The meeting was hosted by Head of the Foreign Service Arkady Rzegocki, who emphasised the candidate’s broad knowledge and know-how in all aspects of the Convention as well as his experience gained as Poland's representative and legal adviser in all key proceedings and institutions related to the law of the sea.

In his address, Konrad Marcinak stressed the Tribunal’s importance as a body interpreting the law of the sea for friendly international relations. He also presented the outcomes of the final session of the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (the BBNJ), outlining his involvement in its work.

Konrad Marciniak’s presentation encouraged diplomats to actively participate in the Q&A session and ask a series of questions about, among other things, the Tribunal’s possible case-law activity on climate change, its role in the context of breaches of the international law of the sea during Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and the BBNJ’s potential impact on the Tribunal’s future work.

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The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, based in Hamburg, is an international court established pursuant to Annex VI to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982. The Tribunal has jurisdiction especially over disputes concerning the interpretation or application of the Convention. The Tribunal is composed of 21 judges, elected to nine-year terms from among candidates proposed by the States Parties to the Convention within the United Nations Regional Groups.

Łukasz Jasina
MFA Spokesperson