A/RES/53/32
Page 5
20. Notes with interest the ongoing work of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization towards a convention for the implementation of the provisions of the Convention, relating
to the protection of the underwater cultural heritage, and stresses the importance of ensuring that the
instrument to be elaborated is in full conformity with the relevant provisions of the Convention;
21. Invites States to cooperate in carrying out hydrographic surveys and nautical services for the
purpose of ensuring safe navigation as well as to ensure the greatest uniformity in charts and nautical
publications and to coordinate their activities so that hydrographic and nautical information is made
available on a worldwide scale;
22. Urges all States, in particular coastal States in affected regions, to take all necessary and
appropriate measures to prevent and combat incidents of piracy and armed robbery at sea and to
investigate or cooperate in the investigation of such incidents wherever they occur and bring the alleged
perpetrators to justice, in accordance with international law;
23. Calls upon States to cooperate fully with the International Maritime Organization to combat
piracy and armed robbery against ships, including by submitting reports on incidents to that organization;
24. Takes note of the work of the Independent World Commission on the Oceans, and of its report
entitled “The Ocean ... Our Future”, and welcomes its issuance in the context of the International Year
of the Ocean;
25. Reaffirms its decision to undertake an annual review and evaluation of the implementation of
the Convention and other developments relating to ocean affairs and the law of the sea;
26. Reaffirms also its decision, in resolution S–19/2 of 28 June 1997, to consider the results of the
review by the Commission on Sustainable Development of the sectoral theme of “Oceans and seas” in
1999, under the agenda item “Oceans and the law of the sea”;
27. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth session on
the implementation of the present resolution, including other developments and issues relating to ocean
affairs and the law of the sea, in connection with his annual comprehensive report on oceans and the law
of the sea, and to circulate the report sufficiently in advance of consideration by the General Assembly
of the item concerning oceans and the law of the sea;
28. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-fourth session the item entitled “Oceans
and the law of the sea”.
69th plenary meeting
24 November 1998