The Fate of the UN Convention on Maritime Law
Climate warming has caused a rise in the water level in the World Ocean, which may be the reason why states lose part of their territory and even their complete disappearance. This situation has three serious consequences: the destruction of the rule of law established by the UN Convention on Maritime Law; the fate of statehood and sovereignty of the disappeared state; the legal status of people forced to flee flooded areas within their own country or abroad. The article analyzes the first of above stated consequences, namely the fate of the provisions of the Convention on Maritime Law, which determine the patterns of subordination of parts of the World Ocean to the territorial jurisdiction of states. The generally accepted legal position is adherence to the Convention with a somewhat new interpretation of it. Such an interpretation can be enshrined in the adoption of the relevant Declaration of the UN General Assembly.