LEGAL: ASSESSING THE LEGALITY AND REGULATION OF RESOURCE EXPLOITATION IN AREAS BEYOND NATIONAL JURISDICTION

The Legal Committee is the principal forum within the General Assembly for the consideration of legal questions, and the body where states negotiate the codification and progressive development of international law. At BILSEM-MUN 2026, LEGAL is convened to assess the legal architecture governing one of the open frontiers of public international law — the exploitation of resources in areas beyond national jurisdiction: the high seas, the international seabed, the polar commons, and the celestial bodies whose extraction has only recently passed from speculation into industry.

Delegates will engage with Part XI of UNCLOS and the role of the International Seabed Authority in licensing deep seabed mining, the 2023 BBNJ Agreement on the conservation of biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction, the Antarctic Treaty System and the question of whether its mineral moratorium can survive a warming climate, and the still-unsettled regime governing lunar and asteroid resources between the Outer Space Treaty, the Moon Agreement, and the Artemis Accords. Reference texts include UNCLOS Parts XI and XII, the BBNJ Agreement, the Madrid Protocol, and the principle of the common heritage of mankind.

LEGAL rewards delegates with a taste for precision drafting. Every clause is a commitment; every commitment is enforceable.