Oceans and Law of the Sea

The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea offered a unique, flexible framework for adapting to the Earth’s evolving political and environmental challenges, said experts today as the Meeting of States Parties marked World Oceans Day — commemorated annually on 8 June — and adopted a declaration on the occasion of the Convention’s thirtieth anniversary.

Concluding a protracted voting process, States parties to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea today elected Muhammad Arshad of Pakistan as a member of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf following eight rounds of voting that took place over two days.

Reaching the midpoint of its twenty-second annual session, the Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on the Law of the Sea today elected 19 members to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, the preeminent international body charged with making recommendations to coastal States on matters related to their outermost limits.

With the critical importance of submissions by coastal States to the Commission on the Limits of Continental Shelf, and their cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars to hundreds of millions to prepare, it was essential that every one be meticulously reviewed, delegates to the twenty-second meeting of States Parties to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea heard today as they continued their session in New York.

Issuing its first ever decision in a maritime boundary dispute and rendering an unprecedented advisory opinion on seabed mining, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea had made unprecedented strides in the evolution of international ocean law over the last year, said delegates as the States parties to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea met today to begin its twenty-second annual session.

The twenty-second Meeting of States parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea will be held at Headquarters from 4 to 11 June.

NEW YORK, 4 May (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) ― A Working Group established by the United Nations General Assembly will meet from 7 to 11 May in New York to discuss the legal framework for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction.

NEW YORK, 1 May (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) ― Pursuant to General Assembly resolution 66/231 of 24 December 2011, the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf held its twenty-ninth session at United Nations Headquarters from 19 March to 27 April 2012. The plenary part of the session was held from 9 to 20 April.

Pursuant to General Assembly resolution 66/231 of 24 December 2011, the twenty-ninth session of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf is being held in New York from 19 March to 27 April 2012. The plenary part of the session will be held from 9 to 20 April.

In resolution 66/231 of 24 December 2011, on oceans and the law of the sea, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to organize activities to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the opening for signature of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.