Mr. Chair,

Check against delivery Micronesia aligns this statement with the statement delivered in this Cluster by Her Excellency Ambassador Amatlain Kabua, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, on behalf of the Pacific Islands Forum.

As this is the first time that Micronesia is taking the floor this session, please allow me to congratulate you and your Bureau on your elections to your posts. Micronesia has full confidence in your abilities to lead this Committee and stands ready to assist you in the discharge of our work.

Mr. Chair,

Micronesia is grateful to the International Law Commission for producing an instructive and comprehensive report of its seventieth session. Micronesia welcomes every opportunity to engage with the Commission on its important work, particularly on issues of vital importance for the international community as a whole.

On that note, in this Cluster, Micronesia will comment on the Commission’s decision to place the topic of “Sea-level rise in relation to international law” on its long-term programme of work.

Mr. Chair,

Micronesia welcomes the decision of the Commission to place the topic of “Sea-level rise in relation to international law” on its long-term programme of work. Last year, during the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly, Micronesia delivered a statement in this Committee that reiterated the call of the Pacific SIDS for the Commission to place the topic on its long-term programme of work and briefly identified several issues that the Commission could examine as part of its study of the topic. In January of this year, Micronesia submitted a written proposal to the Commission that expanded on Micronesia’s statement in the Sixth Committee, particularly with respect to the issues that the Commission could examine. Those issues included the implications of sea-level rise with respect to the law of the sea, Statehood, human rights, and human migration. Micronesia is pleased that the syllabus for the topic adopted by the Commission reflects all those issues. Micronesia reiterates the call of the Pacific Islands Forum for the Commission to move the topic to its current programme of work as soon as possible in order to commence its study of the topic with extreme urgency. 

Mr. Chair,

Micronesia wishes to make five points with respect to the sea-level rise topic.

First, the syllabus for the topic proposes that the Commission will conduct its examination of the topic in the mode of a Study Group. It is Micronesia’s view that this mode of work is ideal for the Commission’s examination. A Study Group will allow for a comprehensive mapping exercise of the relevant legal implications of sea-level rise of the specific issues identified by the syllabus without being bogged down in the production of highly technical and potentially contentious draft articles, principles, or guidelines. The Study Group will produce a Final Report that will contain findings of its mapping exercise, and the international community can then decide whether to use any of those findings to pursue initiatives in other fora to address the implications of sea-level rise under existing international law. This will be the fourth Study Group that the Commission has established in its history. A Study Group is an accepted mode of work for the Commission.