ATH: Þessi grein er eldri en 5 ára.
10 desember 2002
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"Oceans and the Law of the Sea"
Ræða ráðherra á allsherjarþingi Sameinuðu þjóðanna um málefni hafsins og hafréttarmál.
"Oceans and the Law of the Sea"
Desembern 2002
At the outset I would like to commend the Secretariat, in particular the very able staff of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, for their comprehensive reports on oceans and the law of the sea and on large-scale pelagic drift-net fishing, unauthorized fishing in zones of national jurisdiction and on the high seas, fisheries by-catch and discards, and other developments. I would also like to acknowledge the professional manner in which the coordinators, Mr. Colin McIff and Mr. Marcel Biato, conducted the informal consultations on the three resolutions.
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It is highly appropriate today, on the 20th anniversary of its opening for signature, to recall the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea which provides the legal framework for all our deliberations on the oceans and the law of the sea. The Convention, which is without doubt one of the biggest achievements in the history of the United Nations, is the first and only comprehensive treaty in the field of the law of the sea. It contains both codified rules of customary law and a number of innovations, covering all uses not only of oceans and seas but also their superjacent air space and subjacent seabed and subsoil.
Under the leadership of late Hans G. Andersen, Iceland played an important role in the evolution of the law of the sea in the second half of the last century, including at the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. Ever since, Iceland has always been a strong proponent of the Law of the Sea Convention and was the first Western country to ratify the Convention, in 1985.
It is imperative that the Convention be fully implemented and that its integrity be preserved. Issues that were settled at the Law of the Sea Conference should not be reopened. In this respect it needs to be borne in mind that the conclusions of the Conference were regarded as a package deal, individual States prevailing in some areas but having to give in in others.
As we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Law of the Sea Convention we note with satisfaction that the three institutions established under the Convention are functioning well. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea has already adjudicated a number of disputes in this field. The International Seabed Authority is actively preparing for future exploitation of resources on the seabed in the international area. The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf has received the first submission from a coastal State regarding the establishment of the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. Iceland has begun preparation of its submission to the Commission and follows its work with special interest. In this context, I am pleased to announce that the Law of the Sea Institute of Iceland and the Center for Oceans Law and Policy at the University of Virginia, will co-host a Conference on Legal and Scientific Aspects of Continental Shelf Limits in Reykjavik 25-27 June next year. We hope in this way to contribute to the understanding of article 76 of the Convention and thus to facilitate preperation of submissions by coastal States to the Commission.
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We welcome the entry into force last year of the Agreement on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks. The Agreement is of paramount importance as it strengthens considerably the framework for conservation and management of those stocks by regional fisheries management organizations. The provisions of the Agreement in many ways strengthen the relevant provisions of the Law of the Sea Convention and some of the provisions represent development of international law in this area. However, the effectiveness of the Agreement depends on its wide ratification and implementation and we encourage those States that have not ratified the Agreement to do so.
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The oceans are of particular importance to Iceland as our economy is based on the sustainable harvesting of living marine resources. The health and responsible stewardship of the oceans are therefore of critical importance to Iceland. We therefore welcome the fact that in recent years the General Assembly has given growing attention to the oceans.
At its 54th session, the General Assembly established for three years an open-ended informal consultative process to discuss the report of the Secretary-General on the oceans and the law of the sea, to prepare for the annual debate of the General Assembly on oceans and the law of the sea, and to improve coordination and cooperation in this area. We are pleased with the work of the informal consultative process in this initial period and would like to thank the two Co-Chairmen, Ambassador Neroni Slade and Mr. Alan Simcock, for their valuable contribution. We welcome the continuation of the consultative process for the next three years on the same informal basis. The decision now to include "the law of the sea" in the title of the process underlines that in all our deliberations on ocean affairs we must respect the legal framework.
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It is the view of the Government of Iceland that the discussion in the General Assembly on ocean affairs should focus on specific issues that have global implications, and not on issues that fall within the purview of the sovereign rights of States or are adequately addressed at the regional level. The General Assembly should address issues that are global in nature and can only be solved through global cooperation. We should thus discuss marine pollution which respects no boundaries and must therefore be met with global action. We should also discuss needs to set a level playing field for the fisheries sector that encourages sustainable fisheries globally, such as the need to remove fisheries subsidies. Further examples can be identified. On the other hand, conservation and sustainable utilization of living marine resources is a local and regional matter. Therefore, we cannot accept opening the door for global micro-management of fisheries which are subject to the sovereign rights of States or under the responsibility of regional fisheries management organizations.
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Under the Law of the Sea Convention, States have a general obligation to protect and preserve the marine environment. This calls for effective cooperation among States. Article 200 of the Convention calls for active participation in regional and global programmes to acquire knowledge for the assessment of the nature and extent of pollution, exposure to it, and its pathways, risks and remedies.
Efforts to strengthen international action to protect the oceans from impacts of land-based pollution and other human induced threats have been hampered by the fact that information on the state of the marine environment is not readily accessible to policy makers. Information is fragmented and coherence and comparability is lacking. This lack of overview is particularly evident when it comes to information on the socio-economic consequences of the degradation of the marine environment.
Regular assessments of the state of the marine environment, including socio-economic aspects, are needed as a basis for decision making. Iceland, supported by broad range of nations, has called for action to meet this need. The draft Omnibus resolution of the General Assembly would establish by 2004 a regular process under the United Nations for the global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment, including socio-economic aspects. We support this decision. As is clear from the preamble of the draft resolution, this decision has its legal basis in article 200 of the Convention and its political basis in the recommendation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development to this effect.
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I would like to express general satisfaction of the Government of Iceland with the outcome of the World Summit in Johannesburg as regards oceans issues. We are especially pleased that matters of special interest to Iceland were brought into the Plan of Implementation. These include recognition of the ecosystem approach with reference to the Reykjavik Declaration on Responsible Fisheries in the Marine Ecosystem, provisions on the removal of fisheries subsidies and the recognition of the important role of international financial institutions in assisting developing countries in building their own sustainable fisheries.
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We have come a long way since that period when Iceland was engaged in serious disputes with its neighbouring countries on the utilization of its living marine resources. On this 20th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, we pay tribute to the framers of the Convention, which laid disputes of this nature to rest and established an equitable international regime for the oceans based on the rule of law.