The second phase of the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea took place in Geneva from Mar. 17 to May 3.

The first session was held in Caracas, Venezuela, from June 20 to Aug. 29, 1974, and reports of some of the items discussed were given in [1974] 2 LMCLQ and

A message from United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim to the opening of the second phase of the UN Conference in Geneva on the Law of the Sea stressed “the very formidable difficulties” blocking agreement on “this most difficult and crucially important area of international concern.” The issue of sea law has produced strange bedfellows, according to a UN official. The United States and Russia, as naval and shipping powers with similar maritime interests, are pushing for maximum freedom of international waters, but a bloc of smaller developing states, backed by China, demand exclusive control over their coastal waters up to 200 miles out to sea.

The 2,000 delegates from 150 nations dispensed with formal speeches and full scale public meetings. Instead, officials said the eight weeks of talks in Geneva’s Palais des Nations would take place in private committee sessions and informal corridor bargaining. Even so, no UN official predicted final agreement. Secretary General Waldheim urged only “further real progress” and Mr. H. Amerasinghe, of Sri Lanka, the conference president, said advance was necessary if an eventual treaty is to emerge. The Law of the Sea Conference opened in Caracas last year. That session produced hundreds of proposed articles and provisions, which must be whittled down and merged. The UN hopes that a treaty will come at a final phase to be held later, possibly in Vienna or back in Caracas. Two previous UN Sea Law Conferences, in 1958 and 1960, failed.

The maritime powers were far outnumbered in Geneva by the smaller developing nations. But no treaty can work without the agreement of Russia, America and other major shipping nations. For that reason, officials said, agreement will be produced by quiet “consensus,” not by formal vote. “The countries with the votes do not have the power and the countries with the power don’t have the votes,” one American delegate said.

Many Latin American and African coastal nations want their three-mile territorial limits extended to 200 miles and insist that they get exclusive and absolute control over shipping, minerals and fish within this area.

The United States claims “broad agreement” for its own proposal of a 12-mile territorial limit, plus an “economic zone” for each coastal nation, extending 200 miles out to sea. The United States and Russia have said they are most interested in preserving free navigational rights for their shipping and navies, no matter where the territorial limits are set. Establishment of universal 12-mile limits would create new straits in the world, posing a potential host of new restrictions unless firm rules are set.