F. Promotion of justice and international law
76. 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 and 74/19 and decisions 57/523, 65/545, 67/522, 71/548, 71/552 A and B, 74/543 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 identifying 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 representati on 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 the 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-third session, the Assembly decided to continue the Informal Consultative Process for the next two years, in accordance with resolution 54/33, with a further review of its effectiveness and utility by the Assembly at its seventy -fifth session, and decided to defer the review of the terms of reference for the work of UN-Oceans until its seventy-fifth session (resolution 73/124).
At its seventy-fourth 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 33 delegations (see A/74/PV.42 and 43).
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 (2021–2030) through his report on oceans and the law of the sea, on the basis of information to be provided by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission; decided to launch the third cycle of the Regular Process, to cover five years, from 2021 to 2025; requested the Secretary-General to convene the thirteenth meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole on 9 and 10 September 2020, with a view to providing recommendations to the Assembly on progress in the implementation of the second cycle of the Regular Process and on the draft programme of work and resource requirements for the third cycle of the Process, and also to convene the fourteenth meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole for one day in December 2020 or January 2021, depending on the calendar of the meetings of the seventy-fifth session of the Assembly, with a view to considering the second world ocean assessment and providing recommendations to the Assembly;
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 during the week of 22 to 26 June 2020; and requested the Secretary-General to prepare reports for consideration by the Assembly at its seventy-fifth session,
namely, a report on developments and issues relating to ocean affairs and the law of the sea, including the implementation of resolution 74/19, in accordance with resolutions 49/28, 52/26 and 54/33, and a report on the topic that is the focus of the twenty-first meeting of the Informal Consultative Process (resolution 74/19).
Also at the same 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).
Also at its seventy-fourth session, the Assembly decided to postpone the twenty-first meeting of the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea to 2021, to be held at a date to be decided by the Assembly (decision 74/554).
Documents for the seventy-fifth session:
(a) Reports of the Secretary-General on oceans and the law of the sea (resolutions 49/28 and 74/19);
(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 74/19);
(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, 73/124 and 74/19).
References for the seventy-fourth session (agenda item 74 (a)) Reports of the Secretary-General (A/74/70 and A/74/350)
Letter 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/74/315)
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 at its twentieth meeting (A/74/119)
Draft resolution A/74/L.22 and A/74/L.22/Add.1
Draft decisions A/74/L.41, A/74/L.48 and A/74/L.63
Plenary meetings A/74/PV.42, 43 (jointly with
sub-item (b)) and 61
Resolution 74/19
Decisions 74/543, 74/548 and 74/554
(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 and 74/18).
At its seventy-fourth 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 33 delegations (see A/74/PV.42 and 43). The Assembly decided to include the sub-item in the provisional agenda of its seventy-fifth session and to consider the possibility of including the sub-item in future provisional agendas on a biennial basis (resolution 74/18).
No advance documentation is expected.
References for the seventy-fourth session (agenda item 74 (b))
Draft resolution A/74/L.21 and A/74/L.21/Add.1
Plenary meetings A/74/PV.42 and 43 (jointly with sub-item (a))
Resolution 74/18
77. 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 and 74/181).
At its seventy-fourth session, the Assembly allocated the item to the Sixth Committee, where statements in the debate were made by 31 delegations (see A/C.6/74/SR.7 and 8). 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-fifth session in the framework of a working group of the Sixth Committee, and, for that purpose, invited further comments from Member States on that report, including on the question of future action. The Assembly requested the Secretary-General 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 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-fifth session on the implementation of the resolution (resolution 74/181).
Documents for the seventy-fifth session: Reports of the Secretary-General (resolution 74/181).
References for the seventy-fourth session (agenda item 76) Reports of the Secretary-General A/74/142 and A/74/145
Summary records A/C.6/74/SR.7, 8 and 35
Report of the Sixth Committee A/74/422
Plenary meeting A/74/PV.51
Resolution 74/181