§ Mr. Hector Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs the constitution of the International Conference on the Law of the Sea now sitting at Geneva at which Conference the British Government is represented; and if he will indicate the method and number of the delegates of each country there represented, with particular reference to the representation of inland and maritime nations, respectively.
§ Commander NobleThe Conference has been called by the United Nations under a resolution of the General Assembly at its eleventh session in 1957. The following extracts from this resolution indicate the scope of the Conference
The General Assembly …2. Decides, in accordance with the recommendations contained in paragraph 28 of the report of the International Law Commission covering the work of its eighth session, that an international conference of plenipotentiaries should be convoked to examine the law of the sea, taking account not only of the legal but also of the technical, biological, economic and political aspects of the problem, and to embody the results of its work in one or more international conventions or such other instruments as it may deem appropriate;3. Recommends that the conference should study the question of free access to the sea of land-locked countries, as established by international practice or treaties;9. Refers to the conference the report of the International Law Commission as the basis for its consideration of the various problems involved in the development and codification of the law of the sea, and also the verbatim 10W records of the relevant debates in the General Assembly, for consideration by the conference in conjunction with the Commission's report.The method of representation is varied and the number of delegates large. In all, 86 countries are represented. I shall send the hon. and learned Member, as soon as possible, a copy of the official list of delegates.