The universal human rights régime, under which we live, originated in response to the racial and other atrocities committed by Nazi Germany and its allies. The architects of the post-War system intended to institutionalize the liberal and egalitarian vision that had animated the Allied war effort. Drawing from the constitutional practices of liberal Western societies, they placed the rights-bearing individual at the center of the new global order. They thus refashioned the pre-War states system in four major ways.
President Ronald Reagan refused to sign the omnibus agreement. However, the UN convention refused to die. It was revived by George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, backed by George W. Bush, and endorsed by Barack Obama.
LOST is the sort of esoterica which fills Washington. The agreement took three UN conferences over decades to negotiate. It mixed unrelated issues: navigation, seabed mining, environmental protection, fishing. It is long, complex, and counterproductive. Its genesis was a different world: social engineering was the rage in Washington, communism seemed to be on the march, and Third World dictatorships claimed the moral high ground. Indeed, LOST was seen as an important tool to advance what was then called the New International Economic Order (NIEO).