Commission on Limits of Continental Shelf Concludes Fifty-Eighth Session

NEW YORK, 23 August (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) — The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf held its fifty-eighth session at United Nations Headquarters, from 5 July to 22 August.

The plenary parts of the session were held on 5 July and from 8 to 11 August.  The remainder of the session was devoted to the technical examination of submissions at the geographic information systems laboratories and other technical facilities of the Division.  This was the first session of the Commission in its current composition, following the election of its members at the thirty-second Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in June 2022.

During this session, the following submissions were considered by the Commission and its subcommissions:  the submission made by the Russian Federation in respect of the South‑Eastern part of the Eurasia Basin in the Arctic Ocean (partial revised submission); Brazil in respect of the Brazilian Equatorial Margin (partial revised submission); Cook Islands concerning the Manihiki Plateau (revised submission); Iceland in respect of the Western, Southern and South-Eastern parts of the Reykjanes Ridge (partial revised submission); Mauritius in respect of the region of Rodrigues Island (partial submission); Nigeria; Palau in respect of the North Area (partial amended submission); Portugal; Spain in respect of the area of Galicia (partial submission); Trinidad and Tobago; Namibia; and Indonesia in respect of the area south of Java and south of Nusa Tenggara (partial submission).

The Commission adopted or approved two sets of recommendations.  Regarding the submission made by the Russian Federation in respect of the South-Eastern part of the Eurasia Basin in the Arctic Ocean, the Commission heard a presentation made by the submitting State, and for the first time in its history, considered the submission directly at the plenary level, without establishing a subcommission.  It adopted its recommendations without a vote.  Regarding the submission made by Nigeria, the Commission resumed its consideration of the recommendations that had been adopted by the subcommission at the fifty-seventh session.  Following final presentations made by the subcommission and the submitting State and ensuing extensive deliberations, the Commission approved those recommendations without a vote, with amendments.

During its plenary meetings, the Commission also heard presentations of submissions by the Cook Islands, Iceland and Indonesia.

In view of the progress in its work, the Commission decided to proceed with the examination of the partial revised submission made by Iceland in respect of the Western, Southern and South-Eastern parts of the Reykjanes Ridge, by way of the respective subcommission.

To underscore the importance that submitting States attach to the work of the Commission, some delegations were represented at the high level:  the delegation of the Russian Federation was headed by the Minister for Natural Resources and the Environment, Alexander Kozlov; the delegation of Palau was headed by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Gustav N. Aitaro; and the delegation of Indonesia was headed by Deputy Coordinating Minister for Maritime Sovereignty and Energy, Jodi Mahardi.  In addition, the Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Immigration of the Cook Islands, Mark Brown, delivered a pre‑recorded video statement to the plenary.

During the session, the Commission was informed about deliberations of the thirty-third Meeting of States Parties to the Convention, held in June, on matters concerning the Commission.

With a view to its programme of meetings in 2024, the Commission decided that it would continue to meet for a total of 21 weeks by holding three sessions of seven weeks each, and that no two sessions would be sequential.  Four of those 21 weeks would be devoted to plenary meetings.  The Commission decided to convene its sixtieth session from 22 January to 8 March 2024, with plenary parts to be held, subject to the approval of the General Assembly, from 29 January to 2 February 2024 and from 26 February to 1 March 2024; its sixty-first session from 8 July to 23 August 2024, with plenary parts to be held, subject to the approval of the General Assembly, from 5 to 9 August 2024 and from 19 to 23 August 2024; and its sixty-second session from 7 October to 22 November 2024, without plenary meetings.

Following a discussion on the workload of the Commission and working conditions of its members, the Commission agreed upon terms of reference for its member acting as a liaison between the Commission and the Co-Coordinators of the Open-ended Working Group of the Meeting of States Parties on the conditions of service of the members of the Commission and decided to reappoint Simon Njuguna in this capacity for the next two and a half years.

To reflect the decision of the Commission to consider submissions according to a ratio of two original submissions to one revised submission and proceed on the basis of two queues, and with a view to highlighting submissions under active consideration, the Commission decided to update the manner in which submissions are presented on the website dedicated to its work maintained by the Secretariat, which is available at:  www.un.org/Depts/los/clcs_new/commission_submissions.htm.

Further details of the fifty-eighth session will be available in the Statement of the Chairperson of the Commission (document CLCS/58/2).

The background press release on this session is available at https://press.un.org/en/2023/sea2183.doc.htm.  A press release on appointments made during the session is available at https://press.un.org/en/2023/sea2184.doc.htm.

Background

Established pursuant to article 2 of annex II to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Commission makes recommendations to coastal States on matters related 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.  These recommendations are based on the scientific and technical data and other material provided by States in relation to the 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 these recommendations shall be final and binding.  In the case of disagreement by the coastal State with the recommendations of the Commission, the coastal State shall, within a reasonable time, make a revised or new submission to the Commission.

Under rule 23 of its rules of procedure (Public and private meetings), the meetings of the Commission, its subcommissions and subsidiary bodies are held in private, unless the Commission decides otherwise.

As required under the rules of procedure of the Commission, the executive summaries of all the submissions, including all charts and coordinates, have been made public by the Secretary‑General through continental shelf notifications circulated to Member States of the United Nations, as well as States Parties to the Convention.  The executive summaries are available on the Division’s website at www.un.org/depts/los/clcs_new/clcs_home.htm.  The summaries of recommendations adopted by the Commission are also available on the above-referenced website.

The Commission is a body of 21 experts in the field of geology, geophysics or hydrography.  They serve in their personal capacities.  Members of the Commission are elected for a term of five years by the Meeting of States Parties to the Convention from among their nationals having due regard to the need to ensure equitable geographical representation.  Not fewer than three members shall be elected from each geographical region.

Currently, two seats on the Commission continue to be vacant due to the lack of nominations from the Eastern European Group of States.

The Convention provides that the State Party which submitted the nomination of a member of the Commission shall defray the expenses of that member while in performance of Commission duties.  A voluntary trust fund for the purpose of defraying the cost of participation of the members of the Commission from developing countries has been established.  It has facilitated the participation of several members of the Commission from developing countries in the sessions of the Commission.

The convening by the Secretary-General of the United Nations of the sessions of the Commission, with full conference services, including documentation, for the plenary parts of these sessions, is subject to approval by the General Assembly of the United Nations.  The Assembly does so in its annual resolutions on oceans and the law of the sea, which also address other matters relevant to the work of the Commission and the conditions of service of its members.

For additional information on the work of the Commission see the website of the Division at www.un.org/depts/los/index.htm.  In particular, the most recent Statements by the Chair on the progress in the work of the Commission are available at www.un.org/depts/los/clcs_new/commission_documents.