Ratification of UNCLOS would boost effectiveness and legitimacy of unilateral freedom of navigation programs

That UNCLOS membership would promote international maritime collaboration should be obvious. Less obvious, however, is how UNCLOS membership might also facilitate unilateral action. Consider the U.S. Freedom of Navigation (FON) Program.¹⁰⁴ Consistent with the need to shape the law through state practice, the U.S. has historically conducted operations designed to challenge excessive maritime claims. The FON program provides a framework for conducting such operations. Although states with excessive claims will never publicly welcome U.S. challenges, the U.S. – as an UNCLOS party – would have greater credibility and standing to conduct challenges, reaffirming as a fellow-member the crucial tenants of an internationally accepted legal regime. In this context, challenges might be made more frequently and in more meaningful areas, rendering them a more potent component of U.S. strategic communication on freedom of the seas and airspace. Moreover, as an UNCLOS party, the U.S. could augment the diplomatic and operational means to challenge excessive maritime claims with the Convention’s mandatory dispute procedures. The U.S. thus would have those procedures to use offensively against excessive maritime claims that are not in compliance with the Convention, including those that limit military mobility and high seas freedoms.