Oceans and Law of the Sea

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message on International Day of the Seafarer, observed on 25 June:

NEW YORK, 20 June (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs) ― The thirty-second Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was held at Headquarters from 13 to 17 June.  The background press release can be found at:  www.un.org/press/en/2022/sea2141.doc.htm

Today is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, and this year’s theme is “Combating Elder Abuse”.  According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every year, one in six people aged 60 and older experience some form of abuse.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for World Oceans Day, observed on 8 June:

The thirty-second Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea will convene, in person, at United Nations Headquarters from 13 to 17 June 2022.

The Security Council today unanimously adopted a text calling upon Member States in the Gulf of Guinea region to criminalize piracy and armed robbery at sea under their domestic laws, and to investigate, prosecute or extradite, in accordance with applicable international law, perpetrators of such crimes, as well as those who incite, finance or intentionally facilitate them.

The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf held its fifty-fourth session at United Nations Headquarters from 21 February to 11 March.

As the Intergovernmental Conference, tasked with drafting a legally binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity, concluded its fourth session today, delegates decided to hold a fifth session with the goal of finalizing a new treaty and stressed the need to facilitate greater participation to allow all countries and communities to have a say in how marine resources existing outside of national jurisdiction should be shared.

The Intergovernmental Conference on an international legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction will hold its fourth session from 7 to 18 March.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks at the United Nations Environment Assembly flagship side event: “Steps of a participatory approach towards a new global agreement on marine litter and plastic pollution (Nature for human and ecosystems health)”, in Nairobi today: