PPT_1-_Law_of_the_Sea law of the sea....

Law of the sea

1. PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW LAW OF THE SEA

2. WHAT IS LAW OF THE SEA? The law of the sea comprises the rules governing the use of the sea, including its resources and environment. The law of the sea covers rights, freedoms and obligations in areas such as shipping, territorial seas and waters and the high seas, fishing, wrecks and cultural heritage, protection of the marine environment and dispute settlement. 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 the international agreement that resulted from the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III), which took place between 1973 and 1982. The Law of the Sea Convention defines the rights and responsibilities of nations with respect to their use of the world's oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources.

3. Law of the sea has developed steadily and gradually since the time of Grotius The classic principle of ‘mare liberium ’ or ‘freedom of the seas’ has been eclipsed. The law developed out of well-settled usages culminating in customary law. Many nations made sweeping claims to protect their economic and military interests. These developments stressed the urgency for the codification of law in order to strive uniformity and resolve maritime conflicts among nations. The matter was put on the agenda of the International Law Commission in 1949.

4. On the basis of the drafts prepared by the ILC, in 1958, the First United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea took place at Geneva. Geneva Convention on the Law of Sea, 1958 The convention was attended by 82 States, which adopted the following four conventions: 1. Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, 2. Convention on the High Sea, 3. Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the Living Resources 4. Convention on the Continental Shelf. The most important issue which was left undecided was the breadth of the territorial sea. It was so because all the states were not agreeable to one and the same limit of the territorial sea.

5. Geneva Convention on the Law of Sea, 1960 In order to resolve this specific issue, Second Conference on the Law of Sea was held in 1960, at Geneva, but it again failed due to different claims of the States. However, it was realized that both these conference on the Law of the Sea were inadequate and left many matters unsettled. This made it imperative to reformulate the law of the sea in composite form to make it conducive to the new interests and demands of all concerned and paved the way to hold the Third Law of the Sea Conference.

6. Third United Nations Conference on the Law of Sea In 1967 the representative of Malta, Arvid Pardo gave a survey of the mineral resources of the sea-bed before the First Committee of the General Assembly of the United Nations. His survey coupled with the acute and urgent need of the minerals and other factors such as military and strategic aspects necessitated to lay down such laws which may possibly control and regulate the sea in a more effective way. The move was to secure the mineral wealth of the oceans as well as to avoid the militarization of the deep seabed. This led to the formation of a 42 member Ad hoc Seabed Committee in 190, the General Assembly adopted a declaration of Principles Governing the Seabed and Oceans floor, and the Sub-soil thereof, beyond the limits of National Jurisdiction, which proclaimed that the exploitation of these areas should be carried out for the benefit of the mankind as a whole. The First session of the Third UN Conference on the law of the sea was held in New York in 1973. At the end of nine years in 12 sessions, the Conference adopted the Law of the Sea Convention in 1982.

7. Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982 The Convention consists of 320 Articles spread over 17 parts and nine annexes. Apart from these, there are four resolutions. The Convention comprises the ground covered by the four Geneva Convention of 1958 and creates some new regimes.In fact, many of the provisions repeat verbatim or in essence the provisions of the Geneva Conventions, or give more detailed rules on matters covered by them. It contains provisions on those matters on the new legal regimes of Exclusive Economic Zone and the deep sea-bed. The Convention contains detailed machinery for the settlement of disputes, including an International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. It also provides for the compulsory judicial settlement of most of the disputes that may arise under the Convention, at the request of one of the parties to the dispute. In the case Concerning the Continental Shelf between Libya and Malta , the Court observed that ‘the 1982 Convention is of major importance, having been adopted by an overwhelming majority of States; hence it is clearly the duty of the court to consider in what degree any of its relevant provisions are binding upon the parties as a rule of customary international law’, and noted that the provisions on the continental shelf reflect the customary law of the continental shelf. Thus, the Convention is a major achievement and its ambit is very wide.

8. Maritime Belt or Territorial Sea Maritime belt or territorial sea is that part of the sea which is adjacent to the coastal State and which is bounded by the high seas, on its outer edge. The coastal State exercises its sovereignty over this area as it exercises over its internal waters. The sovereignty extends to the airspace over the territorial sea as well as its bed and sub-soil. This sovereignty accrues to a State under the customary international law which no State can refuse. However, the sovereignty over this area has to be exercised subject to the provisions of the conventions and ‘to other rules of international law’, which provides certain rights to other States, particularly right of ‘innocent passage’ in the territorial waters of the State. The breadth of the Territorial Sea: Article 3 of the 1982 Sea Convention limits the breadth of the territorial sea to 12 nautical miles ‘measured from baselines determined in accordance with the Convention’. Two methods have been laid down for measuring the breadth of the territorial sea: the low-water line and the straight baseline. Click Here to Read More about Territorial Sea/Waters

9. India’s Position on Territorial Waters India’s position in relation to the law of the sea is generally governed by Article 297 of the Constitution of India, and the Territorial Water, Continental Shelf, EEZ and other Maritime Zones Acts. The Maritime Zones Act proclaims the sovereignty of India over the territorial waters of India and the seabed and sub-soil underlying and the airspace over such water. The limit of the territorial is the line every point of which is at a distance of 12 nautical miles from the nearest point of the appropriate baseline. All foreign ships are given the right of innocent passage through the territorial waters.