Oceans and Law of the Sea

The ninth round of Informal Consultations of State Parties to the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement will be held at the United Nations on 16 and 17 March. The meeting will primarily serve as a preparatory meeting for the upcoming resumed Review Conference on the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement, which will be held at the United Nations from 24 to 28 May.

A Working Group established by the United Nations General Assembly will meet from 1 to 5 February in New York to consider how to continue and strengthen efforts aimed at the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction.

Pursuant to the decision taken at its twenty-second session and on the basis of General Assembly resolution 63/111, the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf held its resumed twenty-third and twenty-fourth sessions at United Nations Headquarters from 3 to 7 August and from 10 August to 11 September, respectively.

General Assembly, in its resolution 63/111 of 5 December 2008, approved the convening by the Secretary-General of the twenty-fourth session of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in New York from 10 August to 11 September 2009 on the understanding that 10 to 21 August and 8 to 11 September will be used for the technical examination of submissions at the Geographic Information System laboratories and other technical facilities of the Division.

States parties to the Convention on the Law of the Sea concluded their nineteenth meeting this evening by approving salary increases for judges of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and a new arrangement for allocating seats on the Tribunal and the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, but failed to reach a decision on how best to cope with the Commission’s workload.

As the States parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea continued their annual session today, delegates noted progress made in their consultations on budgetary matters, the allocation of judges’ seats on the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, and reducing the Commission’s workload, but said they needed more time to reach agreement on those outstanding contentious issues.

As they continued their annual session today, States parties to the Convention on the Law of the Sea heard a briefing by the President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on that body’s financial reports for the 2007-2008 period and recent proposed changes on the remuneration of its judges.

The States parties to the Convention on the Law of the Sea today heard briefings by the heads of the three bodies established by the treaty -- the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, International Seabed Authority and the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf -- as they continued their annual session.

The States parties to the Convention on the Law of the Sea today heard briefings by the heads of the three bodies established by the treaty -- the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, International Seabed Authority and the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf -- as they continued their annual session.

The States parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea opened their nineteenth meeting todaywith a call for universal accession to that treaty, adoption of a provisional agenda and election of its Bureau.