296 • Marine Minerals: Exploring Our New Ocean Frontier 



ritory and the rest of the Union. In the past, Federal 

 control over territorial affairs was tolerable because 

 eventual statehood would bring equality of treatment 

 and constitutional limitations on Federal power. There 

 are grounds for suggesting that the present territories 

 do not fit the pattern of earlier ones and that they are 

 "poorly served by a constitutional approach based on 

 evolutionary progress toward statehood."" Rather than 

 being frontier areas setded by Americans who later peti- 

 tioned their government for statehood, the present ter- 

 ritories joined the U.S. with developed cultures of their 

 own and may wish to preserve their uniqueness by re- 

 maining apart from the Union of States. Proposals to 

 develop the EEZ, like other Congressional action un- 

 der the territorial clause, should recognize their special 

 position. 



International Law Considerations 



The EEZ is based on international law's recognition 

 of a coastal state's right to manage resources beyond 

 the Territorial Sea. President Reagan based the procla- 

 mation on this international principle and stated that 

 the "United States will exercise these sovereign rights 

 and jurisdiction in accordance with the rules of inter- 

 national law."^' This section examines how interna- 

 tional law may bear on the EEZ around U.S. territories. 



The primary sources of international law are treaties 

 and international custom." The former is explicit and 

 documented while the latter is deduced from actual prac- 

 tice. This review will focus on three areas relevant to 

 territories: the United Nations Charter and resolutions 

 pertaining to non-self-governing territories, the United 

 Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the 

 practice of other countries with respect to their over- 

 seas territories. 



The United Nations Charter and Resolutions 



Article 73 of the United Nations Charter calls on 

 member states to recognize that the interests of the in- 

 habitants of non-self-governing territories are para- 

 mount. Members are to ensure the political, economic, 

 social, and educational advancement of the territories 

 and to promote constructive measures for their devel- 

 opment. In addition, members accept a responsibility 

 "to develop self-government, to take due account of the 

 political aspirations of the peoples, and to assist them 

 in the progressive development of their free political in- 

 stitutions, according to the particular circumstances of 



each territory and its peoples and their varying stages 

 of advancement."^^ 



Two General Assembly resolutions amplify the 

 United Nations' view of territories. Resolution 1514 

 calls for immediate steps to transfer all powers to the 

 people of trust and non-self-governing territories "in 

 accordance with their freely expressed will and desire. ' '^^ 

 Resolution 1541 , passed a day later, establishes princi- 

 ples for determining when a territory reaches "a full 

 measure of self government."^' Three options are rec- 

 ognized: independence, free association with an inde- 

 pendent state, and integration with an independent 

 state. The United Nations has formally recognized the 

 free association status of Puerto Rico^^ and of the North- 

 ern Marianas. ""^ The United States provides annual 

 reports to the United Nations concerning American 

 Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and they 

 have been the subject of occasional visiting missions 

 from the United Nations. Their status, along with other 

 non-self-governing territories has been reviewed annu- 

 ally by the General Assembly. The most recent resolu- 

 tions are typical in calling on the United States and the 

 territories to safeguard the right of the territorial peo- 

 ple to the enjoyment of their natural resources and to 

 develop those resources under local control.'" Signifi- 

 cantly, the resolution concerning Guam urges the 

 United States "to safeguard and guarantee the right of 

 the people of Guam to the natural resources of the Ter- 

 ritory, including marine resources within its exclusive 

 economic zone ..." 



These documents do not, of their own force, require 

 action on the part of the United States. The Charter 

 and the resolutions provide the international norms un- 

 der which the United States and the territories may 

 mutually decide the terms of their relationship. There 

 is an obligation on the part of the United States to pro- 

 mote the development of the territories while protect- 

 ing their free choice of political status. This obligation 

 is not inconsistent with the view of the territorial clause 

 as promoting the political and economic development 

 of the territories. 



The United Nations Convention on 

 the Law of the Sea 



The United States has not signed the United Nations 

 Convention on the Law of the Sea because of objections 

 to its deep seabed mining provisions. Nevertheless, the 



"Leibowitz, United Stales Federalism: The Stales and the Territories, 28 

 Am. U.L. Rev. 449, 451 (1979). 



'''Proclamation No. 5030, supra n.l. 



"Restaicment (revised) of Foreign Relations Law of the United States 102 

 (Tent. Draft No. 6, 1985). 



"U.N. Charter, art. 73(b). 



"G.A. Res. 1514, 15 U.N. GAOR Supp. 16, at 66 (1960). 



"G.A. Res. 1541, 15 U.N. GAOR Supp. 16, at 29 (I960). 



"G.A. Res. 748 (VIII)(1953). 



"T.C. Res. 2183 (LIII)(1986). 



"G.A. Res. 41/23 (Question of American Samoa), G.A. Res. 41/24 (Ques- 

 tion of the Unitecf States Virgin Islands), G.A. Res. 41/25 (Question of Guam), 

 41 GAOR Supp. 53 (1986). 



