The event took place on 28 November 2022 and commemorated the 40 years of cooperation between IMO and United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The event addressed topics related to the cooperation between the International Maritime Organisation and the UNCLOS, focusing also on the present and future challenges for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Professor of Public International Law, Malgosia Fitzmaurice, participated in the event:
"On the 28 November 2022 has taken place a very high level conference to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, organised by the International Maritime Organization. The IMO is the United Nations specialized agency with responsibility for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine and atmospheric pollution by ships. There are 175 member states. I was on the Panel with, inter alia, Judges of the International Tribunal of the law of the Sea; the Director of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the; Sea, Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat; the representative of Argentina to the IMO; Director, Legal and External Affairs at International Maritime Organization; and the Head of Legal Affairs at the IMO.
In my presentation I talked about the role of the IMO in preservation and protection of the marine environment. I have made a very well received postulate for the future that the IMO should become a guardian of the interests of the oceans and that oceans should be accorded a legal personhood. This trend of according to nature legal personhood and rights is already well established in many states such as Ecuador, Columbia and New Zealand, where rivers, mountains and forests are granted constitutional personhood and have trustees guarding their interests. The event was very successful as with so many states’ representatives present, the Panel could engage in a meaningful discussion."