As we remember, the United States once refused to ratify the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (ILC). Ironically, their decision had a direct impact on the Arctic.
Let us start with the question: why did the Americans refuse to commit themselves to the ILC?
Primarily because it is a self-restraint, so distasteful to Washington in principle. As the senators opposing the ILC articulated in 2012, “the seas do not belong to any organisation” and any attempt to extend international norms to the US is a restriction on its sovereignty. Nor did they initially like the convention’s restrictions on deep-water drilling: neither the Reagan administration back in ’82 nor its successors were able to commit such an unthinkable crime against their oil industry.
So they refused, then what? The point is that now the United States cannot do two things that are very important to it.
The first. As we all know, the strengthening of Russia’s position in the Arctic has long been a source of acute allergy in Washington. And one of the many grievances against our country voiced by American figures relates specifically to Russia’s “excessive demands” on the Arctic continental shelf, promoted through the UN through the ILC mechanisms. In the US political discourse, there are actually a number of narratives that Russia’s attempts to claim a shelf in the area of the Lomonosov and Mendeleev Rises are a “violation of international law” (!) and a factor of possible conflict in the Arctic. But they are against it, but they cannot appeal against Russian ILC claim – just because they have not ratified the convention.
The second. The thing is that the US itself could claim a part of the Arctic shelf. From a geological point of view, it is quite possible – relevant studies have taken place and some evidence base has been gathered. But this would be if the States were a party to the ILC, which they are not.
So, at the moment, Americans have to sit on two chairs – both to insist on “international law” in maritime issues and to avoid participation in a key international legal instrument on the subject.
Captain Arctic