‘UN Convention on the Law of the Sea is still the constitution of oceans’
A veteran international law figure who presided over the concluding phase of the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea reaffirmed that the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) remains the foundational legal framework governing the world's oceans.
The discussion noted that UNCLOS has near-universal acceptance, with 168–170-plus states and the European Union as parties, making it one of the most widely ratified multilateral treaties.
It was pointed out that even though the United States has signed but not ratified UNCLOS, it still treats the Convention's provisions as customary international law and the authoritative reference for maritime rights and boundaries.
The conversation underlined UNCLOS's continuing relevance amid rising disputes over maritime boundaries, freedom of navigation, deep seabed resources and climate-linked sea-level change.
UNCLOS — The "Constitution for the Oceans"
UNCLOS is a comprehensive multilateral treaty concluded in 1982 that codifies the rights and responsibilities of states in their use of the world's oceans, covering navigation, resource exploitation, environmental protection and dispute settlement. It emerged from the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea (1973–1982), and its final session president famously described it as "a constitution for the oceans" because it comprehensively replaced a patchwork of customary rules with a single codified framework.
The claim that UNCLOS is "near universal" rests on its ratification by roughly 170 states plus the EU; its authority is reinforced by the fact that even non-ratifying major powers like the United States operate by its rules as customary international law, which is exactly the point being made in the current discussion.
India and UNCLOS
India signed UNCLOS in 1982 and ratified it in 1995, incorporating its maritime zone definitions into domestic law through the Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and Other Maritime Zones Act, 1976 (amended to align with UNCLOS). India has actively used UNCLOS mechanisms, including submitting claims to the CLCS for an extended continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea.
Key Details
- India's territorial sea extends 12 nautical miles, its EEZ extends 200 nautical miles from the baseline, granting it sovereign rights over an EEZ of roughly 2.4 million sq km, in addition to a comparable land area.
- India filed its continental shelf submission with the CLCS in 2009, seeking recognition of an extended continental shelf beyond 200 nm.
- India has separately used UNCLOS's compulsory dispute settlement provisions, most notably in the 2014 Bay of Bengal maritime boundary arbitration with Bangladesh under UNCLOS Annex VII.
India's status as an early and active UNCLOS party (both accepting its zone framework and using its dispute-resolution architecture) illustrates the "constitutional" role UNCLOS plays for coastal states, which is the central theme of the current commentary.
UNCLOS and Contemporary Maritime Disputes
UNCLOS is frequently invoked in ongoing disputes such as the South China Sea, where competing claims over islands, reefs and EEZs test the Convention's enforcement limits since it has no independent mechanism to compel compliance by non-consenting states.
Key Details
- The 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling in the Philippines v. China case (brought under UNCLOS Annex VII) rejected China's expansive "nine-dash line" claim, but China refused to recognise the tribunal's jurisdiction or comply with the award.
- Because UNCLOS lacks a standing enforcement force, compliance depends on diplomatic pressure, freedom-of-navigation operations by other states, and reputational costs for non-compliance.
The description of UNCLOS as authoritative "even for non-parties" like the US, contrasted with instances of non-compliance by ratifying states like China, highlights the gap between UNCLOS's near-universal legal acceptance and the practical challenge of enforcement, a recurring theme in current maritime affairs.
- UNCLOS: signed 1982, entered into force 1994; roughly 168–170 states plus the EU are parties (near-universal, though the US has not ratified).
- Maritime zones under UNCLOS: Territorial Sea (12 nm), Contiguous Zone (24 nm), EEZ (200 nm), Continental Shelf (up to 350 nm with CLCS approval).
- Key institutions: ITLOS (Hamburg), International Seabed Authority (Kingston, Jamaica), CLCS.
- India ratified UNCLOS in 1995; filed its extended continental shelf submission with the CLCS in 2009.