Transportation and Communications

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) sets out in general terms the applicable rights of passage and corresponding duties of ships in the various maritime zones, while detailed rules governing practically all aspects of shipping, with which compliance is required by UNCLOS, are contained in other instruments. All States have the right to exercise freedom of navigation on the high seas and in the exclusive economic zone, and the rights of innocent passage in the territorial sea, transit passage in straits used for international navigation, and archipelagic sea lanes passage in archipelagic sea lanes.

 

It is within the framework of a number of United Nations organizations that global rules governing practically all aspects of shipping have been adopted and continue to be developed. There are conventions, rules, regulations and standards dealing with such issues as registration of ships; ship construction, equipment and seaworthiness; manning of ships, training of crew and labour conditions; safety and efficiency of navigation; assistance at sea; carriage of goods; liability and compensation for damage; arrest of ships; piracy and armed robbery; unlawful acts against ships; illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances by sea; and smuggling of migrants.

 

In recognition of the importance of facilitating international telecommunication, UNCLOS grants all States the freedom to lay submarine cables and pipelines in maritime areas beyond the territorial sea, subject to the provisions of UNCLOS.