[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 144 (Thursday, October 6, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 6, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
          REMOVAL OF INJUNCTION OF SECRECY--TREATY DOC. 103-39

  Mr. FORD. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask unanimous 
consent that the injunction of secrecy be removed from a treaty 
transmitted to the Senate on October 6, 1994, by the President of the 
United States.
  United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, with Annexes, and, 
the Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United 
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, with Annex (Treaty Doc. 103-
39);
  I also ask that the treaty be considered as having been read the 
first time; that it be referred, with accompanying papers, to the 
Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be printed; and that the 
President's message be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The message of the President is as follows:


To the Senate of the United States:
  I transmit herewith, for the advice and consent of the Senate to 
accession, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, with 
Annexes, done at Montego Bay, December 10, 1982 (the ``Convention''), 
and, for the advice and consent of the Senate to ratification, the 
Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United 
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982, with 
Annex, adopted at New York, July 28, 1994 (the ``Agreement''), and 
signed by the United States, subject to ratification, on July 29, 1994. 
Also transmitted for the information of the Senate is the report of the 
Department of State with respect to the Convention and Agreement, as 
well as Resolution II of Annex I and Annex II of the Final Act of the 
Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea.
  The United States has basic and enduring national interests in the 
oceans and has consistently taken the view that the full range of these 
interests is best protected through a widely accepted international 
framework governing uses of the sea. Since the late 1960s, the basic 
U.S. strategy has been to conclude a comprehensive treaty on the law of 
the sea that will be respected by all countries. Each succeeding U.S. 
Administration has recognized this as the cornerstone of U.S. oceans 
policy. Following adoption of the Convention in 1982, it has been the 
policy of the United States to act in a manner consistent with its 
provisions relating to traditional uses of the oceans and to encourage 
other countries to do likewise.
  The primary benefits of the Convention to the United States include 
the following:
  --The Convention advances the interests of the United States as a 
    global maritime power. It preserves the right of the U.S. military 
    to use the world's oceans to meet national security requirements 
    and of commercial vessels to carry sea-going cargoes. it achieves 
    this, inter alia, by stabilizing the breadth of the territorial sea 
    at 12 nautical miles; by setting forth navigation regimes of 
    innocent passage in the territorial sea, transit passage in straits 
    used for international navigation, and archipelagic sea lanes 
    passage; and by reaffirming the traditional freedoms of navigation 
    and overflight in the exclusive economic zone and the high seas 
    beyond.
  --The Convention advances the interests of the United States as a 
    coastal State. It achieves this, inter alia, by providing for an 
    exclusive economic zone out to 200 nautical miles from shore and by 
    securing our rights regarding resources and artificial islands, 
    installations and structures for economic purposes over the full 
    extent of the continental shelf. These provisions fully comport 
    with U.S. oil and gas leasing practices, domestic management of 
    coastal fishery resources, and international fisheries agreements.
  --As a far-reaching environmental accord addressing vessel source 
    pollution, pollution from seabed activities, ocean dumping, and 
    land-based sources of marine pollution, the Convention promotes 
    continuing improvement in the health of the world's oceans.
  --In light of the essential role of marine scientific research in 
    understanding and managing the oceans, the Convention sets forth 
    criteria and procedures to promote access to marine areas, 
    including coastal waters, for research activities.
  --The Convention facilitates solutions to the increasingly complex 
    problems of the uses of the ocean--solutions that respect the 
    essential balance between our interests as both a coastal and a 
    maritime nation.
  --Through its dispute settlement provisions, the Convention provides 
    for mechanisms to enhance compliance by Parties with the 
    Convention's provisions.
  Notwithstanding these beneficial provisions of the Convention and 
bipartisan support for them, the United States decided not to sign the 
Convention in 1982 because of flaws in the regime it would have 
established for managing the development of mineral resources of the 
seabed beyond national jurisdiction (Part XI). It has been the 
consistent view of successive U.S. Administrations that this deep 
seabed mining regime was inadequate and in need of reform if the United 
States was ever to become a Party to the Convention.
  Such reform has now been achieved. The Agreement, signed by the 
United States on July 29, 1994, fundamentally changes the deep seabed 
mining regime of the Convention. As described in the report of the 
Secretary of State, the Agreement meets the objections the United 
States and other industrialized nations previously expressed to Part 
XI. It promises to provide a stable and internationally recognized 
framework for mining to proceed in response to future demand for 
minerals.
  Early adherence by the United States to the Convention and the 
Agreement is important to maintain a stable legal regime for all uses 
of the sea, which covers more than 70 percent of the surface of the 
globe. Maintenance of such stability is vital to U.S. national security 
and economic strength.
  I therefore recommend that the Senate give early and favorable 
consideration to the Convention and to the Agreement and give its 
advice and consent to accession to the Convention and to ratification 
of the Agreement. Should the Senate give such advice and consent, I 
intend to exercise the options concerning dispute settlement 
recommended in the accompanying report of the Secretary of State.
                                                  William J. Clinton.  
  The White House, October 6, 1994.

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