Statement
Statement at the Sixth Committee Consideration of the Report of the International Law Commission: sea-level rise in relation to international law
Delivered by HE Ilana Seid
- I have the honour to speak on behalf of the 39 members of the Alliance of Small Island States, the states that are specially affected by sea-level rise.
- AOSIS thanks the Commission and the Co-Chairs of the Study Group for the final report. Our members have spoken at length in this Committee on maritime zones and on statehood. Our positions there are clear. Maritime zones established in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the rights and entitlements that flow from them, shall continue to apply without reduction, notwithstanding physical changes resulting from climate change-related sea-level rise. Statehood and sovereignty continue. The Study Group's conclusions confirm both points, and the UN Declaration on Sea Level Rise, adopted by the GA by consensus, affirms them.
- Today we turn to the third subtopic: the protection of persons affected by sea-level rise. AOSIS asked for this discussion. In September we wrote to the Chair of the Sixth Committee to request that this year's debate focus on the protection of persons. We asked because the protection of persons is the subtopic on which the law is least developed, and because it concerns the people of our countries most directly. Maritime zones and statehood define the State and its outer limits. This subtopic is about the people the State exists to serve. This is the first time this Committee has focused its discussion on this subtopic, as such this is the beginning of the discussion, not its conclusion. AOSIS has said less on this subtopic than on the other two. We want to set out how our group approaches it.
- The protection of persons matters to AOSIS. Sea-level rise affects where our people live, how they earn a living, and their culture, heritage and identity. A legal response that secures the State and its maritime zones but not its people is incomplete. Our focus today is the international legal framework within which States protect people affected by climate change- related sea-level rise, and the role of international cooperation within that framework.
- First, existing law applies. We welcome the Study Group's conclusion that persons affected by sea-level rise remain rights holders and that States continue to bear the obligations applicable to them under international human rights law. The applicable frameworks are fragmented and were not specific to sea-level rise. Fragmentation is not an absence of law. Existing instruments and rules of international law may be interpreted and applied in a manner that takes account of the effects of climate change-related sea-level rise, as the Study Group recommends.
- Second, protection depends on the continuity of the State. The Study Group found that the three subtopics are interconnected. We agree. The State is the primary guarantor of the rights of its people. The continuity of statehood allows our States to keep protecting their populations, to maintain nationality and to prevent statelessness. The preservation of maritime zones sustains the livelihoods and the economic base on which that protection rests, for present and future generations. Sea-level rise does not diminish a State's legal capacity to protect its people.
- Third, every State bears a duty toward affected persons. Under international law, each State has a duty toward persons affected by sea-level rise who are within its jurisdiction or under its control, in accordance with the human rights obligations applicable to it, including with respect to political status, culture, cultural heritage, identity and dignity, and meeting essential needs. However, that duty is not confined to the States most affected. It extends to every State in which affected persons are present.
- Fourth, protection begins where people live. The Study Group's conclusions cover persons who remain in situ as well as those who are displaced. Our people will seek to continue to live in their own countries and communities. States are entitled to take adaptation measures to preserve their rights, as the Study Group confirmed. Support for adaptation and resilience is therefore part of the protection of persons, not separate from it. Persons who choose to remain in their homes should be supported to do so in safety and dignity.
- Fifth, the elements identified by the Study Group are a useful reference. We welcome the recognition of the protection of human dignity as a guiding principle. The elements for legal protection set out in Final Report of the Study Group offer States a practical reference for interpreting existing instruments and for developing new ones. We note in particular the combination of needs-based and rights-based approaches. A needs-based approach secures essential needs. A rights-based approach ensures that affected persons are treated as holders of rights, not as recipients of assistance. Both are relevant and complementary. We also note the particular need to protect persons in vulnerable situations, who may be disproportionately affected, and the importance of informing, consulting and encouraging the participation of affected persons and communities in decisions that concern them.
- Sixth, the duty to cooperate is a legal obligation. AOSIS has consistently affirmed the duty of international cooperation. The Study Group confirmed that it is a principle of international law, rooted in the UN Charter, and that States have an obligation to work together to address the adverse effects of climate change-related sea-level rise, particularly with regard to the States most affected. The International Court of Justice confirmed in its 2025 Advisory Opinion that the duty to cooperate is an obligation under international law in the context of climate change.
- The duty to cooperate is not discretionary assistance. Cooperation must respect the sovereignty of the affected State, as the Study Group concluded. It must rest on equity and fairness, including the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, because the States most affected have contributed least to climate change-related sea-level rise. It should strengthen the capacity of affected States to protect their own people, not substitute for it. And it extends to protecting the culture, cultural heritage, identity and dignity of affected persons and communities, as the 2024 AOSIS Leaders' Declaration on Sea-level Rise and Statehood affirms.
- Seventh, regional and plurilateral action matters. The duty to cooperate operates at the bilateral, regional, sub-regional and international levels. Much of the progress on sea-level rise began in our regions, through the PIF and AOSIS Declarations. The practice of our members, as States specially affected by sea-level rise, carries particular weight in the development of the law in this area. We welcome continued regional, sub-regional and plurilateral efforts on the protection of persons, including the development of new instruments, binding or non-binding, as the Study Group contemplates. Practical tools such as climate mobility arrangements, humanitarian pathways and measures to prevent statelessness may be used to address the protection of persons affected by sea-level rise. Such arrangements should respect the sovereignty of the affected State and the choices of the persons concerned.
- Finally, the issue of protection of persons must not be left behind. The law on maritime zones and statehood with respect to climate change-related sea-level rise has developed quickly. State practice is now widespread and consistent. The protection of persons has not developed at the same pace. That is why we asked for this discussion. Because the three subtopics are interconnected, progress on the first two should carry the third with it. AOSIS will take forward work on the protection of persons in 2027, building on the Study Group's conclusions and the Political Declaration. We invite all States to take the Study Group's conclusions and elements into account in their practice, and to engage with us in that work.
- I thank you.