Oceans and Law of the Sea

Delegates concluded the twenty-fourth Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, approving a budget and adopting a draft decision, while tackling difficult maritime disputes over international waters.

Commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the entry into force of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, as well as World Ocean Day, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged Member States to adhere to the treaty’s provisions in order to ensure sustainability as oceans and seas increasingly became sources of development.

The twenty-fourth Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea will be held at Headquarters from 9 to 13 June.

Concerned that the availability of fish and fishery products may not be able to keep pace with increased demand, Member States will consider the role of seafood in global food security at United Nations Headquarters this week as part of a continuing examination of issues facing the world’s oceans.

The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf held its thirty-fourth session at United Nations Headquarters from 27 January to 14 March 2014. Besides the two weeks of plenary meetings (10 to 14 February and 10 to 14 March), the Commission, working through its subcommissions, devoted five weeks to the technical examination of submissions at the Geographic Information Systems laboratories and other technical facilities of the Division.

The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf will hold its thirty-fourth session from 27 January to 14 March.

The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf held its thirty-second session at United Nations Headquarters from 15 July to 30 August 2013. The session included two weeks of plenary meetings (12 to 16 August and 26 to 30 August 2013). Five weeks were devoted to the technical examination of submissions at the geographic information systems laboratories and other technical facilities of the Division.

NEW YORK, 9 August (United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs) — On 15 July, the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf commenced its thirty-second session, which will continue until 30 August.

States must strike a balance between the sustainable protection of the world’s oceans and their reasonable exploitation as sources of food, energy and employment for billions of people around the globe, stressed delegates as the States Parties to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea concluded their twenty-third Meeting today.

The budget review process for the international tribunal for maritime affairs should be brought up to more efficient and effective standards, said delegates today in the Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on the Law of the Sea as it continued its twenty-third session.