States Parties to United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea Conclude Twenty-Seventh Meeting at Headquarters, 12-15 June

NEW YORK, 20 June (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) ― The twenty-seventh Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was held at United Nations Headquarters from 12 to 15 June, finishing its work one day early.  The background press release can be found at www.un.org/press/en/2017/sea2055.doc.htm.

On the first day, the Meeting took note of the annual report of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for 2016, and of the information reported by the Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority and the Chairperson of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf relating to the activities of those entities since the twenty-sixth Meeting of States Parties in 2016.  States Parties made statements in respect of the work of the three bodies.

The Meeting also considered budgetary matters of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and took note, with satisfaction, of the report of the external auditor for the financial period 2015-2016, and of the report of the Registrar of the Tribunal on budgetary matters for the financial period 2015-2016.  Regarding the latter, the Meeting approved the financing of an over-expenditure in the amount of €2,617, due to the depreciation of the euro against the United States dollar, through savings from official travel.

The Meeting elected the following seven members of the Tribunal to nine-year terms, to begin on 1 October:  Boualem Bouguetaia (Algeria); José Luis Jesus (Cabo Verde); Neeru Chadha (India); Liesbeth Lijnzaad (Netherlands); Óscar Cabello Sarubbi (Paraguay); Roman A. Kolodkin (Russian Federation); and Kriangsak Kittichaisaree (Thailand).

The Meeting also elected the following 20 members of the Commission to a five-year term starting on 16 June:  Domingos de Carvalho Viana Moreira (Angola); Carlos Marcelo Paterlini (Argentina); Jair Alberto Ribas Marques (Brazil); Emmanuel Kalngui (Cameroon); David Cole Mosher (Canada); Gonzalo Alejandro Yãnez Carrizo (Chile); Wenzheng Lyu (China); Martin Vang Heinesen (Denmark); Toshitsugu Yamazaki (Japan); Simon Njuguna (Kenya); Clodette Raharimananirina (Madagascar); Mazlan bin Madon (Malaysia); Estevão Stefane Mahanjane (Mozambique); Lawrence Folajimi Awosika (Nigeria); Adnan Rashid Nasser al-Azri (Oman); Marcin Mazurowski (Poland); Aldino Campos (Portugal); Yong Ahn Park (Republic of Korea); Ivan F. Glumov (Russian Federation); and Wanda-Lee De Landro Clarke (Trinidad and Tobago).  At the request of the Group of Eastern European States, the Meeting postponed the election of one member of the Commission in order to allow for additional nominations by that Group.

The Open-Ended Working Group on the Conditions of Service of the Members of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, coordinated by Anastasia Strati (Greece) and James Waweru (Kenya), continued to consider the issues of working space for Commission members, as well as options for mechanisms to provide them with medical insurance coverage.  The Open-Ended Working Group will continue its work in between sessions.

Following the meeting of the Working Group, the Meeting took note of improvements to the Commission’s working space and of information presented by the Department of Management on matters relating to medical insurance coverage.  The Meeting endorsed the proposal by the Working Group to conduct a new condition-of-service survey involving the newly elected members of the Commission.  It further recommended that the General Assembly address the need for the Secretariat to provide for the storage of data and information for the purposes of the Commission, monitor access to such data and secure the means for intersessional communications.

The Meeting also considered, under article 319 of the Convention, the report of the Secretary-General for the information of States parties on issues of a general nature, relevant to States parties, which have arisen with respect to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (document A/71/74/Add.1 and A/72/70).

During deliberations under that agenda item, a considerable number of States parties and observers made statements, highlighting, among other things, the Convention as the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out, and the importance of its effective implementation, including for the sustainable development of oceans and seas and their resources, in particular in the context of the United Nations Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14 (The Ocean Conference) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as the need for capacity-building and cross-sectoral cooperation and coordination.

A more detailed account of the proceedings of the twenty-seventh Meeting of States Parties will be included in the report of the Meeting, to be issued in due course.

For further information on the Meeting, including its documents, please visit the website of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs, www.un.org/Depts/los/meeting_states_parties/twentyseventhmeetingstatesparties.htm.