The United Nations at seventy: framing oceans governance and maritime affairs

摘要

The United Nations celebrated its 70th anniversary on 24 October 2015. While much attention has been focused on the United Nations' role in conflict management, aid, peacekeeping and peacemaking, it is appropriate to reflect upon the organisation and its specialised agencies work in the fields of ocean governance and maritime affairs. The influence of this work is both practical and pervasive. A major highlight in the United Nations work in oceans and marine affairs was the development of a comprehensive framework for governing the world's seas and oceans. This was achieved through negotiations at the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS Ⅲ), culminating in the final act and signing of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) in 1982. LOSC, entering into force in 1994, and has been described evocatively and accurately as 'a constitution for the oceans' (Koh 1983).