Which of the following statements are correct with regard to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)? 1. UNCLOS authorizes the UN Security Council to take a direct action in case of the disputes between States on sovereign rights over Exclusive Economic Zones 2. UNCLOS defines contiguous zones and specifies its functions 3. Both the US and India have ratified UNCLOS 4. UNCLOS grants certain rights to Landlocked States Select the answer using the code given below:

Correct — C, 2 and 4 only. Statement 2 is right: Article 33 defines the contiguous zone as a belt reaching up to 24 nautical miles from the baseline and specifies exactly what a coastal State may do there — prevent and punish infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration and sanitary laws. Statement 4 is right as well: Part X gives land-locked States a right of access to and from the sea and freedom of transit, and Article 69 gives them a right to participate in exploiting an appropriate part of the surplus of the living resources in the exclusive economic zones of coastal States of the same region. Statement 1 fails because the convention routes disputes through Part XV — conciliation, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the International Court of Justice or arbitration — and gives the Security Council no such role. Statement 3 fails on one word: the United States has signed but never ratified the convention, though India ratified it in 1995.

• (a)1, 2 and 4 only — It carries statement 1, which hands the Security Council a power the convention does not give it. Disputes over sovereign rights in an exclusive economic zone go to the Part XV machinery, as the South China Sea arbitration of 2016 showed.
• (b)1 and 2 only — It keeps the false Security Council statement and drops the true one about land-locked States, so it is wrong at both ends.
• (d)1, 3 and 4 — It combines the two false statements. The United States remains outside the convention as a party, and the Security Council has no direct role under it.

UNCLOS, adopted in 1982 and in force from 1994, divides the sea into zones measured from the baseline: territorial sea up to 12 nautical miles, contiguous zone up to 24, exclusive economic zone up to 200, and the continental shelf which can extend further on geological criteria. Beyond national jurisdiction lie the high seas and the Area, whose mineral resources are the common heritage of mankind. Dispute settlement sits in Part XV and is compulsory in most cases.

Two of the four statements are checkable against a single fact each, which is how this item is meant to be cracked. Anything that says a treaty body has been given enforcement powers of the Security Council should be treated with suspicion; the Council acts under the UN Charter, not under a law-of-the-sea treaty. The United States non-ratification is one of the most cited facts about UNCLOS and settles statement 3 on its own. That leaves 2 and 4, both plainly in the text.

• Article 33 sets the contiguous zone at up to 24 nautical miles and confines it to customs, fiscal, immigration and sanitary enforcement.
• Part X gives land-locked States a right of access to and from the sea and freedom of transit through transit States.
• Article 69 gives land-locked States a right to share in the surplus of living resources of neighbouring exclusive economic zones.
• The United States signed the 1994 implementing agreement but has never ratified the convention; India ratified in 1995.
• Disputes go to conciliation, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the International Court of Justice or arbitration under Part XV.

• Treating an exclusive economic zone as territory; the coastal State has resource rights there, not sovereignty.
• Assuming every major power is a party — the United States is the standing exception.
• Confusing the 24-nautical-mile contiguous zone with the 12-nautical-mile territorial sea.

A four-statement item where two statements are decided by a single well-known fact each, leaving the other two to be read off the text of the convention.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under UNCLOS, the contiguous zone of a coastal State may extend up to how many nautical miles from the baseline?

  • (a)12
  • (b)24
  • (c)100
  • (d)200

  Answer(b) 24 — Article 33 caps the contiguous zone at 24 nautical miles from the baseline.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following countries has signed but not ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea?

  • (a)India
  • (b)China
  • (c)United States
  • (d)Japan

  Answer(c) United States — it has not ratified the convention, though it treats much of it as customary law.