Treaties, Conventions, Ratifications

The following joint statement by António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Stanislav V. Zas, Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, was issued today:

A new United Nations report released today says that, despite a drop in civilian casualties in Afghanistan, it remains one of the deadliest conflicts in the world for civilians.  Meanwhile, a deteriorating humanitarian situation persists amid rising cases of COVID-19, with more than 36,000 confirmed cases and 1,269 deaths.

The following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the forty-fifth anniversary of the entry into force of the Biological Weapons Convention:

The Secretary-General addressed the Group of 20 virtual summit on the COVID-19 pandemic, stressing that transmission of the virus must be suppressed as quickly as possible through a coordinated response mechanism guided by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the treaty ceremony for the conventions on statelessness, in Geneva today:

On the sidelines of the busy seventy‑fourth General Debate at United Nations Headquarters, 32 Member States undertook 48 treaty actions in an annual four‑day event that ended on 27 September.

In a continuing effort to encourage wider participation in the multilateral treaty framework, the United Nations is hosting the annual Treaty Event at Headquarters from 24 to 27 September, inviting Member States to sign or become party to multilateral treaties by depositing instruments of ratification or accession with the Secretary-General.

Delegates elaborating the terms of a new treaty under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea pledged to continue negotiating in the spirit of cooperation and good faith, as the Intergovernmental Conference tasked with drafting a legally binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity concluded its third session today.

Experts drafting a new global instrument on biodiversity in ocean areas beyond national jurisdiction today deliberated which stakeholders — ranging from adjacent coastal States to indigenous peoples to the general public — should be consulted about planned activities under the treaty, as well as their potential role in environmental impact assessments.

Experts working to draft a new treaty on biodiversity in areas of the ocean beyond national jurisdiction today weighed provisions aimed at prohibiting States from claiming sovereignty over marine genetic resources in those areas, with speakers diverging on the question of whether their use is the “common heritage of mankind”.