Description: ACKNOWLEDGING that nations have the right to claim jurisdiction, for legal and economic purposes, over those parts of the seas that are adjacent to their lands,
CONCERNED that if such claims are taken to excess they have the potential to destabilise international security,
SEEKING to remedy this situation, whilst taking into account nations’ legitimate interests;
1. DEFINES the term ‘sea border’ as the point where waters meet the land at mean low tide, or where such a border would exist at sea level in the case of undersea nations;
2. ACKNOWLEDGES that, subject to any limits that WA law places on national rights and unless these terms would create conflicting claims,
A) Waters within 24 nautical miles (‘NM’) of a member nation's sea border, and any further waters that are enclosed by these, shall be considered that nation’s 'Territorial Waters' over which the nation shall have sovereign control and may enforce any and all of its own laws;
B) All of the waters within 200 nautical miles of a member nation's sea border, whether these are within its own Territorial Waters or are International Waters, and any further waters that are enclosed by these, shall be counted as its 'Exclusive Economic Zone' (‘EEZ’) within which it has sole authority over the exploration and use of natural resources;
C) Each of these zones also includes the relevant sections of sea-floor;
D) A nation’s territorial jurisdiction also extends over offshore installations located within its EEZ, and over ships registered in that nation while those are in International Waters;
3. STATES that in the case of conflicting claims between member nations any waters where two or more nations’ claims would overlap shall be divided along lines mid-way between those nations’ sea borders, unless those nations freely agree on an alternative partition instead;
4. URGES any member nations whose claims conflict with those of any non-members to seek peaceful agreement on basis of these same rules with those other nations;
5. FOUNDS the World Assembly Nautical Commission (or ‘WANC’), gives this agency the right and duty of binding arbitration in any disputes about this resolution’s interpretation that might arise between WA member nations, and also allows it to provide arbitration in relevant disputes involving any non-member nations who actually volunteer to accept this service;
Co-author: Cobdenia.
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