U.S. Should Ratify the Law of the Seas Convention Now

Read "Reap the Bounty", an op/ed piece recently published by John D. Negroponte, Deputy Secretary of State and Gordon England, Deputy Secretary of Defense, which is available on the State Department website.

They write:

From the earliest days of its history, the United States has relied on the bounty and opportunity of the seas for sustenance, for economic development, for defense and for communication and interaction with the rest of the world. Today, as the world's strongest maritime power and a leader of global maritime commerce, the United States has a compelling national interest in a stable international legal regime for the oceans. The time has come to take action to protect and advance the nation's national security, economic and environmental interests in the maritime domain -- through accession to the Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The convention entered into force in 1994 and now has more than 150 parties. It supports and strengthens navigational rights essential to global mobility and it clarifies and confirms important oceans freedoms. U.S. accession to the convention would put the maritime security and economic rights the nation enjoys on the firmest legal footing......

Accession makes sense from the perspective of U.S. leadership on the world stage. Joining the convention would give the nation a seat at the table, a voice in the debates, to help shape the future development of oceans law, policy and practice. Accession would also give the United States better opportunities to keep a close watch on other nations' efforts to exercise their rights under the law of the sea and to counter excessive claims if necessary.

Finally, accession would powerfully and publicly reiterate the nation's commitment to the rule of law as the basis for policy and action. It would make U.S. leadership more credible and compelling, in important multi-national efforts like the Proliferation Security Initiative -- designed to counter proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and other dangerous materials. And it would strengthen the general argument in favor of more robust international partnership in all domains ? partnerships essential to meeting today's global and transnational security challenges.

For all of these reasons, President Bush has urged the Senate to act favorably on U.S. accession to the Law of the Sea Convention, during this session of Congress. It is simply the right thing to do, to support America's national interests, and to lay an effective foundation for the use and protection of the world's oceans for generations to come.

Elliot L. Richardson is best known as the Attorney General of the United States who resigned in what has been called the Saturday Night Massacre. At that time, rather than quash the Watergate investigation he resigned his office, an action that probably lead to the successful resolution of the national crisis and the resignation of President Nixon.

However, he served President Jimmy Carter as ambassador at large and special representative for the Law of the Sea Conference (1977-80), where he led the U.S. delegation. All accounts were that he did a truly outstanding job.

A distinguished lawyer with a distinguished career of public service, the negotiation of the law of the sea agreement was perhaps his most lasting and important contribution to the world. Richardson died at the end of 1999. Ratification of the Treaty would be a fitting tribute to his memory!