On 12 June 2024, the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel, Mr. Miguel de Serpa Soares, delivered a statement commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of the entry into force of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, at the thirty-fourth Meeting of States Parties to the Convention. As reaffirmed by the General Assembly, the Convention sets out the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out.
Observing that in the past three decades, the Convention had risen to its distinction as the constitution for the oceans, the Legal Counsel described the Convention as a testament to multilateralism and noted that as a framework instrument, it played an important role in the development of the law of the sea. He highlighted in this regard the recent adoption and opening for signature of the Agreement under the Convention on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction, as the third implementing agreement under the Convention.
The Legal Counsel underscored the urgent need to accelerate efforts to address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss, as well as to ensure sustainable ocean-based economies and maintain international peace and security, including through the effective implementation of the Convention. Looking ahead to the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, France, he invited delegations to accelerate action and mobilize all actors towards the conservation and sustainable use of our ocean.
