STATES PARTIES TO LAW OF SEA CONVENTION ELECT 21 MEMBERS TO COMMISSION ON LIMITS OF CONTINENTAL SHELF

Meeting of States Parties

to Law of Sea Convention

67^th Meeting (AM)

STATES PARTIES TO LAW OF SEA CONVENTION ELECT 21 MEMBERS

TO COMMISSION ON LIMITS OF CONTINENTAL SHELF

The States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea this morning elected the full membership to one of the Convention’s subsidiary bodies -- the 21-member Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf -- for five-year terms, beginning 16 June. 

The terms of office for the Commission’s current members began at that body’s first meeting -- 16 June 1997 -- and will expire on 15 June 2002.  The Commission’s experts in geology, geophysics and hydrography make recommendations when coastal States make application to have their continental shelf boundary extend beyond 200 nautical miles, as outlined in article 76 of Convention.

Elected in one round of secret balloting, the new members of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf are:  Noel Newton St. Claver Francis (Jamaica), Lawrence Folajimi Awosika (Nigeria), Indurlall Fagoonee (Mauritius), Yuri Borisovitch Kazmin (Russian Federation), Alexandre Tagore Medeiros de Albuquerque (Brazil),Hurtado Carrera (Mexico), Mihai Silviu German (Romania), Yao Ubuenale Woeledji (Togo), Osvaldo Pedro Astiz (Argentina), Samuel Sona Betah (Cameroon) and Mladen Juracic (Croatia).

Also elected were:  Naresh Kuma Thakur (India), Peter F. Croker (Ireland), Wenzheng Lu (China), Fernando Manuel Maia Pimentel (Portugal), Kensaku Tamaki (Japan), Hilal Mohamed Sultan Al-Azri (Oman), Yong-Ahn Park (Republic of Korea), Harald Brekke (Norway), Abu Bakar Jaafar (Malaysia) and Philip Alexander Symonds (Australia).

The regional distribution for the Commission's new membership was as follows:  four members from the African States Group; six members from the Asian States Group; three members from the Eastern European States Group; four members from the Latin American and Caribbean States Group and four members from the Western European and Other States Group.  The curricula vitae of the candidates is contained in document SPLOS/81.

In other business, Piotr Ogonowski of Poland, Chairman of the Credentials Committee, introduced that body’s second report.  He noted that by reviewing and accepting the credentials of Comoros and Guinea Bissau, the twelfth Meeting could now boast the participation of all 137 States Parties to the Convention.

With that in mind, President of the Meeting, Don Mackay of New Zealand, congratulated the States Members, adding that full participation in the current session was especially propitious, as it marked the twentieth anniversary of the Convention.

67^th Meeting (AM)

Finally today, the representative of Japan proposed that the Registrar of the Tribunal on the Law of the Sea calculate a draft scale of assessments and contributions of States Members to the Tribunal’s budget, from 2003 to 2004.  Those figures would be for the Meetings consideration and would have a yearly ceiling of .22 per cent.

The States Parties to the Convention will meet again at a time to be announced.

Voting Results

Number of ballots:                                    134

Number of invalid ballots:                             10

Number of valid ballots:                             124

Number of abstentions:                                  0

Number of Member States voting:                       124

Majority required:                                     83

 (two thirds of present and voting)

Number of Votes Obtained:

Noel Newton St. Claver Francis (Jamaica)              118

Lawrence Folajimi Awosika (Nigeria)                   117

Indurlall Fagoonee (Mauritius)                        117

Yuri Borisovitch Kazmin (Russian Federation)          117

Alexandre Tagore Medeiros de Albuquerque (Brazil)     116

Hurtado Carrera (Mexico)                              113

Mihai Silviu German (Romania)                         113

Yao Ubuenale Woeledji (Togo)                          113

Osvaldo Pedro Astiz (Argentina)                       112

Samuel Sona Betah (Cameroon)                          112

Mladen Juracic (Croatia)                              111

Naresh Kuma Thakur (India)                            105

Peter F. Croker (Ireland)                             102

Wenzheng Lu (China)                                   102

Fernando Manuel Maia Pimentel (Portugal)              101

Kensaku Tamaki (Japan)                                101

Hilal Mohamed Sultan Al-Azri (Oman)                   97

Yong-Ahn Park (Republic of Korea)                     97

Harald Brekke (Norway)                                95

Abu Bakar Jaafar (Malaysia)                            93

Philip Alexander Symonds (Australia)                  84

John R.V. Brooks (United Kingdom)                     79

Asif Inam (Pakistan)                                  62

Nanayakkarawasam Pallage Wijayananda (Sri Lanka)      49

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