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The ‘High Seas Treaty’: Interests of developing countries

Published : Monday, 6 January, 2025 at 12:00 AM  Count : 1161
Muhammad Muzahidul Islam
The agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) is also known as the 'High Seas Treaty'. The BBNJ agreement was adopted on 19 June 2023 by the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction. And it is open for signature and ratification by States from 20 September 2023 to 20 September 2025; and after the120 days of the date of deposit of the sixtieth instrument of ratification, accession and approval, this BBNJ agreement will enter into force. How would this agreement serve the interests of developing countries? 

Let me share with you the antecedents related to the BBNJ agreement. According to the UN website " In its resolution 72/249 of 24 December 2017, the General Assembly decided to convene an Intergovernmental Conference, under the auspices of the United Nations, to consider the recommendations of the Preparatory Committee established by resolution 69/292 of 19 June 2015 on the elements and to elaborate the text of an international legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, with a view to developing the instrument as soon as possible.

In accordance with resolution 72/249, the Conference held a three-day organizational meeting in New York, from 16 to 18 April 2018, to discuss organizational matters, including the process for the preparation of the zero draft of the instrument.

The first session was convened from 4 to 17 September 2018, the second session from 25 March to 5 April 2019 and the third session from 19 to 30 August 2019. The fourth session, which was postponed by decisions 74/543 and 75/570 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, was convened from 7 to 18 March 2022. A fifth session of the Conference was convened from 15 to 26 August 2022 pursuant to General Assembly decision 76/564 (available as A/76/L.46). On the last day of that session, the Conference, in considering the way forward, decided to suspend the fifth session and resume it at a later date to be determined.

Pursuant to resolution 77/248 of the General Assembly, the resumed fifth session of the Intergovernmental Conference met from 20 February to 3 March 2023.  At the end of that meeting, the Conference decided to resume at a later date with a view to adopting the agreement. In this connection, the General Assembly, in its decision 77/556 of 18 April 2023 (currently available as document A/77/L.62), requested the Secretary-General to convene a further resumed fifth session of the conference on 19 and 20 June 2023, tentatively, or on a date to be determined in consultation with the President of the conference. 

Accordingly, the further resumed fifth session was held at UN Headquarters in New York on 19 and 20 June 2023. On 19 June 2023, the Conference adopted, by consensus, the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (A/CONF.232/2023/4). The Conference was closed on 20 June 2023".

Through the negotiation processes, some developing states played active and positive roles in negotiating this agreement. How would this particular agreement serve the interests of the developing states? To get the answer to this question, I would like to quote the following relevant portion from an article (Africa: How Africa Benefits From the New Historic 'High Seas' Treaty On Maritime Biodiversity, Africa Renewal, 10 April, 2023, by Michael Imran Kanu)"On 4 March 2023, after 36 hours of final robust negotiations, Singapore's Ambassador Rena Lee and the President of the Intergovernmental Conference on an international legally binding instrument under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the Conservation and Sustainable use of Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), declared that the "ship has reached the shore.

"Ambassador Lee's announcement signaled an agreement was reached on the text of a historic BBNJ marine biodiversity treaty, also known as the "High Seas Treaty". It was a significant triumph of multilateralism, and concluded a 20-year process, including a decade of negotiations.The BBNJ treaty includes rules for managing ocean life, conducting environmental impact assessments, and establishing marine protected areas in the high seas".

One might find it pertinent to quote the following portion from an article(The Ship Has Reached the Shore: The BBNJ Treaty and Contributions of the African Group,ftb,25 April, 2023) "Beyond conservation, there was an attendant strong economic dimension to the negotiations which hinged on the principles that should govern the activities in relation to access and utilization of Marine Genetic Resources (MGRs) of the ABNJ. 

This was framed as the "Freedom of the High Seas" (FHS) versus the "principle of the Common Heritage of [Hu]mankind" contention, one area in which there were major differences between the developed and developing States. How to address sustainable use also had a major influence on the types of area-based management tools to be established, and measures to be adopted including marine protected areas (MPAs). 

For developing States, in particular for the African Group, access to ocean resources remained important to fight hunger, poverty and contribute to the realisation of a just and equitable international economic order, which takes into account the interests and needs of humankind as a whole and, in particular, the special interests and needs of developing States, whether coastal or landlocked".

It is expected that all States including the developing countries come forward to ratify this particular agreement to bring this into force, and undertake the necessary compliant measures domestically to ensure the benefits that come from this agreement.

The  writer is a barrister-at-law, human rights activist and an advocate at the Supreme Court of Bangladesh


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