United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)

In Context

• India is committed to respecting the rights of all nations as laid down in the UNCLOS.

About United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)

• It is an international treaty that was adopted and signed in 1982. 
  • It replaced the four Geneva Conventions of April 1958, which respectively concerned the territorial sea and the contiguous zone, the continental shelf, the high seas, fishing and conservation of living resources on the high seas.
    • The Convention has created three new institutions on the international scene:
      • the international Tribunal for Laws of the Sea
      • the International Seabed Authority
      • the Commission on the Limits of Continental Shelf

• It divides marine areas into five main zones namely- Internal Waters, Territorial Sea, Contiguous Zone, Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the High Seas.
• It provides a framework for state jurisdiction in maritime spaces. It provides a different legal status to different maritime zones.

Source: TH