United Nations General Assembly A/RES/56/12 Distr.: General 13 December 2001 Fifty-sixth session Agenda item 30 (a) Resolution adopted by the General Assembly [without reference to a Main Committee (A/56/L.17 and Add.1)] 56/12. Oceans and the law of the sea The General Assembly, Recalling its resolutions 49/28 of 6 December 1994, 52/26 of 26 November 1997, 54/33 of 24 November 1999, 55/7 of 30 October 2000 and other relevant resolutions adopted subsequent to the entry into force of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (“the Convention”) 1 on 16 November 1994, Recalling also its resolution 2749 (XXV) of 17 December 1970, and considering that the Convention, together with the Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 (“the Agreement”), 2 provides the regime to be applied to the Area and its resources as defined in the Convention, Emphasizing the universal and unified character of the Convention and its fundamental importance for the maintenance and strengthening of international peace and security, as well as for the sustainable development of the oceans and seas, Reaffirming that the Convention sets out the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out and is of strategic importance as the basis for national, regional and global action in the marine sector, and that its integrity needs to be maintained, as recognized also by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in chapter 17 of Agenda 21, 3 Conscious of the importance of increasing the number of States parties to the Convention and the Agreement in order to achieve the goal of universal participation, _______________ 1 See The Law of the Sea: Official Texts of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 and of the Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 with Index and Excerpts from the Final Act of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.97.V.10). 2 Resolution 48/263, annex. 3 Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3–14 June 1992 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8 and corrigenda), vol. I: Resolutions adopted by the Conference, resolution 1, annex II. 01 47582