Governing structure of UNCLOS regime is not under United Nations control

Contrary to the isolationists’ belief, the United Nations is not involved in implementing, administering, or enforcing UNCLOS. The convention not the United Nations, establishes a number of distinct bodies, separate from the United Nations, to handle specific issues. These include the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf¹⁵ and the International Sea Bed Authority.¹⁶ The Authority is composed of three bodies: the Assembly, the Council, and the Secretariat.¹⁷ Each member nation has one representa- tive in the Assembly.¹⁸ The Council is a body of thirty-six persons. As the largest economy in terms of gross national product, if the United States ratified UNCLOS, the United States would have a permanent place on the Council.¹⁹ The Council nominates persons for the Secretariat and the As- sembly votes on them.²⁰ An agency called the Enterprise, which works in deep seabed mining, has not been called into action, as mining has yet to start.²¹ The final organization is the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.²² The Tribunal consists of twenty-one members elected by the parties to the Convention and is based in Hamburg, Germany. While UNCLOS establishes various bodies, they are distinct from and independent of the United Nations, which is not involved in administering UNCLOS.