The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in September 2015, provide a universal, visionary and transformative framework for sustainable development, ensuring that “no one is left behind”. They introduce an integrated and balanced approach to the process of managing multifaceted economic, environmental and social challenges. They generate, for the first time, contrary to the Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015), implementation commitments up to 2030, for both developed and developing countries, tailored to the specific national context and needs.

The international regime for disposal of wastes at sea is established, under the overarching provisions of UNCLOS, in the 1972 London Convention for the prevention of marine pollution by dumping of wastes and other matter and its 1996 Protocol. In the London Protocol “dumping” is defined as “any deliberate disposal into the sea” or else “any storage of wastes and other matter in the seabed and the subsoil thereof” (Art. 1.4). The legal regime set forth in the Protocol is based on two main rules: the prohibition of all dumping at sea (art. 4) except for a small list of wastes specified in Annex 1 (the so called “reverse listing system”) and the prohibition of export of wastes for dumping at sea (Art. 6). The rules of the London Protocol are applicable in all marine waters other than the internal waters of States, as well as in the seabed and the subsoil thereof (Art. 1,7).

The Paris Climate Agreement, negotiated in December 2015, came into force on November 4th. At the time of writing, more than 90 countries have ratified the agreement, and the first meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement is about the commence in Marrakech. The pace of ratifications and of its entry into force are unprecedented in international environmental law. Those who have not followed the climate negotiations closely may be forgiven for being surprised that the Paris Agreement is being hailed by many as a success. You will likely be concerned to learn that it accepts inadequate emission reduction targets and financial commitments from many Parties. These commitments collectively get the world to about a 3.5 degree increase in global average temperature, even if fully implemented.

In the last years too many people have put at risk their lives in attempts to cross a border. They are driven by the desire to enter into a country where they will be safe from persecution, poverty, conflicts, natural disasters or other calamities and where they will have the chance to spend a decent life. They are ready to face social discrimination and vulnerability, after arriving somewhere and living there irregularly. The hope to migrate is the reason why the waters of some seas, such as the Mediterranean, have become the graveyard of thousands of human beings, including children, who are moving from a number of African or Asian countries to reach the European Union.

On April 24, 2014, the Marshall Islands filed an application before the International Court of Justice against nine nuclear weapon states (NWS). The five ‘old NWS’ that are parties to the 1968 Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) (United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China) and four “new NWS” that not parties to the treaty (Israel, India, Pakistan, North Korea). The Marshall Islands claim that NWS have violated article VI of the NPT by failing to perform their obligations under that article in good faith.