Oceans and Law of the Sea

The thirty-third Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea will convene at United Nations Headquarters from 12 to 16 June.

The International Committee for the Red Cross relocated nearly 300 children from the Mygoma orphanage in Khartoum to a safer location. There the United Nations Children’s Fund is providing support for the children’s medical care, feeding and other needs and is working with authorities to identify foster families.

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

The Review Conference on the Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks will be resumed from 22 to 26 May at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

NEW YORK, 20 April (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) — In another development of importance, following the finalization of the draft agreement 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, United Nations Member States have approved the scope and detailed outline of the third World Ocean Assessment.

The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf held its fifty-seventh session at United Nations Headquarters, from 23 January to 10 March.

Six months after devastating floods struck Pakistan, the United Nations and its partners have reached more than 7 million people with food and other essential services, including life-saving interventions for children. Yet only 30 per cent of the Floods Response Plan has been funded so far.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

Following nearly 36 hours of non-stop negotiations, the Intergovernmental Conference today reached agreement on the text for a historic new maritime biodiversity treaty, as it adjourned its fifth resumed session.

As the Intergovernmental Conference to draft a new maritime biodiversity treaty convened on the eve of the closure of its resumed fifth session, some delegations expressed concern that discussions have gone beyond the Conference’s scope or are not adequately addressing the needs of geographically and economically vulnerable groups of countries, underscoring that the Conference’s outcome must align with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.