IN THE NEWS: Washington Times Letter to the Editor on the Law of the Sea

This letter by CGS staff was written in response to an op-ed by Dough Brandow regarding the Law of the Sea in The Washington Times.

The Washington Times
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Ratify UNCLOS
Don Kraus and Robert A. Enholm

Some challenges are global in dimension and cannot be resolved by any single country, no matter how powerful - not even the United States. The use, protection, maintenance and sharing of the oceans and their resources present such a global problem. Doug Bandow argues that the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is futile or worse ("Paper promises vs. real costs," April 22).

In fact, UNCLOS has been developed over many years, with input from many countries, drawing on practical experience from across the globe. The treaty involves 157 countries. Some provisions of the treaty that gave the U.S. pause in the 1980s have been rewritten.

The current version of UNCLOS enjoys the support of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and such surprising allies as the American Petroleum Institute and the World Wildlife Fund. The Senate should ratify UNCLOS in the current session of Congress.

Asserting that we do not need the Law of the Sea because the United States has a large Navy and can protect its interests is like saying that we do not need traffic rules because we drive a really, really large automobile.

DON KRAUS,
Chief Executive Officer
ROBERT A. ENHOLM,
Executive Vice President
Citizens for Global Solutions
Washington