
General Assembly Resolution # 163
Repeal: “Law of the Sea”
A resolution to repeal previously passed legislation.
General Assembly Resolution #47 “Law of the Sea” (Category: Political Stability; Strength: Mild) shall be struck out and rendered null and void.
The World Assembly,
APPLAUDING the intentions of GA#47: Law of the Sea, in attempting to set standards by which nations may claim oceanic territory bordering their shores,
REALIZING that the resolution was erroneously addressed to "The United Nations," the predecessor to the World Assembly which no longer existed at the time of the resolution's passage,
NOTING that, according the text of the legislation, "waters within 12 nautical miles of [a] nation's sea border" will be under a nation's "sovereign control" and that a nation has "the sole right to harvest natural resources" in "waters within 200NM of [its] sea border,"
FURTHER NOTING that, should any nations with adjacent or opposing shorelines find their "12 nautical miles" of oceanic territory overlapping in any fashion, this legislation arbitrarily divides these waters between the nations regardless of a nation's history, economy, or its relations with its neighbor,
UNDERSTANDING that the legislation permits nations with overlapping oceanic territory "to voluntarily agree to divisions along other lines," yet noting that nations with border disputes are unlikely come to an agreement if they are led to believe that arbitrary division of territory would occur,
CONCERNED that the arbitrary division of oceanic territory has the potential to damage certain nations by reducing their spheres of influence and/or inciting conflicts between previously ambivalent neighbors,
DISMAYED that GA#47 fails to establish limits to oceanic territorial claims, without which a nation may use islands, sand bars, or atolls occurring within the first 12 nautical miles of its oceanic territory as a basis for further claims,
APPALLED that GA#47 includes no provision requiring nations to control pollution within their 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) arising from activities such as deep sea mining and oil exploration that may pollute the EEZs of neighboring nations and damage international fishing grounds,
DISMAYED that GA#47 fails to include exceptions to sovereign control of territorial waters, giving nations bordering narrow straits or sea channels an undue influence over international shipping that must pass through these water bodies,
CONVINCED that errors and omissions described herein renders the resolution inoperable and detrimental to World trade and the environment,
HEREBY repeals "Law of the Sea".
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Co-authored by A mean old man
Passed: |
For: | 8,942 | 81.3% |
Against: | 2,053 | 18.7% |