Reexamining the UNCLOS: a Lack of Compliance and Enforceability

Abstract

The article examines the effeteness of UNCLOS and espouses on why it is not a De Jure legally binding agreement but a De facto non-binding agreement. The uncertainty in the law of the sea would inevitably grow and increasingly State practice, across geographies, may well continue to diverge from the traditional views of the law. Given that states are increasingly under the influence of domestic politics and racial tensions, divergence per se is inevitable, and the dire need of the hour is for the comity of nations to get their act together, vis a vis, re-examining the UNCLOS agreement and to thereafter usher in an agreement that would work. The need to rewrite would require much effort and the cooperation of all the states and indubitably, it would call for egalitarian approaches. The keywords: law of the seas, Constitution of the Seas, maritime jurisprudence, the one ocean concept, the binding nature, interpretations of UNCLOS, International Law, USA, China. ISSN 2524-101X eISSN 2617-541X 8 LEX PORTUS VOL 8 ISS 1 2022