Meeting of States Parties

to Law of Sea Convention

105^th & 106^th Meetings (AM & PM)

States parties to law of sea convention open seventeenth meeting;

Elect 20 experts to continental shelf commission

 

Elections Will Resume for Remaining Seat Friday, 15 June

The States parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea opened its seventeenth Meeting today with the adoption of an amended provisional agenda and the election of its bureau and, after four rounds of balloting, 20 of 21 expert members of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, for what promises to be a busy session.  Elections for the remaining seat on the Commission will resume tomorrow morning.

Saying that every ratification or accession “brings us closer to our common objective of universal participation in the Convention”, the incoming President of the Meeting, Rosemary Banks of New Zealand, noted that, since the sixteenth Meeting, six additional States, namely Belarus, Lesotho, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco and Niue, had expressed their consent to be bound by the treaty.  On 31 May, Morocco and Lesotho deposited their instruments of ratification with the United Nations Secretary-General.  She congratulated all on that important step.

Ms. Banks welcomed the heads of the three bodies established by the Convention -- the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the International Seabed Authority, and the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf -- adding that the Commission had reached yet another milestone in the discharge of its functions, namely the issuance of recommendations to Brazil and Ireland concerning the delineation of the outer limits of the continental shelf.

The Commission’s workload, in terms of considering the data submitted by coastal States on the outer limits of the continental shelf that might extend beyond 200 nautical miles, would be an important issue before the Meeting, she added.  (For background on the Meeting, see Press Release SEA/1883).

Prior to the Meeting’s adoption of its provisional agenda, the President drew parties’ attention to a new item dealing with future arrangements for the allocation of seats on the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.

Namibia’s representative proposed the addition of a new agenda item concerning future arrangements regarding the equitable geographical distribution of members of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.  States parties accepted the addition of the item and adopted the provisional agenda, as amended.

The Meeting then elected the following Vice-Presidents:  Sivu Maqungo of South Africa; Ganeson Sivagurunathan of Malaysia, Oksana Pasheniuk of Ukraine, and from the Latin American and Caribbean Group, Diego Malpede of Argentina.

It was announced that the Credentials Committee would consist of the following nine States parties:  Algeria, Brazil, Germany, Guatemala, Lithuania, New Zealand, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

In opening remarks, Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, Nicolas Michel, described the Convention as setting the legal order for the seas and oceans.  The recent deposits of instruments of ratification by Morocco and Lesotho had been yet another step towards achieving the goal of universal participation in the Convention and strengthening the rule of law in the governance of oceans.

Annually, the Meeting of States parties was an opportunity for keeping abreast of recent developments in the work of the three bodies established by the treaty:  the International Seabed Authority; the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea; and the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.  This year, the Commission completed its five-year mandate, during which there had been several noteworthy developments, including receipt of several new submissions and the rendering of two sets of recommendations on two of them.

Today, States parties would elect the 21 members of the Commission as the terms of present membership expired tomorrow.  That would be the third term of the Commission since the Convention’s entry into force in 1994.  With the 10-year time limit for the preparation of submissions by many States approaching, the Commission would face the highest workload since its inception.

Assisting a scientific and technical body came at a cost, both in terms of equipment and software licenses, as well as specialized personnel, and with the increased workload associated with the current and projected number of submissions, those costs would further increase, he said.  The Secretariat had already pointed out some of the requirements in its information note (document SPLOS/157), and hoped States parties would give due consideration to that matter, as it was of crucial importance for the successful discharge of the Commission’s functions, as envisaged by the drafters of the Convention.

The Chairman of the Credentials Committee, Ridas Petkus ( Lithuania) supplied a brief report on the Committee, following a suspension of the Meeting.  He also read out the 91 States parties participating in the Meeting.  Participants then adopted the report of the Credentials Committee.

Before the morning meeting adjourned, the parties proceeded to the election of the Commission’s 21 experts, who would serve in their personal capacity for five-year terms, beginning with a readout by the meeting’s President of the rules of procedure.

At the afternoon session, States parties moved to elect by secret ballot five experts from the Group of African States, five from the Asian Group, four from Latin America and the Caribbean, three from the Eastern European Group, and four from Western European and Other States.

The following four experts were elected from the African Group in the first round of balloting:

Indurlall Fagoonee of Mauritius (143 votes)

Lawrence Folajimi Awosika of Nigeria (129 votes)

Isaac Owusu Oduro of Ghana (124 votes)

Michael Anselme Marc Rosette of Seychelles (124 votes)

After four rounds of balloting, three restricted, between Cameroon and Togo for the remaining African seat, Cameroon was elected by 106 votes.

The voting pattern prior to the last round was as follows:

Cameroon:  99 (votes), 79, 90, 106

Togo:  99 (votes), 65, 52, 33

From the Asian Group, the following five experts were elected in the first round of balloting:

Kensaku Tamaki of Japan (141 votes)

Lu Wenzheng of China (130 votes)

Sivaramakrishnan Rajan of India (129 votes)

Park Yong-ahn of Republic of Korea (123 votes)

Abu Bakar Jaafar of Malaysia (122 votes)

Three experts were elected in the first round of balloting from the Eastern European States as follows:

Mihai Silviu German of Romania (143 votes)

Yuri Borisovitch Kazmin of the Russian Federation (143 votes)

George Jaoshvili of Georgia (136 votes)

Four seats were filled in the first round of balloting from the Latin America and Caribbean States by the following:

Alexandre Tagore Medeiros de Albuquerque of Brazil (144 votes)

Francis L. Charles of Trinidad and Tobago (144)

Galo Carrera Hurtado of Mexico (141 votes)

Osvaldo Pedro Astiz of Argentina (139 votes)

From the Western European and Other States Group, the following three experts were elected on the first round:

Harald Brekke of Norway (115 votes)

Philip Alexander Symonds of Australia (106 votes)

Peter F. Croker of Ireland (105 votes)

The voting pattern thus far for the remaining seat from that Group was as follows:

United Kingdom: 97 (votes), 76, 71, 67

Portugal: 89 (votes), 74, 74, 79

The States parties will meet again tomorrow, 15 June, to continue elections to fill the remaining seat on the Commission.

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For information media • not an official record