John R. Stevenson

The Preparations for the Law of the Sea Conference

The United Nations General Assembly has convened a new Conference on the Law of the Sea. Its object is to achieve comprehensive agreement on the international law of the sea. Most if not all members of the United Nations, as well as other states, can be expected to attend the substantive session in Caracas this summer. The Conference will have before it the results of the work of the 91member UN Seabed Committee which has been carrying on preparations for the Conference since 1970. The Committees reports include draft texts, usually in the form of alternatives, notably with respect to the question of the legal regime for the deep seabeds and the prevention of ocean pollution; proposals made by a large number of states on one or more issues; and a comprehensive list of subjects and issues.1 To these should be added a number of studies prepared by the UN Secretariat at the Committees request. The Conference must likewise take into account the four Conventions 2 adopted by the 1958 Conference on the Law of the Sea on the basis of texts prepared by the International Law Commission; relevant decisions of the International Court of Justice; the Declaration of Principles regarding the deep seabeds adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1970; 3 and a vast array of official statements and scholarly writings regarding the nature and content of the existing law of the sea.