Three decades of the Constitution of the Oceans

Three decades of the Constitution of the Oceans I Made Andi Arsana ;  A Lecturer at the School of Geodetic Engineering, Gadjah Mada University, A PhD Candidate with the Australian Leadership Awards at the University of Wollongong, Australia

JAKARTA POST,  07 Januari 2013

  

I was lucky enough to attend the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) at the UN Secretariat in New York on Dec. 10, 2012. Tommy Koh, Singapore’s ambassador at large, described UNCLOS as the “Constitution of the Oceans” and viewed it as the most comprehensive legal guideline governing oceanic affairs and the law of the sea. In his short speech, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asserted that the convention had been playing an important role in ocean governance and it would continue to do so. He also called for universal commitment to the convention.  With 163 countries and the European Union having ratified the convention, now the majority of counties in the world are party to UNLCOS. This indicates that provisions in the convention have been accepted by almost the entire world. Almost, because there are some key countries like the United States that have yet to ratify the convention. In his inspiring speech to the general assembly, Ambassador Tommy Koh, who served as the president of the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea that produced UNCLOS, urged the United States to ratify UNLCOS.  I believe that Ambassador Koh is not alone in this desire. While the presence of the US might not make a dramatic change in relation to UNCLOS implementation, to have such a big and powerful country like the US on board UNCLOS would certainly build confidence.  This was well responded to by the US delegation during its remarks by asserting that the ratification of UNCLOS had support from US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  It is true in fact that the Obama administration might be close to UNCLOS ratification. However, the plan seems to take a long time to finalize and one cannot expect that the US will act swiftly in this regard. Having listened to speeches from different regions and countries during the commemoration, I remembered the role of Indonesia. Five years ago, I also attended the celebration of the 25th anniversary of UNCLOS in New York and Hasjim Djalal of Indonesia was one of the keynote speakers. Unfortunately, he was not in New York for the 30th anniversary.  Even though UNCLOS veterans from Indonesia were not present during the celebration, Indonesia’s role in the birth of UNCLOS is undeniable. Mochtar Kusumaatmaja and Djalal are among the Indonesians who played important roles during the nine-year negotiation of UNCLOS.  The adoption of the archipelagic-state concept cannot be separated from Indonesia’s proposal supported by other countries with similar geographical configurations.  Before the incorporation of the archipelagic-state concept in UNCLOS, a country like Indonesia could only claim the maritime area (territorial sea) around the coast of each island. Consequently, there were high seas (free seas) between islands for example between Java and Kalimantan that did not belong to Indonesia, which was viewed as a disadvantage.  The archipelagic concept in UNCLOS fixes this issue by allowing archipelagic states like Indonesia to enclose their entire archipelagoes by designating archipelagic baselines connecting the outermost points of its outer islands. This enables Indonesia to secure the entire waters within its archipelago as archipelagic waters over which it has full sovereignty. UNCLOS 1982 also introduced the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) regime that allows coastal states to utilize the resources of waters and seabed up to 200 nautical miles from their baselines/coastlines. In addition, UNCLOS 1982 also provides certainty on the definition of the outer limits of the continental shelf (seabed) a coastal state is entitled to (article 76).  For the purpose of defining the outer limits of the continental shelf, especially those beyond 200 nautical miles from baselines, coastal states need to survey and map the seabed and then make a submission to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) for consideration.  Indonesia for its part has done this and the submission has also been recommended by CLCS, allowing Indonesia to confirm around 4,000 square kilometers of seabed beyond 200 nautical miles from its baselines in the area to the west of Sumatra. Article 76 may be considered as the most effective provision in UNCLOS to accelerate surveying and mapping for better understanding of the global ocean seabed. The writer is a lecturer at the Department of Geodetic Engineering at Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta. He is currently an Alison Sudradjat Award scholar at the University of Wollongong, Australia, researching on maritime boundary issues. Apart from all the benefits of UNCLOS, there are challenges it is currently facing. Maritime boundary delimitation with 10 neighbors is one of the challenges. We all have witnessed how pending maritime boundaries have caused serious tensions with neighbors. I am aware that Indonesia has been negotiating pending maritime boundaries and hoping that the process can accelerate.  Second, Indonesia needs to produce more experts in oceanic affairs and the law of the sea, including those with technical expertise such as in the geospatial and geoscience fields. Third, information dissemination on oceanic affairs and the law of the sea to the general public is essential. For instance, traditional fishermen need to be briefed properly on how maritime boundaries work in relation to fishing activities so that border incidents can be prevented. Undoubtedly, there have been success stories in oceanic affairs and the law of the sea during the last three decades of UNCLOS. Indonesia contributed significantly to the birth of the Constitution of the Oceans and has benefited from its presence. However, there is still a lot to do to protect this world of water. ●