Current Legal Developments United Nations General Assembly

摘要

One of the most significant features of the ICP mandate is that it gives permission for proposing items for consideration by the UNGA. As underscored by one of the panellists intervening at ICP-10, "this was the core of the process" because "the process was enabled both to give a new edge to the interventions of the General Assembly on coordination questions, and to enhance the Assembly's negotiations and debates." The concerns that emerged at ICP-10, namely that the ICP has evolved into a negotiating forum or that it is trying to replace the Meeting of State Parties to the Law of the Sea Convention (SPLOS), do not seem completely well founded. First, Resolution 54/33 explicitly provides that ICP meetings "may propose" elements for consideration by the UNGA. This is a possibility, not an obligation. Indeed, some ICP meetings did not propose elements to the UNGA for consideration.