E. Effective coordination of humanitarian assistance efforts
79. Oceans and the law of the sea
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea entered into force on 16 November 1994. The Agreement relating to the implementation of part XI of the Convention entered into force on 28 July 1996. The Agreement is to be interpreted and applied together with the Convention as a single instrument.
(a) Oceans and the law of the sea
At its thirty-eighth session, the General Assembly, under the item entitled “Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea: report of the Secretary -General”, decided to include in the provisional agenda of its thirty-ninth session an item entitled
“Law of the sea” (resolution 38/59 A). The Assembly had the item on its agenda at its thirty-ninth to fifty-first sessions (resolutions 39/73, 40/63, 41/34, 42/20, 43/18, 44/26, 45/145, 46/78, 47/65, 48/28, 48/263, 49/28, 50/23 and 51/34). At its fifty-first session, the Assembly decided to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty -second session an item entitled “Oceans and the law of the sea” (resolution 51/34). The Assembly has had the item on its agenda annually since its fifty-second session (resolutions 52/26, 52/251, 53/32, 54/31, 55/7, 56/12, 57/33, 57/141, 58/240, 59/24, 60/30, 61/222, 62/215, 63/111, 64/71, 65/37 A and B, 66/231, 67/5, 67/78, 68/70, 69/245, 69/292, 70/226, 70/235, 70/303, 71/124, 71/257, 71/312 (“Our ocean, our future: call for action”), 72/73, 72/249, 73/124, 73/292, 74/19 and 75/239 and decisions 57/523, 65/545, 67/522, 71/548, 71/552 A and B, 74/543, 74/548 and 74/554).
At its forty-ninth session, the Assembly decided to undertake an annual review and evaluation of the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and other relevant developments, and requested the Secretary-General to report annually to the Assembly as from its fiftieth session (resolution 49/28).
At its fifty-fourth session, the Assembly decided to establish an open-ended informal consultative process (“Informal Consultative Process”) in order to facilitate the annual review by the Assembly of developments in ocean affairs by considering the Secretary-General’s report on oceans and the law of the sea and by suggesting particular issues to be considered by it, with an emphasis on ide ntifying areas where coordination and cooperation at the intergovernmental and inter-agency levels should be enhanced, and decided that the meetings would be coordinated by two co-chairpersons, who would be appointed by the President of the Assembly in consultation with Member States and taking into account the need for representation from developed and developing countries (resolution 54/33).
At its fifty-seventh session, the Assembly decided to establish by 2004 a regular process under the United Nations for the global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment, including socioeconomic aspects, both current and foreseeable, building on existing regional assessments (“Regular Process”) (resolution 57/141).
Following its establishment of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole at its sixty -third session to recommend a course of action to the Assembly (resolution 63/111), the Assembly, at its sixty-fifth session, decided that the Regular Process would be overseen and guided by an Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole of the Assembly, composed of Member States; and decided that the meetings of th e Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole would be coordinated by two co-chairs representing developing and developed countries, who would be appointed by the President of the Assembly in consultation with regional groups (resolution 65/37 A).
At its seventy-fourth session, the Assembly, also under the item entitled “Sustainable development”, decided to postpone the 2020 United Nations Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development, originally scheduled to be held from 2 to 6 June 2020 in accordance with resolution 73/292, to a later date to be decided by the Assembly, and also decided to set, at a later stage, the new deadlines for its preparatory process (decision 74/548).
At its seventy-fifth session, the Assembly considered the item in a joint debate, with the sub-item entitled “Sustainable fisheries, including through the 1995 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, and related instruments”, where statements were made by 32 delegations (see A/75/PV.38 and 39).
At the same session, the Assembly invited the Secretary-General to inform the Assembly on the implementation of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development through his report on oceans and the law of the sea, on the basis of information to be provided by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission; requested the Secretary-General to convene, in 2021, up to two meetings of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole of no more than two days total duration for each meeting, one in the first half of 2021 and another in the second half of 2021; decided to continue the Informal Consultative Process for the next year, in accordance with resolution 54/33, with a further review of its effectiveness and utility by the Assembly at its seventy-sixth session; requested the Secretary-General to convene, in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3 of resolution 54/33, the twenty-first meeting of the Informal Consultative Process, in New York for eight meetings during the week of 14 to 18 June 2021; decided to further defer the review of the terms of reference for the work of UN Oceans until its seventy-sixth session; and requested the Secretary-General to prepare a report for consideration by the Assembly at its seventy-sixth session on developments and issues relating to ocean affairs and the law of the sea, including the implementation of resolution 75/239, in accordance with resolutions 49/28, 52/26 and 54/33 (resolution 75/239).
Documents for the seventy-sixth session:
(a) Report of the Secretary-General on oceans and the law of the sea (resolutions 49/28 and 75/239);
(b) Letter from the Co-Chairs of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole addressed to the President of the General Assembly transmitting the report on the work of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole on the Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, including Socioeconomic Aspects (resolutions 63/111, 65/37 A and 75/239);
(c) Letter from the Co-Chairs of the Informal Consultative Process addressed to the President of the General Assembly transmitting the report on the work of the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (resolutions 54/33 and 75/239).
References for the seventy-fifth session (agenda item 76 (a))
Reports of the Secretary-General on oceans and the law of the sea (A/75/70 and A/75/340)
Letters from the Co-Chairs of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole addressed to the President of the General Assembly transmitting the reports on the work of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole on the Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, including Socioeconomic Aspects (A/75/362 and A/75/614) and the summary of the second World Ocean Assessment (A/75/232/Rev.1)
Draft resolution A/75/L.39 and A/75/L.39/Add.1 Report of the Fifth Committee A/75/679
Plenary meetings A/75/PV.38 and 39 (jointly with sub-item (b)) and 48 (Resumption 1)
Resolution 75/239
(b) Sustainable fisheries, including through the 1995 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, and
related instruments
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 entered into force on 11 December 2001.
At its fiftieth session, the General Assembly, under the sub-item entitled “Sustainable use and conservation of the marine living resources of the high seas” under the item entitled “Environment and sustainable development”, decided to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-first session, under the item entitled “Law of the sea”, a sub-item entitled “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” (resolution 50/24). The Assembly had the item on its agenda at its fifty-first to fiftyfourth sessions and has had the item on its agenda annually since its fifty -sixth session (resolutions 51/35, 51/36, 52/28, 53/33, 54/32, 56/13, 57/143, 58/14, 59/25, 60/31, 61/105, 62/177, 63/112, 64/72, 65/38, 66/68, 67/79, 68/71, 69/109, 70/75, 71/123, 72/72, 73/125, 74/18 and 75/89).
At its seventy-fifth session, the Assembly considered the item in a joint debate, with the sub-item entitled “Oceans and the law of the sea”, where statements were made by 34 delegations (see A/75/PV.38 and 39). The Assembly requested the Secretary-General to prepare a report, in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, for its consideration at its seventy -seventh session, on further actions taken by States and regional fish eries management organizations and arrangements in response to paragraphs 113, 117 and 119 to 124 of resolution 64/72, paragraphs 121, 126, 129, 130 and 132 to 134 of resolution 66/68 and paragraphs 156, 171, 175, 177 to 188 and 219 of resolution 71/123 since the preparation of the report referred to in paragraph 211 of the resolution; and decided to include the sub item in the provisional agenda of its seventy-sixth session and to consider the possibility of including the sub-item in future provisional agendas on a biennial basis (resolution 75/89).
No advance documentation is expected for the seventy-sixth session.
Document for the seventy-seventh session: Report of the Secretary-General (resolution 75/89).
References for the seventy-fifth session (agenda item 76 (b)) Report of the Secretary-General A/75/157
Draft resolution A/75/L.40 and A/75/L.40/Add.1
Plenary meetings A/75/PV.38 and 39 (jointly with sub-item (a))
Resolution 75/89
80. Criminal accountability of United Nations officials and experts on mission
At its sixty-first session, the General Assembly decided that the agenda item entitled
“Comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspects”, which had been allocated to the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee), should also be referred to the Sixth Committee for discussion of the report of the Group of Legal Experts on ensuring the accountability of United Nations staff and experts on mission with respect to criminal acts committed in peacekeeping operations (see A/60/980), submitted pursuant to Assembly resolutions 59/300 and 60/263 and decision 60/563 (decision 61/503 A).
At the same session, under the item entitled “Criminal accountability of United Nations officials and experts on mission”, the Assembly decided to establish an Ad Hoc Committee, open to all States Members of the United Nations or members of specialized agencies or of the International Atomic Energy Agency, for the purpose of considering the report of the Group of Legal Experts, in particular its lega l aspects (resolution 61/29). The Ad Hoc Committee reported on its work to the Assembly at its sixty-second and sixty-third sessions (A/62/54 and A/63/54).
The Assembly has had the item on its agenda annually since its sixty-second session (resolutions 62/63, 63/119, 64/110, 65/20, 66/93, 67/88, 68/105, 69/114, 70/114, 71/134, 72/112, 73/196, 74/181 and 75/132).
At its seventy-fifth session, the Assembly allocated the item to the Sixth Committee, where statements in the debate were made by 31 delegations (see A/C.6/75/SR.4, 5 and 17–19). The Assembly reiterated its decision that the consideration of the report of the Group of Legal Experts, in particular its legal aspects, taking into account the views of Member States and also noting the inputs by the Secretariat, would be continued during its seventy-seventh session in the framework of a working group of the Sixth Committee, and, for that purpose, invited further comments fr om Member States on that report, including on the question of future action. The Assembly requested the Secretary-General to continue to report on any updates to the policies and procedures of the United Nations system regarding allegations of crimes that may have been committed or crimes that were allegedly committed by United Nations officials or experts on mission. The Assembly also requested the Secretary -General to report to it at its seventy-sixth session on the implementation of the resolution (resolution 75/132).
Documents for the seventy-sixth session: Reports of the Secretary-General (resolution 75/132).
References for the seventy-fifth session (agenda item 77) Reports of the Secretary-General A/75/217 and A/75/228
Summary records A/C.6/75/SR.4, 5 and 17–19
Report of the Sixth Committee A/75/423
Plenary meeting A/75/PV.45
Resolution 75/132