ROLE OF UNCLOS IN DISPUTE RESOLUTION
Every part of the world focuses on progress making maximum utilization of resources available from nature and from other productions. The topics of dispute settlement would never have been in existence when there existed equal allocation of resources by nature and harmonious distribution of wealth among nations. Some States are blessed with more natural resources, while the others are barren or landlocked. It’s natural, that States tend to make efforts to obtain the resources that are available to other countries, but not to them. When the dealings went harmonious, and to say, there doesn’t exist any greed or coercion, still there is no need for any mechanism to settle disputes. But, unfortunately, not every Nation will have same consensus with that of other. The point that may be advantageous to the ‘receiving State’ would be disadvantageous to the ‘giving State’. Many at times, equal proposition or equal distribution cannot be followed. In such cases, the augmentation of disputes is unavoidable. The progress of international law has given way to the creation of a diverse array of mechanisms for the settlement of legal conflicts. One of them is the ‘United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea’, which offers a means to settle the conflicts between states that is both choice-based and obligatory. The provisions available are wide-ranged as it deals with pacific settlement mechanisms at the beginning and if it fails, provide for compulsory mechanisms. The author of this article takes a look at the numerous processes for the resolution of disputes that are outlined in the UNCLOS. The author also examines the unique processes that are possible inside these mechanisms, which are contributing factors to the benefits of these mechanisms. The purpose of this article is to investigate the efforts that dispute settlement mechanisms have made toward adding more to the successful application of the law of sea and making it simpler for the State parties involved on both sides to arrive at a conclusion.
Pacific settlement mechanisms, UNCLOS, Negotiation, Mediation, Conciliation, ICJ, ITLOS, International Sea Bed Authority, Arbitrary Tribunal