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and the delegation should (in respectable company) resist such proposals and refer any texts to the FCO immediately.
9. No United Nations Convention, nor any general multilateral Convention concluded outside the UN framework, contains a provision which would permit recognised NLMS to become Contracting Parties. Only states (and, to a lesser extent and depending upon the terms of their constituent instruments, intergovernmental organisations) have the capacity to conclude treaties. Whatever their status might be, NLMS cannot be
treated as states.
10. At an early stage in the Conference on the Representation of States in their Relations with International Organisations
(ROSIO) held in 1975, there were indications that some partici- pants wanted NLMS to be included in the ambit of the Convention which the Conference was drawing up. This was later modified
to a resolution of the Conference calling on States to accord to NLMS recognised in their respective regions by the appropriate regional intergovernmental organisation privileges and
immunities afforded by the Convention. The UK voted against this resolution and has not signed the ROSIO Convention.
11. Recently we have seen an increase in legal instruments,
concluded under the auspices of the UN, which contain provision for NLMS to become subject to its provisions, though not a Contracting Party. An example of this is the First Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions, 1949 (discussed
in greater detail below). A similar provision is contained in the Protocols concluded at the UN Weaponry Conference in
October 1980 which would allow NLMS to 'accept and apply'
the main Convention without being able to become a party to it.
12. A proposal that NLMS should be entitled to become parties
to the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention received
considerable support, chiefly from Arab, A;rican and Communist states, during the preliminary discussion of final clauses at the Seventh Session of the UNLOS Conference. The UK, US
and Israel spoke against this and our view is that there is no need for NLMS to become bound by the new UNLOSC Conventions.
To agree to the inclusion of a provision on the lines proposed would be an extremely damaging precedent which would have consequences far beyond the LOS context.
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/GENERAL
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