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International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Immunities and Privileges) Order 2005

rose to move, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Immunities and Privileges) Order 2005. The noble Baroness said: The order was laid before the House on 30 June 2005, together with an explanatory memorandum now required for all affirmative statutory instruments. It is required to enable the Government to ratify the agreement on the privileges and immunities of the International Tribunal for the law of the Sea, which was opened for signature in New York on 1 July 1997 and signed by the United Kingdom on 24 August that same year. The International Organisations Act 2005 allowed for the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea—the tribunal—to be treated for the purposes of Section   1 of the International Organisations Act 1968 as an organisation of which the UK and other sovereign governments are members. Prior to that it had only been possible to confer privileges and immunities on the members of the tribunal and limited privileges and immunities on the registrar of the tribunal under Section 5 of the International Organisations Act 1968. That was done by the first International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Immunities and Privileges) Order 1996. This second order confers legal capacity on the organisation itself as well as extending immunities and privileges to various other categories of persons employed by, and connected with it. It revokes the 1996 order. The tribunal was established by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea—UNCLOS—but it did not come into existence until the entry into force of UNCLOS on 16 October 1994. After the election of the first judges, the tribunal took its seat in Hamburg on 1 October 1996. It is an international court and has jurisdiction to hear disputes submitted to it in accordance with UNCLOS and all matters specifically provided for in any other agreement which confers jurisdiction on it. Funding is through a budget adopted annually by the Meeting of States Parties to UNCLOS, on the basis of budget proposals submitted by the tribunal. The states parties to the tribunal pay contributions based on the scale of assessments of the budget of the UN adjusted to take into account participation in UNCLOS. The 2004 budget was set at $8,039,000 with the UK contributing £373,320. I am satisfied that the order is compatible with the rights in the European Convention on Human Rights. This order is important but I trust non-controversial. I hope that it will receive your Lordships’ full support. Moved, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Immunities and Privileges) Order 2005.—(Baroness Royall of Blaisdon.)