STATEMENT BY AMBASSADOR BURHAN GAFOOR, PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE TO THE UNITED NATIONS ON AGENDA ITEM 78, ON OCEANS AND THE LAW OF THE SEA, GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 11 DECEMBER 2018

Mr President,

1.            My delegation is pleased to address the General Assembly on agenda item 78, “Oceans and the law of the sea”.  This year, Singapore had the great honour to coordinate the informal consultations on the draft resolution contained in document A/73/L.35.  The actual coordination was undertaken by my colleague, Ms. Natalie Morris-Sharma, Director of the International Legal Division at the Ministry of Law in Singapore.  Due to her work commitments, Ms. Morris-Sharma is unable to join us today and she has asked me to convey to you her regrets.  She also wishes to convey her deep appreciation for the support given by all delegations to ensure an acceptable outcome to everyone. 

2.            Please allow me to begin by introducing the draft resolution on her behalf.

3.            This resolution remains one of the most comprehensive and important resolutions on oceans and law of the sea adopted annually by the General Assembly.  For this reason, it has come to be known as the oceans “omnibus” resolution.  It covers a wide spectrum of activities and a broad range of issues, including those concerning:

·               Implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and related agreements and instruments;

·               Capacity building;

·               The peaceful settlement of disputes;

·               The work of bodies established under the Convention, namely, the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea;

·               Maritime safety and security;

·               Marine environment and marine resources;

·               Marine biodiversity;

·               Marine Science;

·               The Regular Process;

·               Regional cooperation;

·               The Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea; and

·               Activities of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea.

4.            This year, informal consultations were held over nine days - from 1 to 4 October and 14 to 20 November.  As always, negotiations were intense and covered a wide array of issues.  In the interest of time, I will not attempt to cover every issue that was raised.  I will however highlight six points as examples of issues that emerged from this year’s negotiations.

5.            First, the resolution takes stock of the activities at the International Seabed Authority.  Among other things, it welcomes the progress of the work of the Authority on draft regulations for exploitation of mineral resources in the Area, and emphasizes the ongoing need for openness and transparency.  It also welcomes the decision to adopt the Strategic Plan of the Authority for the period 2019-2023, as well as the efforts of the Authority to make progress on the development of regional environmental management plans, in particular where there are currently exploration contracts.

6.            Second, the resolution recognizes the needs of developing States in the context of making submissions to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.  In this connection, the resolution amends the Terms of Reference, Guidelines and Rules of the Trust Fund for the purpose of facilitating the preparation of submissions to the Commission.  The resolution also decides that the members of the Commission have the option to join the Headquarters medical insurance scheme upon payment of the full cost of the premium.  This would be on an exceptional basis and without setting a precedent for other agenda items. 

7.            Third, the resolution underscores the importance of the work undertaken by the intergovernmental conference to elaborate the text of an international legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ).  In this regard, the resolution welcomes the holding of the organisational meeting and the first session of the intergovernmental conference.  It also requests the Secretary-General to convene the second and third sessions of the intergovernmental conference in 2019.

8.            Fourth, the resolution notes the discussions at the nineteenth meeting of the Informal Consultative Process on the theme of “Anthropogenic Underwater Noise”, and calls upon States to consider appropriate cost-effective measures and approaches to assess and address the potential socioeconomic and environmental impacts of anthropogenic underwater noise.  Such consideration would take into account the precautionary and ecosystem approaches, and the best available scientific information, as appropriate.  The resolution goes on to decide that the next meeting shall focus its discussions on the theme “Ocean Science and the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development”.

9.            Fifth, with regard to the Regular Process, the resolution welcomes the meetings and endorses the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole.  Among other things, it notes the approval by the Ad Hoc Working Group of the outline for the second world ocean assessment, and also takes note of the preliminary timetable and implementation plan. 

10.            Sixth, action was taken this year to address the growing length and to improve the readability of the resolution.  The existing resolution in 72/73 stands at 56 preambular and 370 operative paragraphs.  This has been said to undermine its readability and effectiveness.  Delegations have spoken about this for some time and this year, we finally took steps to address the issue.  The outcome is the retirement of language that is outdated or duplicative.  Part IX of the resolution was also reordered to improve coherence.  Delegations intend to continue with the efforts to streamline the resolution next year. 

Mr President,

11.            I wish to convey our deepest appreciation to the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, for their outstanding support throughout the process.  I also wish to express sincere thanks to all delegations who participated so actively and constructively during the negotiations.  While there were a number of issues which were particularly challenging, delegations were eventually able to achieve consensus on all proposals and paragraphs.  It therefore gives me great pleasure to commit the draft resolution to this Assembly for its adoption.  It is my hope that the same spirit of cooperation and understanding, which characterised the negotiations, will be demonstrated by delegations today, and that the draft resolution will be adopted by consensus.

Mr. President,

12.            Allow me to now speak briefly in my national capacity.  I wish to make three points.  First, I wish to emphasize the critical importance of a rules-based international order for our oceans and seas.  This has become ever more important in a time when multilateralism is increasingly under siege.  We need more, not less, of mutual understanding, cooperation and respect for international law.  In this regard, we reaffirm the central role of the Convention, which sets out the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out.  We also underscore the importance of the work undertaken by the ISA to develop the draft exploitation regulations, and by the BBNJ intergovernmental conference to elaborate the text of an international legally binding instrument under the Convention.  The development of these instruments add to and clarify the body of law and regulations, which are fundamental to ocean governance.  We therefore look forward to working closely with other delegations at the upcoming sessions of the ISA and the BBNJ intergovernmental conference.  

13.            This brings me to my second point, which is the importance of building the capacity of States on oceans and the law of the sea.  It is not enough to have good instruments, institutions and processes at the international level.  There is also a need to ensure that countries have the necessary human resource and capability to implement such instruments, and to engage in the work of these institutions and processes.  As a small island State with no natural resources, Singapore believes that human resource development is key to a country’s sustainable development and progress.  We therefore established the Singapore Cooperation Program in 1992, which is our primary platform to assist fellow developing countries in an attempt to enhance south-south cooperation.  In July this year, we organised a course on “Sustainable Marine Resources: Enhancing Biodiversity in Coastal Waterways”, which introduced various approaches to managing and enhancing marine biodiversity in coastal waterways.  In January next year, we will be organising a course on “International Law of the Sea”, which would focus on the Convention, cover issues of maritime boundary delimitation, and examine the role of relevant international organisations. 

Mr President,

14.            My third and final point relates to the ongoing implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14.   Last year, we had the United Nations Ocean Conference, which to date has garnered more than 1,400 voluntary commitments.  Despite the success of that conference, we cannot afford to rest on our laurels.  Instead, we need to continue to sustain the momentum that has been generated, continue to respond to the Call for Action as adopted by that conference and by this Assembly, and implement our respective voluntary commitments.

Mr President,

15.            In conclusion, let me say that we cannot overstate the importance of our oceans and seas. They provide livelihood for millions of people, enable food security and maritime trade, regulate the climate, and are an important source of renewable energy.  For a small island State that depends on the oceans and seas for our survival, we are deeply committed to the law of the sea and we strongly believe that a multilateral rules-based system is key to securing the sustainability of our oceans, seas and their resources for future generations.  I therefore wish to end by stressing the need to respect the rule of law at the international level and to adhere to the principles, rights and duties under the Convention.

16.            Thank you.

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