FIVE ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION OF THE LAWS OF THE SEA (UNCLOS) LAW

1) As can be gleaned in the case of the Philippines vs. China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration under PCA case number 2013-19, the UNCLOS LAW is really a good international law that protects any country regardless of its size. In the said case, the Philippines became victorious over China as regards the territorial maritime dispute between the two countries, not to mention the Chinese influence over the international community because of its international political hegemony;

1) The UNCLOS LAW gives a demarcation line to every country with regard to its waters, such law limits other countries to infringe on the environmental laws of their fellow states as regards the Exclusive Economic Zone of each state; it also prohibits other nations or foreign nationals in infringing the customs, fiscal, immigration and sanitary laws of another state in its contiguous zone, the same also prohibits the infringement of municipal laws of a state by foreign nationals as regards to the territorial sea of the former;

3) The UNCLOS LAW provides or classifies the deep parts of the sea of every state well within its Exclusive Economic Zone like the continental shelf, continental seabed, and the like, and what are the territorial or economic right/s of every state over the said part/s of the deep sea of each state’s Exclusive Economic Zone, thus stifling other countries to illegally invade or use that territory of a state;

4) The UNCLOS LAW by way of its Art. 94 provides for respect of each and every flag state and every foreign vessel which enters the jurisdiction of each flag state by enumerating the rules for the harmonious relations of the flag state and any foreign vessel entering the territory of every flag or host state, such provision of the UNCLOS LAW in relation to the International Regulations for Preventing Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS) also prevents any maritime accidents within the maritime territory of the flag state as against and between foreign vessels/ships;

5) The UNCLOS LAW which is an international law is actually one of the avenues in halting maritime, territorial disputes between countries, hence it is also an agent of peace because it puts every state not just to respect every fellow state's territory but also every nation’s sovereignty.

FIVE ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION OF THE LAW OF THE SEAS (UNCLOS) LAW.

The UNCLOS LAW is not a perfect law, it has also some loopholes, Art. 298, Sec. 3 of part XV of UNCLOS provides “ A state party which has made a declaration under paragraph 1, shall not be entitled to submit to any dispute falling within the excepted category of disputes to any procedure in this Convention as against another state party without the consent of that party”, hence any state party may not submit itself to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in a territorial dispute with any state because of this provision of the UNCLOS. This provision of the UNCLOS was invoked by China when it decided not to face the Philippines in the matter of arbitral trial between the two countries as regards the West Philippine Sea and the Spratlys maritime and territorial dispute between the two countries;

The UNCLOS LAW can be easily ignored, in the case of the Philippines vs. China under PCA case number 2013-19, the same issued a position paper in December 2014 arguing that the maritime and territorial dispute between the two countries was not subject to arbitration because the conflict between the two was a matter of sovereignty and not exploitation rights;

It seems like the international laws including the UNCLOS LAW have no teeth as regards international political hegemons like China by not submitting to the international laws like the UNCLOS LAW and by diverting issues, like when China accused the Philippines of having voluntarily violated the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, made in 2022 between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, which stipulated bilateral negotiations as the means of resolving border and other disputes;

Art. 94 of UNCLOS, the leading provision of the said law as regards probable international collision at sea and the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS) the leading international law with regard to a possible international collision at sea are not given high regard by China when in one instance, a Chinese ship has rammed a Filipino fishing vessel somewhere off the coast of Mindoro, and when the Chinese Navy had a near shootout with the Philippine Navy at Scarborough Shoal which used to be a part of the (EEZ) Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines;

The UNCLOS LAW has no mechanism with respect to the execution of the decision/s of the Permanent Court of Arbitration as what everybody has witnessed in the victory of the Philippines over China, in conjunction with the maritime territorial dispute of the two parties.