Maintain America’s Leadership on the Oceans

Time is running out for the United States on the the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. This is the most important immediate U.S. oceans interest, and it is critical to preserving our leadership in supporting the rule of law among nations. President Clinton signed and sent it to the Senate in 1994, where it has languished. If it is not ratified before summer, the United States will be excluded from one of the agreement’s principal policymaking bodies.

The convention, a paradigm of nonpartisan foreign policy, was negotiated under three Republican administrations, ultimately rejected by the Reagan administration because of flaws on deep seabed mining and subsequently renegotiated under a Democratic administration, which insisted on meeting all of President Reagan’s conditions. The revised agreement is now in force for more than 120 nations, including most of our NATO allies.

No U.S. interest is served by nonadherence, and there are powerful reasons, particularly naval mobility, that support adherence. At stake is the maintenance of U.S. effectiveness in protecting navigational freedom; U.S. participation in important oceans institutions; U.S. leadership in promoting the rule of law; and provision of a vehicle for placing critical U.S. interpretation of oceans law on the record.

This country has fought at least two major wars to preserve navigational freedoms: the War of 1812 and World War I. In Point II of his famous Fourteen Points at the end of World War I, Woodrow Wilson said we should secure “absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas . . . alike in peace and in war.” The convention’s provisions meet all requirements of the U.S. Navy and the Commerce Department. Illegal claims affecting navigation and those inconsistent with the convention, such as historical bay and baseline claims, territorial sea claims, exclusive economic zones claims and straits claims, now number nearly 150. U.S. nonadherence handcuffs Uncle Sam in the continuing and critical struggle against such illegal claims.

The law also would enable the United States to participate in important oceans institutions and in the mechanisms for the settlement of oceans disputes, with the inclusion of Americans as judges. We also would be able to participate in the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, giving us a voice in finalizing criteria for delimitation of the shelf. If the U.S. does not join the convention by the next meeting of the International Seabed Authority this summer, it may lose the slot being held for it in the authority. It will not be able to continue its participation in the group. The United States must help shape that agency to keep it limited and responsive to commercial realities.

The United States has been a principal leader in promoting a basic constitution for the world’s oceans that would protect our common global heritage in navigational freedom, the oceans environment, fish stocks and other oceans interests. U.S. leadership and input are needed more than ever and adherence to the convention would allow that to continue.

America has had a vital say in developing the Convention on the Law of the Sea and was the most important player in the navigational and environmental provisions. However, more than 50 nations have made statements about the convention’s meaning, many of which seek to curtail the common heritage for special interests. By adhering to the convention, America will get its opportunity to attach vitally important interpretations that could be decisive in the ongoing struggle for oceans law.

Furthermore, since the United States led the world in negotiating the convention, if we back away, we’ll lose influence, not only in the Law of the Sea but also in our ability to influence other important negotiations.

There simply is no U.S. interest that is served by nonadherence. The principal provisions of the convention are already customary international law, accepted by the United States as binding.

Thomas Jefferson said: “The ocean, like the air, is the common birthright of mankind.” Let’s keep it that way and adhere now to the Law of the Sea Convention.