Headquarters Will Host Open Meeting to Mark 20 Years since Commission on Limits of Continental Shelf Was Established, 10 March
NEW YORK, 6 March (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) — The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf will hold an open meeting on 10 March to mark 20 years since it was established.
The meeting will be held in the Trusteeship Council Chamber at United Nations Headquarters in New York, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. It is expected to highlight the Commission’s work over the last two decades and to reflect on its relationship with the two other treaty bodies established under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea — the International Seabed Authority and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
Among those invited to the Open Meeting are representatives of States parties to the Convention, as well as observer States to the Meeting of States Parties; the Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority; the Presidents and Judges of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the International Court of Justice; representatives of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Hydrographic Organization; other observers; and all former Commission members.
Preceding the Meeting will be a reception for the invitees on 9 March. The reception and other arrangements for the anniversary celebration were made possible through generous support from Canada, China, Japan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka.
The programme for the open meeting is available on the Commission’s website at www.un.org/depts/los/clcs_new/programme20th_anniv.pdf. The Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel will deliver a statement. It will be followed by interventions from the Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority, the President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, as well as presentations from among the Commission’s current members. The programme will focus on the importance of its work over the past 20 years.
Meeting in March 1997, States parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea elected 21 members to the Commission, which was established pursuant to article 2, annex II to the Convention. The Commission comprises experts in geology, geophysics or hydrography. The Meeting of States Parties elect each member for a five-year term, with due regard for the need to ensure equitable geographical representation. They serve in their personal capacities.
The Commission makes recommendations to coastal States on matters relating to the establishment of the outer limits of their continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured, based on information submitted to it by coastal States. Those recommendations are in turn based on the scientific and technical data, as well as other material provided by States in relation to implementation of article 76 of the Convention. The recommendations do not prejudice matters relating to the delimitation of boundaries between States with opposite or adjacent coasts, or prejudice the position of States that are parties to a land or maritime dispute, or application of other parts of the Convention or any other treaties. The limits of the continental shelf established by a coastal State on the basis of those recommendations shall be final and binding.
As at 1 March, 67 coastal States had made 82 submissions, including 7 joint submissions, several partial submissions and 5 revised submissions which were made after recommendations had been issued. To date, the Commission has issued 26 recommendations; 2 of them were for revised submissions.
Further information on the Open Meeting, including the programme, is available on the Commission’s website, at www.un.org/depts/los/clcs_new/clcs_home.htm. For additional information on its work, please visit the website of the Division, at www.un.org/depts/los/index.htm.