Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has proposed a revision of the 1982 Law of the Sea at a United Nations Summit in New York, pointing out that the 27-year-old law is not up to date and does not provide for the issues of human trafficking, climate change and the transportation of weapons of mass destruction.

The PM told delegates that Malta had urged the United Nations to review the law of the sea 42 years ago, and this led to the adoption of the UN Law of the Sea Convention in December 1982.

Since then much has changed. We have gone from magnetic tapes to MP3’s, landlines to mobiles, CRT to LCD screens and of course, much; much, more – especially in the industrial world.

At the time, the law was cutting edge, but sadly, as the Prime Minister pointed out yesterday, it was not forward looking enough.

The issues mentioned in the first paragraph, which the PM raised are issues that are of paramount importance. However, Dr Gonzi also pointed out that there are also deficiencies in the law when it comes to tackling issues such as piracy, illicit trafficking of drugs, regulations related to the laying of underwater cables and safeguarding the marine environment.

Let us tackle the issues which the PM highlighted as being missing in the Law of the Sea at present. The first, and of course, the most pertinent to Malta is the issue of human trafficking. However, we must not be blinkered and we must also realise that Malta does not only suffer as a result of human trafficking, but it also exists in this country too. We believe that human traffickers should be under the jurisdiction of the international courts in the event of being caught in international waters. Legislating against human trafficking will not stem the tide of illegal migration completely, but it will certainly act as a deterrent, especially if all members of the UN are on board.

The second issue brought up by Dr Gonzi was that of climate change. When rules did not stipulate that oil tankers had to have a double hull for the sake of preventing oil spills in the event of a shipwreck, many thought it was folly.

Many might think that it is folly to say that maritime emissions need to be cut, sooner rather than later for the sake of CO2 content in the atmosphere, today in 2009. We might look back in hindsight in another 20 or so years and say that Malta was right and Malta was the first to put it on the agenda.

The last issue brought up by the PM is for legislation against the trafficking of weapons of mass destruction. With the issue of the Maltese registered MV Arctic Sea still high on the agenda, it is clear in the PM’s mind that there needs to be more control over who and what goes onto transport ships, and perhaps more importantly where.

The Law of the Sea was drawn up for the needs of the 1980s. That decade was not one in which particular progress was registered around the world. But the 90s and the years after 2000 could not be more contrasting. The world as we know it has since become a very, very different place with different realities. Malta has always put its agenda before the UN and has always been taken seriously. We hope that the world will not dismiss Dr Gonzi’s speech as being an unimportant one by a man from a small country in the Mediterranean. It was not unimportant, it was one that perhaps does not look too far into the future, but certainly addressed the needs of today.