United States non-ratification of the UNCLOS
Encyclopedia
The United States was among the nations that participated in the third United Nations
Conference on the Law of the Sea, which took place from 1973 through 1982 and resulted in the international treaty known as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
(UNCLOS). The United States also participated in the subsequent negotiations of modifications to the treaty from 1990 to 1994. The UNCLOS came into force in 1994. Although the United States now recognizes the UNCLOS as a codification of customary international law
, it has not yet ratified it.
UNCLOS, also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, defines the rights and responsibilities of nations in their use of the world's oceans; it establishes guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resource
s. To date, 161 countries and the European Community have joined the Convention.
. The most significant issues covered were setting limits, navigation, archipelagic status and transit regimes, exclusive economic zones (EEZs), continental shelf jurisdiction, deep seabed mining, the exploitation regime, protection of the marine environment, scientific research, and settlement of maritime boundary
disputes. With more than 160 nations participating, the Conference continued until its final meeting in late 1982, at which time the final act was signed and the Convention was opened for signature. As time went on, it became clear that the United States, among other developed states, was not willing to agree to Part XI of the Convention concerning deep seabed portions and mining of potentially valuable metals.
The United States objected to Part XI of the Convention on several grounds, arguing that the treaty was unfavorable to American economic and security interests. The U.S. claimed that the provisions of the treaty were not free-market friendly and were designed to favor the economic systems of the Communist state
s. The U.S. also argued that the International Seabed Authority
established by the Convention might become a bloated and expensive bureaucracy, due to a combination of large revenues and insufficient control over what the revenues could be used for.
In 1990, consultations were begun between signatories and non-signatories (including the United States) over the possibility of modifying the Convention to allow the industrialized countries to join the Convention. The resulting 1994 Agreement on Implementation was adopted as a binding international Convention. It mandated that key articles, including those on limitation of seabed production and mandatory technology transfer, would not be applied, that the United States, if it became a member, would be guaranteed a seat on the Council of the International Seabed Authority, and finally, that voting would be done in groups, with each group able to block decisions on substantive matters. The 1994 Agreement also established a Finance Committee that would originate the financial decisions of the Authority, to which the largest donors would automatically be members and in which decisions would be made by consensus.
Thus, modifications to that provision were negotiated, and an amending agreement was finalized in July of 1994. The U.S. signed the Agreement in 1994 and now recognizes the Convention as general international law, but has not ratified it at this time. UNCLOS entered into force in November of 1994 with the requisite sixty ratifications.
(Reagan Administration United Nations Ambassador 1981-1985), testified against United States ratification of the treaty before the Senate Armed Services Committee, in which she argued that "Viewed from the perspective of U.S. interests and Reagan Administration principles, it was a bad bargain," and that "its ratification will diminish our capacity for self-government, including, ultimately, our capacity for self-defense."
On April 11, 2006, the 5-Member UNCLOS Annex VII Arbitral Tribunal, presided over by H.E. Judge Stephen M. Schwebel
, rendered after two years of international judicial proceedings, the landmark Barbados/Trinidad and Tobago Award, which resolved the maritime boundary delimitation
(in the East, Central and West sectors) to satisfaction of both Parties and committed Barbados
and Trinidad and Tobago
to resolve their fisheries dispute by means of concluding a new Fisheries Agreement.
On May 15, 2007, United States President George W. Bush announced that he had urged the Senate to approve the UNCLOS.
On October 31, 2007, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 17-4 to send the treaty to the full U.S. Senate for a vote.
On September 20, 2007, an Arbitral Tribunal constituted under UNCLOS issued its decision on a longstanding maritime boundary dispute between Guyana
and Suriname
, which contained a ruling blaming both nations for violating treaty obligations.
On January 13, 2009, speaking at her Senate confirmation hearing as nominee for United States Secretary of State, Senator Hillary Clinton said that ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty would be a priority for her.
there has been vigorous debate over the ratification of the treaty, with criticism coming mainly from political conservatives
who consider involvement in some international organizations and treaties as detrimental to U.S. national interests. A group of Republican senators, led by Jim Inhofe
of Oklahoma
, has blocked American ratification of the Convention, claiming that it would impinge on U.S. sovereignty
. Other commentators have argued that although the Bush administration
, the Pentagon
and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee favored ratification, other US congressional committees possessing oversight jurisdiction have yet to undertake an open, transparent and substantive public review of this most complex treaty's significant environmental regulatory and judicial enforcement provisions, their relationship to the provisions of other multilateral environmental treaties, and the need to amend US federal environmental, wildlife, chemicals and offshore drilling laws and/or regulations in order to implement the international legal obligations the US would assume upon ratification of the UNCLOS. It is arguable whether such a review would have revealed the relationship between US UNCLOS accession efforts, environmental legislation previously proposed by members of the 111th Congress and oceans policies adopted by the Obama administration.
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Conference on the Law of the Sea, which took place from 1973 through 1982 and resulted in the international treaty known as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea , 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 , which took place from 1973 through 1982...
(UNCLOS). The United States also participated in the subsequent negotiations of modifications to the treaty from 1990 to 1994. The UNCLOS came into force in 1994. Although the United States now recognizes the UNCLOS as a codification of customary international law
Customary international law
Customary international law are those aspects of international law that derive from custom. Along with general principles of law and treaties, custom is considered by the International Court of Justice, jurists, the United Nations, and its member states to be among the primary sources of...
, it has not yet ratified it.
UNCLOS, also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, defines the rights and responsibilities of nations in their use of the world's oceans; it establishes guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resource
Natural resource
Natural resources occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity and geodiversity existent in various ecosystems....
s. To date, 161 countries and the European Community have joined the Convention.
UNCLOS III
The Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III) was convened in late 1973 in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. The most significant issues covered were setting limits, navigation, archipelagic status and transit regimes, exclusive economic zones (EEZs), continental shelf jurisdiction, deep seabed mining, the exploitation regime, protection of the marine environment, scientific research, and settlement of maritime boundary
Maritime boundary
Maritime boundary is a conceptual means of division of the water surface of the planet into maritime areas that are defined through surrounding physical geography or by human geography. As such it usually includes areas of exclusive national rights over the mineral and biological resources,...
disputes. With more than 160 nations participating, the Conference continued until its final meeting in late 1982, at which time the final act was signed and the Convention was opened for signature. As time went on, it became clear that the United States, among other developed states, was not willing to agree to Part XI of the Convention concerning deep seabed portions and mining of potentially valuable metals.
The United States objected to Part XI of the Convention on several grounds, arguing that the treaty was unfavorable to American economic and security interests. The U.S. claimed that the provisions of the treaty were not free-market friendly and were designed to favor the economic systems of the Communist state
Communist state
A communist state is a state with a form of government characterized by single-party rule or dominant-party rule of a communist party and a professed allegiance to a Leninist or Marxist-Leninist communist ideology as the guiding principle of the state...
s. The U.S. also argued that the International Seabed Authority
International Seabed Authority
The International Seabed Authority is an intergovernmental body based in Kingston, Jamaica, that was established to organize and control all mineral-related activities in the international seabed area beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, an area underlying most of the world’s oceans...
established by the Convention might become a bloated and expensive bureaucracy, due to a combination of large revenues and insufficient control over what the revenues could be used for.
Revision of the UNCLOS
From 1983 to 1990, the United States accepted all but Part XI as customary international law, while attempting to establish an alternative regime for exploitation of the minerals of the deep seabed. An agreement was made with other seabed mining nations and licenses were granted to four international consortia. Concurrently, the Preparatory Commission was established to prepare for the eventual coming into force of the Convention-recognized claims by applicants, sponsored by signatories of the Convention. Overlaps between the two groups were resolved, but a decline in the demand for minerals from the seabed made the seabed regime significantly less relevant. In addition, the decline of Socialism and the fall of Communism in the late 1980s had removed much of the support for some of the more contentious Part XI provisions.In 1990, consultations were begun between signatories and non-signatories (including the United States) over the possibility of modifying the Convention to allow the industrialized countries to join the Convention. The resulting 1994 Agreement on Implementation was adopted as a binding international Convention. It mandated that key articles, including those on limitation of seabed production and mandatory technology transfer, would not be applied, that the United States, if it became a member, would be guaranteed a seat on the Council of the International Seabed Authority, and finally, that voting would be done in groups, with each group able to block decisions on substantive matters. The 1994 Agreement also established a Finance Committee that would originate the financial decisions of the Authority, to which the largest donors would automatically be members and in which decisions would be made by consensus.
Thus, modifications to that provision were negotiated, and an amending agreement was finalized in July of 1994. The U.S. signed the Agreement in 1994 and now recognizes the Convention as general international law, but has not ratified it at this time. UNCLOS entered into force in November of 1994 with the requisite sixty ratifications.
Latest developments
On April 24, 2004 Jeane KirkpatrickJeane Kirkpatrick
Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick was an American ambassador and an ardent anticommunist. After serving as Ronald Reagan's foreign policy adviser in his 1980 campaign and later in his Cabinet, the longtime Democrat-turned-Republican was nominated as the U.S...
(Reagan Administration United Nations Ambassador 1981-1985), testified against United States ratification of the treaty before the Senate Armed Services Committee, in which she argued that "Viewed from the perspective of U.S. interests and Reagan Administration principles, it was a bad bargain," and that "its ratification will diminish our capacity for self-government, including, ultimately, our capacity for self-defense."
On April 11, 2006, the 5-Member UNCLOS Annex VII Arbitral Tribunal, presided over by H.E. Judge Stephen M. Schwebel
Stephen M. Schwebel
Stephen Myron Schwebel is an American jurist and expert on international law. He is well known for his separate and dissenting opinions as a Judge of the International Court of Justice 1981-2000 and for his involvement in many cases of the ICSID and Permanent Court of Arbitration.-Biography:Judge...
, rendered after two years of international judicial proceedings, the landmark Barbados/Trinidad and Tobago Award, which resolved the maritime boundary delimitation
Boundary delimitation
Boundary delimitation, or simply delimitation, is the term used to describe the drawing of boundaries, but is most often used to describe the drawing of electoral boundaries, specifically those of precincts, states, counties or other municipalities...
(in the East, Central and West sectors) to satisfaction of both Parties and committed Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
and Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
to resolve their fisheries dispute by means of concluding a new Fisheries Agreement.
On May 15, 2007, United States President George W. Bush announced that he had urged the Senate to approve the UNCLOS.
On October 31, 2007, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 17-4 to send the treaty to the full U.S. Senate for a vote.
On September 20, 2007, an Arbitral Tribunal constituted under UNCLOS issued its decision on a longstanding maritime boundary dispute between Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
and Suriname
Suriname
Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...
, which contained a ruling blaming both nations for violating treaty obligations.
On January 13, 2009, speaking at her Senate confirmation hearing as nominee for United States Secretary of State, Senator Hillary Clinton said that ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty would be a priority for her.
Debate
In the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
there has been vigorous debate over the ratification of the treaty, with criticism coming mainly from political conservatives
American conservatism
Conservatism in the United States has played an important role in American politics since the 1950s. Historian Gregory Schneider identifies several constants in American conservatism: respect for tradition, support of republicanism, preservation of "the rule of law and the Christian religion", and...
who consider involvement in some international organizations and treaties as detrimental to U.S. national interests. A group of Republican senators, led by Jim Inhofe
Jim Inhofe
James Mountain "Jim" Inhofe is the senior Senator from Oklahoma and a member of the Republican Party. First elected to the Senate in 1994, he is the ranking member of the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and was its chairman from 2003 to 2007. Inhofe served eight...
of Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, has blocked American ratification of the Convention, claiming that it would impinge on U.S. sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
. Other commentators have argued that although the Bush administration
George W. Bush administration
The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
, the Pentagon
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee favored ratification, other US congressional committees possessing oversight jurisdiction have yet to undertake an open, transparent and substantive public review of this most complex treaty's significant environmental regulatory and judicial enforcement provisions, their relationship to the provisions of other multilateral environmental treaties, and the need to amend US federal environmental, wildlife, chemicals and offshore drilling laws and/or regulations in order to implement the international legal obligations the US would assume upon ratification of the UNCLOS. It is arguable whether such a review would have revealed the relationship between US UNCLOS accession efforts, environmental legislation previously proposed by members of the 111th Congress and oceans policies adopted by the Obama administration.
Pro-ratification arguments
- The environment: Oceans cover over 70% of the Earth. In the U.S., there are laws to keep marine resources available for future generations. UNCLOS sets a legally binding international standard which aims to protect the marine wildlife and environment.
- National security: The U.S. military, which relies heavily on its ability to freely navigate on and fly over the sea, has been a strong advocate of UNCLOS. In the absence of treaty law, the US relies on customary law that can change as states' practices change. Also, under this customary law, the Pentagon claims that countries often make unreasonable and irresponsible claims on marine territory that frustrate U.S. military action. The U.S. has tried to work around these claims, but without a legal framework to support them, the Pentagon believes it risks compromising its intelligence and military operations at sea.
- International diplomacy and peaceful dispute resolution: The Convention offers a peaceful way to resolve territorial and natural resource disputes through the International Tribunal for the Law of the SeaInternational Tribunal for the Law of the SeaThe International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea is an intergovernmental organization created by the mandate of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. It was established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, signed at Montego Bay, Jamaica, on December 10, 1982...
(ITLOS), based on agreements to which signatory parties have already committed. In contrast, without ratification, the US has no peaceful recourse if another non-signatory party decides to close its straits to navigation except through the Permanent Court of ArbitrationPermanent Court of ArbitrationThe Permanent Court of Arbitration , is an international organization based in The Hague in the Netherlands.-History:The court was established in 1899 as one of the acts of the first Hague Peace Conference, which makes it the oldest institution for international dispute resolution.The creation of...
which was established in 1902 to allow States to settle disputes in a manner other than war.
- It helps American businesses: Each country has exclusive rights to manage the resources in areas near its coast. Under the terms of UNCLOS, which maps out the boundaries of these areas, the American zone is larger than that of any other country in the world. The size of this zone is 3.36 million square miles — bigger than the lower 48 states combined. In addition, under UNCLOS, coastal states can exercise sovereign rights over natural resources within the extended continental shelf area beyond this territory. It would also give US companies an opportunity to apply for licenses with the ISA, which manages claims to resources in the deep seabed, an area over which no country has sovereign rights.
Anti-ratification arguments
- National sovereignty: The treaty creates the International Seabed Authority (ISA) with its own dispute resolution tribunal. However, should the U.S. stop its current compliance with the U.S.-negotiated laws of the Convention, the U.S. could not be taken to the Law of the Sea Tribunal since the U.S. has indicated that it would choose binding arbitration rather than availing itself of the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea.
- The environment: Some of the Convention's conservation provisions would provide new avenues for non-U.S. environmental organizations to affect domestic U.S. environmental policies by pursuing legal action in both US and international courts. In addition, requirements that nations either harvest their entire allowable catch in certain areas or give the surplus to other nations could result in mandated overfishing.
- Taxation: The license fees and taxes levied on economic activities in the deep seabed area by the ISA would be, in effect, a form of 'taxation without representation'. Citizens would be indirectly taxed through business and governmental activities in the area.
- Economics: Businesses can already exploit resources from the international area; ratifying the treaty would force them to buy licenses for that right and pay taxes on the proceeds.
- Navigation rights not threatened: One of the treaty's main selling points, legally recognized navigation rights on, over, and under straits, is unnecessary because these rights are not currently threatened by law or by any military capable of opposing the U.S.
- Harm to de-militarizing operations: The treaty would require all undersea ocean vessels, including submarines used for mine detection to protect ships exercising the right of innocent passage, to navigate on the surface in territorial waters to be entitled to the right of innocent passage. The operative language is identical to that contained in the 1958 Convention on the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone to which the U.S. is already a party.
- Limited control over funding: The U.S. would have no direct control over how the money is used.
- Eminent domain: The treaty applies eminent domainEminent domainEminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
to intellectual propertyIntellectual propertyIntellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
giving the UN the power to seize technology and share it with potentially enemy states.
- Lack of need: The U.S. already honors almost all the provisions of the treaty. For practical purposes, there is no pressing need to ratify it that outweighs the negatives of the remaining provisions.
See also
- United Nations Convention on the Law of the SeaUnited Nations Convention on the Law of the SeaThe United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea , 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 , which took place from 1973 through 1982...
- International Tribunal for the Law of the SeaInternational Tribunal for the Law of the SeaThe International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea is an intergovernmental organization created by the mandate of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. It was established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, signed at Montego Bay, Jamaica, on December 10, 1982...
- Maritime Security RegimesMaritime Security RegimesMaritime Security Regimes are codes and conventions of behavior agreed upon by coastal states to provide a degree of security within territorial waters and on the high seas.-Purpose:...
- Territorial watersTerritorial watersTerritorial waters, or a territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most from the baseline of a coastal state...
General resources
- Text of the treaty
- Legal comments on ratifications of UNCLOS III convention on the law of the sea NELSON L.
- Declarations, Statements and 'Disguised Reservations' with Respect to the Convention on the Law of the Sea, in: International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 2001, 767-786; CHURCHILL R.
- United Kingdom: Accession to the UN Convention on the Law of the sea, in: The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law, 1998, n°2, 263-273; LARSON D. e.a.
- An Analysis of the Ratification of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, in: Ocean Development & International Law, 1995, n°3, 287-303; ANDERSON D.
- Legal Implications of the Entry Into Force of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, in: International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 1995, 313-326.
- What Goes Around, Comes Around: How UNCLOS Ratification Will Herald Europe’s Precautionary Principle as U.S. Law, Working Paper and Abstract available online, Social Science Research Network
Pro-treaty resources
- "Time to Ratify the Law of the Sea" Don Kraus, Vice President of Government Relations for Citizens for Global Solutions, in Foreign Policy in Focus, June 6, 2007. http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4286.
- "Take ACTION to Help Us Ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty" Citizens for Global Solutions, June 7, 2007. http://www.globalsolutions.org/node/728.
- President Bush Supports the Law of the Sea Convention, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs letter to the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 2007 February 8.
- Barbados/Trinidad and Tobago and XXVII UNRIAA 147 and Award Series
- Barbados/Trinidad and Tobago Analysis and Award's Map and Coalter Lathrop Map and 22 IJMCL 7-60 2007 and NILOS andNILOS Online Papers and NILOS New Website and 39 GWILR pp.573-620 2007 No.3 and Catalogue
- The Senate Should Give Immediate Advice and Consent to the Law of the Sea Convention: Why the Critics Are Wrong MOORE J. and SCHACHTE W., in Columbia Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 59 Issue 1.
- "The Law of the Sea Convention: The Case for Senate Action," Senator Richard Lugar, Address at Brookings Institute, 2004 May 4. http://www.brook.edu/comm/events/20040504lugar.htm
- "Evaluating the Impact of the Law of the Sea Treaty on Future Offshore Drilling, " Paul Kelly, Senior Vice President, Rowan Companies, Inc., Global Offshore Drilling 2005 Conference, 2005 April 19. http://www.clgd.org/downloads/unclos/GlobOffDrlg05.pdf
- "The Law of the Sea Convention: A National Security Success," Commander James Kraska, Symposium in Remembrance of Louis B. Sohn, The George Washington University School of Law, 2006 October 24. http://www.clgd.org/downloads/Kraska_LOS_24Oct06.pdf
- "Ocean Treaty Good for US," David Sandalow, The Washington Times, 2004 May 16. http://www.brook.edu/views/op-ed/fellows/sandalow20040516.htm
- "Another Side of the Sea Treaty Debate," Professor Bernard Oxman, The Washington Times, 2005 April 5. http://www.clgd.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=129&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
- "How the Law of the Sea Convention Benefits the United States," Benjamin Friedman and Daniel Freidman, Bipartisan Study Group, 2004 November 20. http://www.gsinstitute.org/docs/11-20-04_UNCLOS.pdf
- "A U.N. Treaty We Can All Support," Captain George Galdorisi, USN(Ret.), Naval Institute Proceedings, 2003 March, pp. 74-77. http://stinet.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA457971&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf
Anti-treaty resources
- Law of the Sea Treaty Information Center http://www.unlawoftheseatreaty.org
- Ridenour, David A. "Ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty: A Not-So-Innocent Passage," National Center for Public Policy Research, August 2006 http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA542LawoftheSeaTreaty.html
- Rabkin, Jeremy. "The Law of the Sea Treaty: A Bad Deal for America," Competitive Enterprise Institute, June 1, 2006 http://www.cei.org/pdf/5352.pdf
- Edwin Meese, III, Baker Spring and Brett D. Schaefer, "The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: The Risks Outweigh the Benefits," The Heritage Foundation, May 16, 2007 http://www.heritage.org/Research/InternationalOrganizations/wm1459.cfm
- Donovan, Carrie E. "The Law of the Sea Treaty," Heritage Foundation, April 2, 2004 http://www.heritage.org/Research/InternationalOrganizations/wm470.cfm
- Gaffney, Frank. Deep-Six this Treaty Washington Times, February 24, 2004
- Cohen, Bonner. "Law of the Sea Treaty Could Prove Dangerous to America," National Center for Public Policy Research, November 2005 http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA534LawofSea.html
- Schlafly, Phyllis. "Deep-Six the Law of the Sea," Townhall.com, May 21, 2007 http://www.townhall.com/columnists/PhyllisSchlafly/2007/05/21/deep-six_the_law_of_the_sea
- Gaffney, Frank. LOST at Sea Washington Times, May 4, 2004
- 'Gaffney, Frank. 'Protect U.S. Sovereignty: Sink the Law of the Sea Treaty] Human Events Online, January 28, 2005 http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=6431
- Buchanan, Patrick J. Should the U.N. Be Lord of the Oceans? February 28, 2005 http://www.theamericancause.org/a-pjb-050228-lordoftheoceans.htm
- North, Oliver. Trojan Horse Sea Law Washington Times, April 3, 2005