Madam President,
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
Good evening.
Bangladesh delegation strongly stresses on the inclusion of common heritage of mankind principle at article five of the draft BBNJ Agreement.
The basic UN resolution 2749 of 17 December 1970 clearly stipulates that the Area as well as its resources are the common heritage of mankind on which nine years of negotiations took place and the UNCLOS 1982 came into being with that principle. Moreover, article 136 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) also says that Area and its resources are the common heritage of mankind and the same was also supported by the decisions under the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).
I also would like to remind this house that their countries signed these instruments with the common heritage of mankind principle.
We therefore reiterate our position again to include the common heritage of mankind principle and removing the brackets from the draft text of the Agreement.
I thank you Madam President.
