Uninhabited islands: Their impact on the ownership of the oceans’ resources

Abstract

Abstract Article 121 of the Draft Convention of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea grants a 200‐mile exclusive economic zone and continental shelf to all islands, excepting only those “rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own.”; This provision allocates vast amounts of ocean spaces to tiny uninhabited islets scattered throughout the oceans, many of which were claimed for guano a century ago and have been largely ignored since then. Tiny Clip‐perton Island, 600 miles south of Mexico and now claimed by France, is one significant example. This article reviews all the negotiating history on Article 121 (and its counterparts in earlier treaties) and examines the proposals that have been made to amend this provision during previous negotiating sessions. The article then examines how the provision will operate with regard to dividing up the oceans’ resources among the nations during the coming generation. The authors conclude that the negotiators at the Law of the Sea Conference should have examined this issue once again before settling upon the language of Article 121.