The legal nature of the high seas in pollution liability matters

Abstract

In the light of international environmental law, the legal, jurisprudential and doctrinal regimes that encompass the institution of the high seas were studied, since the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development of 1992 that both congregates a denaturalization of the rights and obligations of protection established for the benefit of the high seas; because within these international instruments their effects and application lie within the soft law theory, due to the sovereign character of the States and the scarce legislative technique contemplated in their normative development; issues that lead to the formation of legal vacuums that cause in cases of pollution and overexploitation of non-renewable natural resources inside the high seas remain in impunity. Therefore, this work invite to the international community to modify the legal structure of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to the extent that it incorporates effective protection in Part VII on the high seas, and includes the environment in some way in order to prevent and reduce potential anthropogenic activities that cause environmental degradation due to the new uses and customs instigated in the 21st century.