Indonesia Conference Directory

Offenses in the high seas over the exclusive economic zone are increasing rapidly as violators take advantage of the legal vacuum in the region. 188 nautical miles of high seas and exclusive economic zones outside the territorial sea territories of coastal countries are no-mans-land. Article 55-58 jo. Article 87 UNCLOS 1982 created two different legal regimes in the same place. Above the surface of the sea water is declared as the high seas, while the water and natural resources below it follow the regime of the exclusive economic zone. There have been two major incidents in the region recently, namely the crashing of an Indonesian warship by a Vietnamese Government ship and the oil transshipment activities carried out by two foreign-flagged vessels. Violations committed on the high seas, according to UNCLOS 1982 in which the countrys military vessels can act, are limited to those set out in Articles 99 through 109. Beyond these articles the Indonesian Government has difficulty implementing its national legal rules because they have collided with the status of the high seas which the state cannot claim. This paper aims to analyze in depth the legal vacuum in UNCLOS 1982 and its impact on coastal countries.