Conflicts between United Nations Security Council Resolutions and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and Their Possible Resolution

• Author: Robin R. Churchill
• Position: Professor of International Law, University of Dundee, United Kingdom
• Pages: 143-157

VII

Conflicts between United Nations Security

Council Resolutions and

the 1982 United Nations Convention on the

Law of the Sea,

and Their Possible Resolution

Robin R. Churchill*

Introduction

Since 1990 the UN Security Council has adopted anumber of resolutions call-

ing on UN members to take various kinds of action that have the potential,

depending on how those resolutions are interpreted, to interfere with States' naviga-

tional rights under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982

LOS Convention). 1These resolutions, virtually all of which were explicitly adopted

under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, fall into anumber of different categories.

Afirst category is resolutions providing for the enforcement of sanctions im-

posed under Article 41 of the Charter. They include Resolution 221 (1966) 2(para-

graph 5of which calls on the British government "to prevent, by the use of force if

necessary, the arrival at Beira of vessels reasonably believed to be carrying oil des-

tined for Southern Rhodesia"); Resolution 665 (1990) 3(paragraph 1of which calls

on those UN Member States deploying maritime forces in the Persian Gulf to "use

*Professor of International Law, University of Dundee, United Kingdom.