Dear Mr. Xxxxxx:
Thank you for contacting me with your opinions on the United Nations (UN) Law of the Sea Treaty, also known as the UN Law of the Sea Convention. This is an important issue to me, and I am happy to respond.
I understand the concerns that many of the treaty's critics have, particularly with issues dealing with America's sovereignty. I respect those opinions, but I disagree with those who feel the treaty will somehow make us beholden to the UN. The treaty will not only make us safer and more secure but will allow the United States to take a leadership role in determining marine and ocean policy with the other nations already involved.
The Law of the Sea Treaty protects the United States' sovereign right to explore natural resources within 200 miles of our coastline and continental shelf. At no point is freedom of navigation infringed. Our environment is protected by binding the states to enhanced standards and provides for further international cooperation to battle pollution. Furthermore, U.S. ratification of the treaty strengthens our ability to lead the world's 145 current signatories in discussions on ocean policy to advance our interests. Failure to ratify will assure other nations the ability to determine oceanic and marine policy without having the United States at the table.
Additionally, the treaty enhances our armed forces' ability to freely navigate the seas to protect U.S. security interests. Key rights of navigation and overflight are enshrined by the convention. Admiral Vern Clerk (Ret.), former Chief of Naval Operations, endorsed the treaty by stating: "The Convention supports U.S. efforts in the war on terrorism by providing important stability and codifying navigational freedoms, while leaving unaffected intelligence collection activities. Future threats will likely emerge in places and ways that are not yet known. For these and other as yet unknown operational challenges, we must be able to take maximum advantage of the established navigational rights codified in the Law of the Sea Convention to get us to fight rapidly." The President's Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) is also strengthened under the convention. PSI seeks to stop shipments of weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems, and related materials.
The treaty was originally negotiated in 1982 by the UN under President Reagan. While President Reagan approved of the majority of the convention, he expressed concern with the deep-sea mining provisions. President Clinton submitted revisions to the UN relating to those deep-sea mining issues, which the UN General Assembly endorsed by a vote of 121-0. President Clinton submitted the treaty with the new deep-sea mining provisions to the Senate in 1994. On November 16, 1994, the UN Law of the Sea Convention entered into force but without accession by the United States. The 1994 agreement on deep-sea mining entered into force on July 28, 1996, again without U.S. ratification. President George W. Bush declared the Law of the Sea Treaty an "urgent" issue on the most recent treaty priority list. In 2004, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 19-0 to ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty; but the treaty was not voted on by the full Senate before the end of the 108th Congress.
On October 31, 2007, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 17-4 to approve the treaty and favorably recommend it for ratification, which will take a two-thirds vote of the full Senate. Please be assured that I will keep your concerns in mind if and when this treaty reaches the Senate floor for a vote in this 110th Congress. To keep track of future actions on the Law of the Sea treaty (treaty number 103-39), please visit the Library of Congress' Thomas search service for treaties at http://www.thomas.gov/home/treaties/treaties.html.
My official Senate web site is designed to be an on-line office that provides access to constituent services, Connecticut-specific information, and an abundance of information about what I am working on in the Senate on behalf of Connecticut and the nation. I am also pleased to let you know that I have launched an email news update service through my web site. You can sign up for that service by visiting http://lieberman.senate.gov and clicking on the "Subscribe Email News Updates" button at the bottom of the home page. I hope these are informative and useful.
Thank you again for letting me know your views and concerns. Please contact me if you have any additional questions or comments about our work in Congress.
Sincerely,
Joseph I. Lieberman
UNITED STATES SENATOR
JIL:kmo
Keywords: Law of the Sea Treaty, Senator Lieberman