by a globally accepted public order of the oceans that minimizes the challenges to and costs of securing such access.
* By providing a comprehensive and stable legal regime for the oceans, a universally accepted Convention, as modified by the Agreement, will promote our strategic goals of free access to and public order of the oceans and the airspace above.
* More than 150 countries, including the U.S., participated in the negotiation of the Convention between 1973 and 1982. We achieved our fundamental objectives of solidifying navigational rights, restraining the growth of excessive maritime claims, and codifying key legal provisions in the areas of environment, fisheries, and sovereign immunity which balance the vital interests of maritime and coastal states. The fisheries provisions were recently supplemented by a newly negotiated Convention on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks that builds upon the Law of the Sea Convention and utilizes its institutions, and that provides new protections for U.S. interests with respect to conservation of high seas fisheries.
* Since 1979, DOD and the Department of State have been actively involved in countering excessive maritime claims through the Freedom of Navigation (FON) program. However, relying solely on diplomatic and operational challenges is less desirable than establishment, through the Convention, of universal norms of behavior and methods of resolving conflict.
* The Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the Convention, designed to modify the seabed mining provisions of the Convention, was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on July 28, 1994. As of December 1995, 125 States have agreed to be bound provisionally by the Agreement, including the United States, all major industrial nations, and most U.S. allies. The Agreement is expected to enter into force by mid-1996. Correction of the Part XI flaws now allows the United States to take advantage of the opportunity to adhere to the modified Convention, realize its national security benefits and permit us to ensure those rights from within the structure of the Convention.
* The Convention entered into force on November 16, 1994. As of December 31, 1995, 83 States are party, including Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, and Mexico. Key maritime and industrial nations have informally indicated their intention to become party to the Convention and the Agreement once their internal ratification procedures are complete, including: Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Japan, Republic of Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Panama, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. To maintain American influence in global maritime affairs, the U.S. must become a party to the Convention by May 1996 in order to participate in the selection of members of key institutions created by the Convention, and to derive numerous other benefits.
