Abstract
LL.D.
The sea plays a pivotal role in the political, economical and social function of individual states and the international community as a whole. The need for the proper management of the sea and its natural resources has become more important than ever before to ensure the continued existence of mankind.
The law of the sea, traditionally, rests mainly on two pillars, namely the principle that the sea is res communes and the principle of the freedom of the sea. Because the sea covers seventy percent of the surface of the earth it is, in particular, an area where conflict between states occur. The peaceful settlement of international disputes is therefore of vital importance to maintain and strengthen peace amongst nations.
The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which only came into force on 16 November 1994, is an evolutionary international instrument that can aptly be described as a constitution for all uses of the sea. The convention created a sustained normative framework with new rights and obligations through the establishment of the common heritage of mankind, the exclusive economic zone and archipelago states. Provision is also made for the inclusion of new international organisations such as the International Seabed Authority, the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.Because the 1982 Convention demarcates the borders of the various maritime zones, which falls within the sovereignty and jurisdiction of states, it contributes in the effort to balance the competing rights of the freedom of the sea, on the one hand, and the sovereign rights and jurisdiction of
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coastal states, on the other hand, that included claims to territorial waters, the continental shelf, and the establishment of the common heritage of mankind and the exclusive economic zone.
The convention also contains comprehensive rules for the settlement of disputes emanating from the various uses of the sea. The most significant feature of the dispute settlement procedures of the convention is the compulsory dispute settlement mechanisms. Every party that ratified the convention is subject to dispute settlement in terms of part XV without the need for the parties to subject themselves to dispute settlement whenever a dispute arises. The traditional means of dispute settlement as envisaged by article 33(1) of the Charter of the United Nations is confirmed in section 1, and is integrated into the compulsory dispute settlement procedures of section 2 of part XV. The parties, however, may not resort to compulsory dispute settlement unless and until they have exhausted the traditional means of dispute resolution. Compulsory dispute resolution is therefore subservient to the traditional means of dispute settlement.