Question: 
When did the UN Law of the Sea Treaty begin? I read that President Reagan wanted no part of it in the 80's.Pauline L
 
Answer:
A good general primer (beginning point) on the UN Law of the Sea Convention, which opponents pejoratively refer to as Law of the Sea Treaty ("LOST') as in 'get lost', can be found in wikipedia of all places:
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_on_the_Law_of_the_Sea
 
I say a 'beginning point' because there is much more information below the surface that is not being disclosed by the US government.

Some of the articles listed below were prepared by the ITSSD and they disclose information that was not provided by Bush administration witnesses during Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings. We believe that the senate committee went along with the hearings charade because they, too, want the US to ratify the treaty. There was never any intent to provide full and impartial hearings for the benefit of the American people.

The State Department obviously wants the US to ratify the treaty for 'political' reasons and was unlikely to be dissuaded from pursuing this objective until the ITSSD became involved and provided much-needed research to the Coalition to Preserve American Sovereignty - http://www.rejectlost.blogspot.com/.
The ITSSD's contributions include the following research papers which were shared with the appropriate people:

? UNCLOS Alchemy
? Myth & Realities # 2 Concerning UN Law of the Sea ...
? Myths & Realities #4 Concerning UN Law of the Sea ...
? EU HIDES BEHIND 'PRIVATE' STANDARDS EFFORT TO SECU...
? ITSSD Public Service Announcement - Law of the Sea...
? European Collectivism at the Expense of U.S. Indiv...
? Letter from U.S. Senator James Inhofe to Lawrence ...
? LOST' REALITY
? Myths and Realities Concerning UN Law of the Sea T...
? US Military Review of the Law of the Sea Treaty La...
? LOST 45' UN Environmental Restrictions on US Sover...
? Letters to the editor - - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper
? LOST and found - - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper
In particular, the ITSSD's recent article UNCLOS Alchemy reveals that a 'deal' was made between the US State Department and the European Commission to trade UNCLOS ratification for European cooperation on the Bush administration's Proliferation Security Initiative - i.e., its anti-terrorism sea interdiction included efforts.
The ITSSD will continue to provide the public with more information on this important subject matter. The question remains, however, how much more do Americans wish to know?
We appreciate your interest and ask that you share this information with as many of your fellow citizens and neighbors as is possible. Only an informed electorate can prevent government from usurping the authority granted to it by 'the people'.
Thank you for your inquiry.
 
Sincerely,
 
Lawrence A. Kogan, Esq.

Lawrence Kogan is president and chief executive officer of the Institute for Trade, Standards and Sustainable Development (ITSSD), a nonpartisan, nonprofit, international legal research and educational organization, and has advised the Bush administration concerning Europe’s use of the precautionary principle to dominate international economic affairs.

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