STATES PARTIES TO LAW OF SEA CONVENTION APPROVE ADJUSTMENT OF REMUNERATION FOR TRIBUNAL MEMBERS

(I-Newswire) June 23, 2005 - The annual salary and pensions of the ICJ members were increased by the General Assembly by 6.3 per cent by the terms of resolution 59/282 of 13 April 2005, with retroactive effect from 1 January 2005. That decision was taken as an interim measure, pending a report that the Assembly requested in paragraph 8, part III of that resolution.



Similarly, by the draft decision that was adopted without a vote today, the Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on the Law of the Sea adjusted the remuneration of the members of the Tribunal pending a decision that would be made based on a report by the Registrar and taking into account the report on the ICJ requested by the Assembly.



In the event that the Tribunal is unable to meet expenditures for 2005-2006 from approved budget appropriations for special allowances of judges, the Meeting authorized the Registrar to cover the shortfall from an increase in daily subsistence allowance, as fixed by the United Nations. The Tribunal was also authorized to finance resulting additional appropriations by transfers between appropriation sections and by using part of the savings from the financial period 2002, up to the amount of €115,500.



By the second draft decision, adopted without a vote today, the Meeting addressed the effects of fluctuation in the exchange rate on the remuneration of the members of the Law of the Sea Tribunal, which had recently been adversely affected by the decline of the United States dollar.



Considering that the Assembly, in its resolution 43/217, had devised a currency floor-ceiling mechanism to deal with the effect of currency fluctuations on the emoluments of the ICJ members, States Parties to the Convention decided to apply, effective 1 July 2005, the same mechanism to the annual and special allowances of the members of the Tribunal, on the understanding that any adjustment made to the mechanism in respect of the Court would equally apply to the Tribunal.



By the same text, the Tribunal was authorized to finance overexpenditures due to the application of the floor/ceiling mechanism by using up to €263,000 from the savings from the 2002 financial period and up to €150,000 from savings for 2004. The Meeting also approved a supplementary budget of €351,899 for the financial period 2005-2006.



Also this morning, the representatives of Venezuela (an observer), Nigeria (on behalf of the African Group) and the Sudan made statements on the report of the Secretary-General under article 319 of the Convention for the information of States Parties on issues of a general nature.



In other action, the Meeting appointed Adam Mulawarman Tugio (Indonesia) to the Credentials Committee.



The Meeting will meet at 10:30 tomorrow, 22 June, to hold elections to the Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.



Statements



The observer of Venezuela said that, in accordance with article 319 of the Convention, the Meeting of States Parties should deal with administrative, budgetary and organizational matters, including matters related to oceans and the Law of the Sea. Substantive matters on the ocean and the Law of the Sea were the responsibility of the General Assembly.



The representative of Nigeria, speaking on behalf of the African Group, said the Convention remained a landmark legal instrument of the contemporary world with impact for the well-being of present and future generations. Despite efforts by the International Seabed Authority, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, oceans and seas were still endangered by climate change, natural disasters, environmental degradation, depletion of fisheries, loss of biodiversity and ineffective flag-State control.



Regarding the fisheries sector, he said fisheries management should promote the maintenance of the quality, diversity and availability of fishery resources in the context of food security, poverty alleviation and sustainable development. The constraints placed on small-scale fisheries in many parts of the worlds were of critical concern to the African Groups. A number of factors mentioned in the report impoverished small-scale fisheries, hindered the contributions of fisheries to sustainable development and damaged the environment and the health of local people. One factor limiting the contribution of fisheries to sustainable development -- illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and overfishing -- remained a priority challenge.



He said the African Group was particularly worried at unsustainable practices in the oceans that could lead to the depletion of fish stocks, including illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and overfishing, subsidies leading to overfishing, reflagging and convenience flagging of ships to escape control, excessive by-catch, lack of enforcement of conservation measures, unreliable databases and lack of cooperation between States. He urged States to become parties to and fully implement the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Compliance Agreement. The situation had been further compounded by the inability of regional fisheries management



organizations to effectively monitor the fishing vessels of non-contracting parties, as those not party to the regional organizations.



Africa was disturbed by the dangers posed by marine debris and marine pollution, he continued. Apart from hydrocarbon exploration activities -- a major source of marine pollution -- the continent had been the victim of dumping of chemical wastes by unscrupulous entities. Those acts of criminality against humanity deserved the stiffest sanctions to deter would-be perpetrators and to protect the global environment for present and future generations. While Africa was ready to play its part in watching against such unsavoury practices, its capacity to do so had been hampered by lack of adequate technical expertise and logistics. That underscored the need for continued capacity-building and related assistance to developing countries. Existing initiatives in that regard were grossly inadequate. Among other things, serious consideration should be given to the employment of more citizens of developing countries in the Secretariat of the various institutions of the Convention.



He called for long-term programmes, including measures that could mainstream ocean and Law of the Sea issues into the curriculum of developing countries at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. That would ensure the overall education of citizens on the relevance of the oceans to their lives, as well as guarantee steady training of experts needed in the field. Such a development would, in the long run, provide a permanent solution to the problem of lack of capacity in developing countries.



The representative of the Sudan supported the position of the African Group and said that the Meeting needed to dedicate some time for discussion of essential issues. The Secretary-General's report before the Meeting was very important in that regard. He hoped that, based on that document, the States Parties would be able to formulate some specific recommendations that would be useful for the implementation of the Convention, and should be presented to the meeting that would review the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals. Based on the important economic role of fisheries for sustainable development, he called upon the Meeting to give greater attention to the management of those resources, as well as capacity-building. A strategy needed to be elaborated that would be the basis for future work.

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