Malta is proposing that the General Assembly requests the United Nations Secretary-General to consider the possibility of the establishment of an appropriate mechanism or panel which could consider and coordinate the valuable and relevant work on ocean governance being undertaken by the competent organs and programmes within the United Nations system and outside the United Nations framework.
The Prime Minister delivered a key note address on Monday entitled, 'Protecting our Oceans for Present and Future Generations', during a symposium organised by The Nippon Foundation in Tokyo, Japan.
The Prime Minister announced that the Government of Malta proposed, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the United Nations General Assembly, the inclusion in its agenda for the forthcoming session of an additional item entitled, 'Safeguarding Ocean Space for Present and Future Generations'.
It is expected that the new mechanism or panel will make recommendations with a view to provide options to the General Assembly on the formulation of a global strategy to ensure that all problems of ocean space are considered as a whole in the spirit of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. We are confident that this will promote a more sustainable and effective global ocean governance.
"I hope that our initiative will receive widespread support to ensure its implementation in the interest of present and future generations. Our oceans need our protection as much as humanity needs them for their survival", said the Prime Minister.
This resonates with the proposal made by Nippon Foundation chairman Dr Yohei Sasakawa for the establishment of an Intergovernmental Panel for Comprehensive Ocean Governance. The Prime Minister said that he has already expressed his support for such a panel when he addressed the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, 22 September 2017.
The Prime Minister said that of immediate concern to Malta is the growing international illegal and corrupt trade in human trafficking and irregular migration at sea. Given Malta's geographical location we find ourselves in the midst of a crisis where thousands of people are seeking irregular entry into Europe by sea.
"In the face of this crisis, the international community has to act fast in establishing a sustainable and effective ocean governance which can deal with these serious threats. Recently Mr Kitack Lim, Secretary-General of IMO quoting United Nations Secretary-General Guterres stated, "… We need to do away with "fragmented structures, byzantine, procedures and endless red tape" and to "simplify procedures and decentralize decisions"'. I would suggest that this approach should also apply to ocean governance", Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said.
The Prime Minister also reiterated that the Government of Malta is committed to protecting the oceans and developing its blue economy. He said that the Government has registered a voluntary commitment of 30% of sea areas falling under Maltese jurisdiction as marine protected areas. He added that Malta continues to witness a healthy growth in the number of ships registered under the Maltese flag. Today, Malta has the largest ship register in Europe.
from The Malta Independent https://ift.tt/2uZy4CK
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