seas.
•
• a. Internal Waters – All waters on the landward side of the baselines of the territorial sea from which the width of the territorial sea is measured. Thus, internal waters consist of ports, harbors, rivers, lakes, canals, and all
waters on the landward side. The baseline is normally the low-water mark along the shore. Under Article 2 of the Convention, internal waters fall under the sovereignty of the coastal state; therefore, the coastal state has
the right to prohibit entry into its ports by foreign ships. However, there are two exceptions:
•
– 1. When a right of innocent passage has previously existed;
– 2. When a ship is seeking refuge from a storm or is severely damaged.
•
• b. Territorial Sea - This refers to the waters adjacent to the coasts or a state, excluding the internal waters in bays and gulfs, which do not form part of the open sea. The Convention fixes the maximum breadth of the
territorial sea a state may claim at 12 miles seaward from the baseline.
•
– Innocent Passage - The Convention confirms the right, established in customary international practice of all ships to innocent passage through the territorial sea. It specifies activities of ships not considered innocent. The regime of innocent passage
does not include the right of over flight or submerged passage.
•
– Transit Passage - The Convention also confirms the right, established in customary international practice, of all ships and aircraft to unimpeded passage in the normal mode through, over, and under the territorial sea when transiting an international
strait without a high-seas route through it.
•
• c. Archipelagic Waters – All waters inside the archipelagic baselines are archipelagic waters. The archipelagic state exercises sovereignty over said waters as stipulated in Part IV of the Convention.
•

• Archipelagic Sea Lanes Passage – The exercise of the right of navigation and over flight in the normal mode for the purpose of continuous, expeditious, and unobstructed transit
between one part and another of the high seas or an exclusive economic zone. The archipelagic sea lanes passage may be exercised through the routes normally used for international
navigation.
•
 • d. Contiguous Zone - The Convention recognizes the right of a state to enforce its customs, fiscal, immigration, and sanitary laws in a
contiguous zone adjacent to the seaward limit of the territorial sea, which can extend as far as 24 miles from the baseline. The
freedoms of navigation and over flight, as well as other internationally lawful uses of the seas related to these freedoms, including the
right to lay submarine cables and pipelines, are the same in the contiguous zone as on the high seas.
•
• e. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) - The Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is the zone extending seaward from the outer limit of the
territorial sea out to 200 miles from the baseline. The coastal state has sovereign rights within this zone for the exploration and
exploitation of living and non-living resources, establishment and use of artificial islands, installations and structures, and the
preservation of the marine environment.
•

• The freedoms of navigation and over flight, as well as other internationally lawful uses of the seas related to these
freedoms, including the right to lay submarine cables and pipelines, are the same in EEZs as on the high seas.
•

• Foreign states may also undertake military activities in EEZs, with due regard for the rights and duties of the
coastal state. Foreign vessels fishing for straddling stocks and highly migratory species in the portions of the high
seas adjacent to EEZs must have due regard for the impact their actions might have on coastal state interests.
•
• f. Straits Used for International Navigation – are those between one area of the high seas zone and another part of the high seas or
an exclusive economic zone through which all ships and aircraft have the right of transit passage.
•
• g. High Seas– are all parts of the sea that are not included in the exclusive economic zone, the territorial sea, or the internal waters of
a state or in the archipelagic waters of an archipelagic state. It is open to all states.
• What are the steps taken by the state in its
duty to uphold the UNCLOS
• Duty of foreign nation to respect and rebilitate
disturbed and destructed natural resources
• Tubataha
• Oil spill
SOUTH CHINA SEA
THE MOST HOTLY CONTESTED WATERS ON
EARTH