Third United Nations Conference On The Law Of The Sea Fifth Session New York 2 August To 17 September 1976

International Law of the Sea and Marine Affairs

Volume VI is the sixth substantive volume to be published in the series. It deals with the work of the First Committee at the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea, namely the international seabed area. The volume thus embraces the deep seabed mining regime set out in Part XI of the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea together with the 1994 Agreement on its implementation. Completion of this commentary was delayed first by the consultations and negotiations that commenced in 1990 and led to the 1994 Agreement and the entry into force of the Convention. It was further delayed until the Assembly of the International Seabed Authority approved the detailed mining regulations in 2000. Additional supplementary material can be found at UNCLOS 1982 Commentary: Supplementary Documents.

These commentaries are based almost entirely on the formal and informal documentation of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III, 1973-1982), coupled, where necessary, with the personal knowledge of editors, contributors, or reviewers, many of whom were principal negotiators or UN personnel who participated in the Conference.

This book focuses on the legal and procedural problems caused by China’s default in the South China Sea Arbitration. Many of these problems arose because in several respects, China departed from the conduct of other defaulting States in cases before the International Court of Justice. The book argues that the Tribunal, confronted with the difficulties of maintaining the balance between two parties in a situation of default, drew on the full range of its powers to ensure that neither China nor the Philippines would suffer from China’s default. Further, the book describes the shortcomings of the submissions of putative amicus curiae. It refutes China’s questioning of the independence and impartiality of the experts and of the judges. In so doing, it explains the expert opinions and the Tribunal ’s assessments of the latter in the areas of satellite imagery, coral reef ecology, and navigational safety, while rebutting the half- truths and counter-truths disseminated by Chinese scholars about the proceedings. The book compares China’s threats to the independence of the Tribunal to its behavior towards Chinese judges. It places China’s accusations of bias against the Tribunal in the context of China’s domestic situation, and concludes that the Tribunal, acting independently and impartially, was able to perform the judicial function, despite China’s default.

After World War II the United Nations set up a number of special conferences to deal with new problems in international diplomacy which had arisen. This looks at the significance of these conferences and the implications of the changes for the effectiveness of the United Nations framework.