§ 42. Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether Her Majesty's Government will seek to ensure in negotiations concerning the law of the sea convention, that the United Kingdom will not relinquish certain rights, including her claim to mineral rights, in relation to uninhabited islands.
§ Mr. RifkindThe law of the sea convention states that rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf. During the negotiations on the convention we and some other delegations sought unsuccessfully to delete this provision. In deciding our attitude to the convention we shall be examining the implications of this and other provisions of the convention for United Kingdom interests, including mineral rights.