Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea

The Division 

• Promotes wider appreciation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (the Convention), the Agreement relating to the implementation of Part XI of the Convention and the Agreement for the implementation of the Convention relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement) and assists with their uniform and consistent application and implementation through the provision of information, advice and assistance to States and intergovernmental organizations; 
• Provides advice and support to the organizations of the United Nations system to ensure consistency with the Convention and the Agreements of the instruments and programmes in their respective areas of competence;
• Provides substantive servicing to the Intergovernmental Conference on an international legally binding instrument 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 (General Assembly resolution 72/249)
• Provides substantive servicing to the Meeting of States Parties to the Convention, as well as to the Review Conference on the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement and to the Informal Consultations of States Parties to the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement;  
• Provides substantive servicing, technical assistance and facilities to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in its examination of submissions by coastal States relating to the delineation of the outer limits of their continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines;
• Maintains liaison with the institutions established under the Convention (International Seabed Authority and International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea) and, in the case of the Tribunal, also provides administrative support;
• Discharges the responsibilities, other than treaty depositary functions, of the Secretary-General under the Convention, in particular with respect to the deposit by States of charts and lists of geographical coordinates concerning maritime zones, including lines of delimitation;
• Provides substantive servicing regarding oceans and the law of the sea issues to the General Assembly, and to the subsidiary bodies relating to oceans which the Assembly may establish, such as the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea; 
• Monitors and reviews developments in ocean affairs and the law of the sea and reports thereon to the General Assembly through annual reports on oceans and the law of the sea, as well as other reports as required on sustainable fisheries-related issues or on specific topics of current interest;
• Performs the functions of secretariat of the Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, including Socioeconomic Aspects;
• Provides support for the implementation by States of the ocean-related Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular, Goal 14 “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development”;
• Provides capacity-building assistance to developing countries in the field of ocean affairs and the law of the sea, through training, fellowships and technical assistance, and financial support through voluntary trust funds managed by the Division;
• Supports the United Nations Legal Counsel in the discharge of the focal point responsibilities related to UN-Oceans – the inter-agency coordination mechanism on the ocean and coastal issues within the United Nations system;
• Maintains a comprehensive information system, a website and a research library containing materials on ocean affairs and the law of the sea, and publishes the Law of the Sea Bulletin.