PROFESSOR ELISABETH MANN BORGESE, CO-ARCHITECT OF LAW OF SEA CONVENTION, DIES AT 83

PROFESSOR ELISABETH MANN BORGESE, CO-ARCHITECT

OF LAW OF SEA CONVENTION, DIES AT 83

NEW YORK, 8 February (UN Information Service) -- Professor Elizabeth Mann Borgese, who for more than three decades was one of the driving forces in the search for peaceful uses of the oceans and a fair and equitable distribution of their resources, died today in Switzerland at the age of 83.

Elisabeth Mann Borgese, the youngest daughter of the great German writer Thomas Mann, was a world-renowned scholar in the field of international relations, law of the sea and environment.

In 1967, as a Fellow at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions in Santa Barbara, California, Professor Mann Borgese embarked together with Ambassador Arvid Pardo of Malta on a research project on a new order in the oceans, which led to the publication “The Ocean Regime”.  It was the earliest blueprint for a constitution for the world’s oceans, proposing to regulate, harmonize, and manage the uses and resources of ocean space for the benefit of all humankind.  Following this publication, an international conference was organized in Malta in 1970 under the title "Pacem in Maribus" (“Peace in the oceans”) in whose organization Professor Mann Borgese was instrumental.  Since then, 30 such conferences have taken place worldwide.  In 1972 she founded the International Ocean Institute, an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization headquartered in Malta, which is now a global network of 20 operational centres around the world.

The adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in

1982 and its entry into force in 1994 was a major reward for her tireless pursuit of a universal legal regime for the oceans.

With incomparable energy, talent and determination, Elisabeth Mann Borgese has fought to change human behaviour towards the oceans and manage them better, ensuring their preservation as well as the sustainable development of their resources for the present generation and generations to come.

Today, when the United Nations is again examining new ways to achieve an integrated approach to managing the oceans and, in particular, is preparing the World Summit on Sustainable Development, to be held in Johannesburg later this year, it is a suitable time to step back and reflect on the legacy of a great lady whose life was a true credit to us all. 

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