The Ocean and Human Rights

By Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe, Dr. Ion I. Jinga Motto: “We all came from the sea. All of us have in our blood the exact same percentage of salt that exists in the ocean. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, we are going back from whence we came." John F. Kennedy Oceans and seas are key to sustaining life on the Blue Planet and form an essential part of our heritage and culture. The Ocean connects us all, yet the negative implications of human activity put it in deep trouble and at risk of irreversible damage. In an article published on the eve of the first UN Ocean Conference - “S.O.S. the World of Blue” (Huffington Post, 26 April 2017) - I quoted Mahatma Gandhi who once said: "The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed." Three billion human beings depend on oceans and seas for their livelihood. Coastal communities represent 37% of the global population, and the trade in ocean goods and services is estimated to be worth more than $2.5 trillion per year. Oceans mitigate climate change by capturing one third of the carbon dioxide released by human activities, while more than half of the oxygen we breathe comes from their waters. Oceans also represent a fabulous hub of biodiversity, the natural habitat of more than 200,000 species. The “World of Blue” is part of the “Global Commons”, which historically refers to the global ocean, the atmosphere, the outer space and Antarctica. In recent years, biodiversity, the Artic region, the cyberspace and the Internet have also been included in the Global Commons. But around the world bad habits in relation to nature put at risk our future. Pollution of oceans kills marine life and harms communities that depend on fishing and tourism. Eight million tons of plastic waste enter the oceans every year (the Pacific Ocean is the largest marine concentration of plastic, bigger than Germany, France and Sweden combined). According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the amount of plastic in the oceans could triple by 2040. Without drastic action, plastic could outweigh all the fish in the oceans by 2050. Not least, ocean acidification is responsible for the destruction of coral reefs, which are at the base of the oceans' food chain. In the Caribbean Sea, I have seen dead corals lying under the water like artifacts from an ancient world. Recognizing the urgency of these challenges, in September 2015 the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development devoted SDG 14 to “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development”. Two years later, the first global Ocean Conference was organized in New York (5 - 9 June 2017). Its political declaration ("Our Ocean, Our Future: Call for Action"), committed UN member states “to address marine pollution, protection of marine and coastal ecosystems, ocean acidification, overfishing, as well as conservation of coastal and marine areas”. Although the watchwords in 2017 were “action” and “implementation”, at the second Ocean Conference (Lisbon, Portugal, 27 June – 1 July 2022), the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned about “Ocean Emergency”: “Sea levels are rising. Low-lying island nations face inundation, as do many major coastal cities in the world. Ever more coral reefs are dying. Pollution from land is creating vast coastal dead zones.” A new political declaration (“Our Ocean, Our Future, Our Responsibility”) was adopted, reiterating that "the Ocean is fundamental to life on our planet and to our future". All this time, the “Ocean Emergency” remained very current. The Black Sea, for instance, has experienced an increase in pollution over the past two decades, emerging as Europe's most polluted sea and one of the most contaminated seas in the world. The Black Sea basin is home to some 160 million people which make up approximately half of Europe’s population. With a coastline of over 4,000 km, it faces severe environmental degradation, including eutrophication (a process caused by nutrient pollution) and the escalating issue of plastic and marine litter. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the number of dolphins in the Black Sea has severely diminished, because of the bombs dropped in coastal feeding areas, missile firings and the use of naval sonar (which affects dolphins’ echolocation system – a biological form of sonar – causing acoustic trauma and death). Scientists estimates that in 2022 alone 50,000 dolphins died, and Mare Nostrum, a Romanian association of environmental specialists, says it has registered the highest number of stranded cetaceans since at least 2010. To make things worse, in December 2024 one Russian tanker sank and another one ran aground, pouring around 2,400 tons of a heavy fuel oil into the Black Sea waters. The transboundary nature of the environmental problems of the Black Sea made international cooperation an absolute necessity. The Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution (Bucharest Convention), signed in the capital of Romania on 21 April 1992, is one of the most known regional sea conventions, providing the legal ground for combating pollution, achieving sustainable management of marine living resources, and sustainable human development in the Black Sea region. On 4 March 2023, the United Nations concluded a historic agreement concerning the protection of biodiversity on the high seas, the High Seas Treaty, establishing a legal framework designed to make 30% of the oceans protected areas by 2030. Then, on 16 - 17 May 2023, in Reykjavik, Iceland, the fourth Summit of the Council of Europe (CoE) adopted a declaration which says: “Human rights and the environment are intertwined and a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is integral to the full enjoyment of human rights by present and future generations”. The Reykjavík Declaration underlined “the urgency of additional efforts to protect the environment, as well as to counter the impact of the triple planetary crisis of pollution, climate change and loss of biodiversity on human rights, democracy and the rule of law”, and committed CoE to strengthening its work “on the human rights aspects of the environment”. Last year, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted the resolution “Towards Council of Europe strategies for healthy seas and oceans to counter the climate crisis” (resolution 2456/2024), linking human rights and the health of seas and oceans. PACE resolution calls for enhanced tools and stable funding to address the challenges of pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate change, aligning with the UN 2030 Agenda, and recommends to the Committee of Ministers of CoE “to take into account the need to ensure comprehensive, efficient and effective protection of oceans and seas when preparing strategic documents, and to keep to the forefront the human rights perspective, including the right to a healthy environment”. The third UN Ocean Conference will take place in Nice, France, on 9 – 13 June 2025. Its political declaration, currently under negotiation (“Our Ocean, our Future: Accelerating Action”), will acknowledge that “a healthy and resilient ocean is essential for a sustainable ocean economy and underpins cultural and social connections to the ocean”. Along with a list of voluntary commitments, this declaration is expected to form the “Nice Ocean Action Plan” aiming to identify further ways for the implementation of SDG 14 on ocean conservation. In order to accompany these profound changes, the Council of Europe might include seas and oceans in its strategic thinking and, as the watchdog of human rights in Europe, contribute to creating a holistic human rights-based approach to respond to human rights breaches affecting people whose lives are connected to the sea. The UN is a major partner for CoE and an ideal platform for global outreach. The first agreement between the two organizations was signed in 1951, and in 1989 CoE received a standing invitation to participate as an observer in the sessions and work of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), which every two years adopts a resolution on cooperation between the two international organizations. At the same time, the Council of Europe is not only about Europe, as many of its 225 conventions and protocols are open to non-European countries. For example, the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern Convention), adopted in 1979, is ratified by several African states (Burkina Faso, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia), whereas other non-European countries have observer status. It is our common interest to bring more countries onboard, because in the highly turbulent international context of today no one organisation and no one country can address these challenges alone. An effective response is a multilateral one, based on dialogue, collaboration and partnership. As Alain Berset, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, recently stated: “Our world is on the move, in perpetual motion. But our vision must go beyond the borders of our continent I am convinced that dialogue is essential. I have had many exchanges with countries in the Global South with whom our dialogue must be based on respect and recognition of our perspectives. My intention is to broaden cooperation initially on artificial intelligence, cybercrime, fighting terrorism, environment protection. We need to talk constructively and talk to everyone.” The Ocean Conference in Nice may be an opportunity for CoE to promote this action-oriented vision and enhance the human rights dimension of the SDG 14 implementation. Post scriptum: On 11 June 2025, during the Nice Conference, the 115th anniversary of the birth of the famous French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau will be celebrated. His legacy should inspire us: “For most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive; in this century he is beginning to realize that, in order to survive, he must protect it. We only protect what we love, we only love what we understand, and we only understand what we are taught. I have lived on the ocean. Despite all the dangers, all the fatigue, all the sacrifices, I have never regretted the choice I made. The sea, in the final account, always brought me more joy than pain and I was grateful to her for her generosity” (“Life and Death in a Coral Sea”, 1971). Strasbourg, February 2025 Dr. Ion I. Jinga Note: The opinions expressed in this article do not bind the official position of the author.