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Agreement for the Establishment of the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2022

Malgorzata Materna
Malgorzata Materna*
Affiliation:
Malgorzata (Margaret) Materna is the Deputy Director of the National Security Law Division in the Office of the Judge Advocate General, Department of the Navy United States, as well as the Co-Chair of the American Society of International Law's Law of the Sea Interest Group. Any views expressed or implied in this article are her own, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.
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Extract

On October 31, 2021, the leaders of the Government of Antigua and Barbuda and the Government of Tuvalu signed the “Agreement for the Establishment of the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law” (the Agreement). As noted in the title itself, the Agreement creates a Commission of “small island states” tasked with promoting international law principles that hold states responsible for failing to protect the marine environment by contributing to climate change. Among the responsibilities outlined in the Agreement, the Commission would have the power to seek advisory opinions from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS, or the Tribunal) as part of its efforts to pursue its mandate.

Type
International Legal Documents
Information
International Legal Materials , Volume 61 , Issue 5 , October 2022 , pp. 739 - 744
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The American Society of International Law

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References

ENDNOTES

1 See generally, U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, opened for signature Dec. 10, 1982, 1983 U.N.T.S. 397 (entered into force Nov. 16, 1994), art. 7.

2 Press conference, United Nations Climate Change Conference UK 2021, Antigua & Barbuda, Tuvalu (Nov. 1, 2021), https://unfccc-cop26.streamworld.de/webcast/antigua-barbuda-tuvalu.

3 Agreement for the Establishment of the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law, Oct. 31, 2021, art. 2(2), https://commonwealthfoundation.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Commission-of-Small-Island-States-on-Climate-Change-and-International-Law.pdf.

4 International Court of Justice, “Advisory Jurisdiction,” https://www.icj-cij.org/en/advisory-jurisdiction.

5 Dispute Concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary Between Mauritius and Maldives in the Indian Ocean (Mauritius/Maldives), Case No. 28, Jan. 28, 2021, https://itlos.org/en/main/cases/list-of-cases/dispute-concerning-delimitation-of-the-maritime-boundary-between-mauritius-and-maldives-in-the-indian-ocean-mauritius/maldives.

6 International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, “Advisory Proceedings,” https://itlos.org/en/main/cases/advisory-proceedings.

7 Convention on the Determination of the Minimal Conditions for Access and Exploitation of Marine Resources within the Maritime Areas under Jurisdiction of the Member States of the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC), opened for signature Jun. 8, 201 (entered into force Sept. 16, 2012), art. 33, https://jusmundi.com/en/document/pdf/treaty/en-convention-on-the-determination-of-the-minimal-conditions-for-access-and-exploitation-of-marine-resources-within-the-maritime-areas-under-jurisdiction-of-the-member-states-of-the-sub-regional-fisheries-commission-crfc-convention-on-the-determination-of-the-minimal-conditions-for-access-and-exploitation-of-marine-resources-within-the-maritime-areas-under-jurisdiction-of-the-member-states-of-the-sub-regional-fisheries-commission-crfc-friday-8th-june-2012.

8 Tim Stephens, ITLOS Advisory Opinion: Coastal and Flag State Duties to Ensure Sustainable Fisheries Management, 19 ASIL Insights 8 (Apr. 16, 2015), https://www.asil.org/insights/volume/19/issue/8/itlos-advisory-opinion-coastal-and-flag-state-duties-ensure#_ednref18; Statute of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Annex VI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), Dec. 10, 1982, art. 21, https://itlos.org/fileadmin/itlos/documents/basic_texts/statute_en.pdf.

9 Request for an Advisory Opinion Submitted by the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission, Advisory Opinion of Apr. 2, 2015, ITLOS, ¶ 56: https://www.itlos.org/fileadmin/itlos/documents/cases/case_no.21/advisory_opinion_published/2015_21-advop-E.pdf.

10 Id.