Law of the Sea: 'Refrain from Undermining the Convention'

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Calling on States to consider signing and ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the General Assembly has appealed to all countries "to refrain from taking any action derected at undermining the Convention or defeating its object and purpose".

It also called on all States to safeguard the unified character of the Convention. The Assembly adopted resolution 38/59 A on 14 December, by a recorded vote of 136 in favour to 2 against (Turkey, United States), with 6 abstentions (Belgium, Bolivia, Federal Republic of Germany, Israel, Italy, United Kingdom).

The General Assmebly in the resolution approved the recommendations contained in the Secretary-General's report on the Third Conference on the Law of the Sea (document A/38/570).

One recommendation was that the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Law of the Sea should continue on an …