Resilience of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea: Reflections on Three Approaches

Abstract More than 40 years have passed since the adoption of the un Convention on the Law of the Sea ( unclos ) in 1982. There are many issues that the drafters of unclos may not have been able to foresee in 1982. The question that arises here is whether and how it is possible to address the new issues unknown under unclos . Here, resilience of unclos is at issue. In this regard, one can identify three basic approaches to ensuring resilience of unclos : (1) resilience through the interpretation, (2) resilience through the law-making, and (3) resilience through the jurisprudence. The first approach seeks to adapt unclos to new circumstances through the interpretation of the Convention and the second approach aims to amplify the rules of unclos through the law-making to address new issues. The third approach seeks to develop or elaborate the rules set out in unclos through the jurisprudence. By examining the three approaches, this article considers resilience of unclos in ever changing international relations.