76 



UNITED NATIONS 



Dintr. 



LIMITED 



THIRD CONFERENCE a/conf.62/l.69 



15 April 1981 



ON THE LAW OF THE SEA bkwbh 



ORIGINAL: SPANISH 



Tenth session 



Nov/ York, 9 March--2l) April 1901 



REPORT 'L'O THE PLENARY BY AMBASSADOR ANDRES AGUILAR (VENEZUELA). 

 CHAIRMAN OF THE SECOi'ID COMMITTEE 



1. During the first part of the tenth session, the Second Committee held four 

 informal meetings. This served to meet the desire expressed by a number of 

 delegations for an opportunity to refer to certain questions within the mandate of 

 the Second Committee, that is to say, relating to parts II to X inclusive of the 

 draft Convention on the Law of the Sea (informal text) (A/CONF.62/WP.10/Rev. 3) . 



2.. These meetings were held without any pre-established agenda, so that the 

 delegations participating in them could express their views and present or 

 reiterate informal suggestions for amendments with complete freedom on all issues 

 and questions within the competence of the Committee, the sole exception being the 

 problem of the delimitation of maritime space between States with opposite or 

 adjacent coasts, because at this stage of the work of the Conference that matter is 

 being dealt with by the two groups of countries directly concerned, which have 

 established a procedure for consultations on the subject. I deemed it necessary, 

 however,- to point out at the first informal meeting that the Committee's work in 

 this final phase of the Conference should be directed towards supplementing or 

 improving the draft Convention (informal text), and not towards reopening 

 discussion on the basic elements of the agreements reached after many years of 

 effort. 



3. Nearly all the informal suggestions considered at these meetings had already 

 been submitted to the Committee at previous sessions. It should be noted, however, 

 that on this occasion a revised version of one such suggestion was presented. 



h. The number of statements made at these meetings totalled 119, and many of the 

 articles in parts II to X of the draft Convention (informal text) were referred 

 to or touched on. It may be said, however, that most of those statements focused 

 on very few questions. 



5- One of these questions, a very controversial one, was the subject of lengthy 

 debate, during, which detailed explanations of the various positions were given 

 and alternative means of achieving reconciliation wore suggested. In connexion 

 with I, hi:; question, :i number of delegations requested the establishment of a 



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