The passing away of Amb. Satya N. Nandan of Fijion February 25, 2020 comes as a decisive loss to law of the sea as both a field of academic inquiry and a branch of applied public international law. As a crusader for a global rules based order for the world’s oceans, there are few who have contributed to the practical development and evolution of this field as the iconic Fijian lawyer-diplomat who would hold top positions in the United Nations and man the International Seabed Authority for the better part of its existence. His seminal contribution to Law of the Sea marks him out as a world-renowned practioner in a field that was marked by Westphalian struggles to establish control over the world oceans and the vast resources that lie beneath in the years leading to the adoption of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982 (UNCLOS). His death marks the end of an era for the discipline that continues to evolve based on the provisions of UNCLOS and the untiring efforts of States to strive for a world order based on equity and justice.
Born in 1936 in what was then known as the British Crown Colony of Fiji as the youngest of ten children to Shiu Nandan and Raj Kaur, Satya Nandan after completing his early education in his home country moved to New Zealand to complete his high school education. Pursuant to a law degree from the University of London in 1965, Nandan became a barrister at Lincoln’s Inn before returning to Fiji to start private practice. The newly independent nation would seek his assistance in establishing the country’s mission to the United Nations in 1970 eventually leading to his absorption as a career diplomat in Fiji. From here on Satya Nandan would be the moral and intellectual voice of the Pacific Island States seeking to assert their legitimate claims on ocean resources and championing the codification of what was then regarded as one of the last unregulated frontiers of the global commons. This association with law of the sea and ocean affairs would become a lifetime preoccupation for the rising young lawyer-diplomat.
Amb. Nandan’s most remarkable contribution to law of the sea would be his work as the Rapporteur of the Second Committee of the Conference that dealt with the major issues of law of the sea. The inability of the First and Second Geneva Conventions to iron out contentious issues failed to result in a global ocean convention acceptable to all States. The mistakes where sought to be corrected by the time the Third Conference on the Law of the Sea convened in New York in 1973. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982 was the result of this Conference and has been the major treaty body regulating the use of oceans for the international community since its coming into force on November 16, 1994. Amb. Satya Nandan is widely recognized as the principal architect of this exercise who ironed out differences existing between various countries on diverse contentious issues. In the process, the Pacific States and Asian-African States were able to secure maritime jurisdictional claims of 200 NM from their baselines through the creation of Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs), a unique output of the Convention first articulated in the Colombo Session of the Asian African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO) in 1971 by Kenya. In addition, Amb. Nandan negotiated the rights for archipelagic States and the passage through straits for international navigation. In all cases, his determination to safeguard the interest of Pacific States and by doing so the interests of the broader community of Asian-African States stood out with conviction that continues to find resonance in global treaty negotiations till this date.
The provisions pertaining to deep-sea bed mining continued to remain contentious even after the adoption of the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention. This lead to the delay in the coming into force of the Convention. Urged by the then Secretary-General of the United Nations, Javier Perez de Cueller, Amb. Nandan joined the Organization as the Under Secretary- General for Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Law of the Sea. Most of the concerns pertaining to the issue were resolved through the intervention of Amb. Nandan as Chairman of the ‘Boat Paper Group’ resulting in the 1994 Implementing Agreement on Part XI, which created the International Seabed Authority to regulate the conservation and use of non-living resources on the deep-sea bed in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
Elected as the Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority in 1996, Amb. Nandan in his three-term tenure that lasted till December 2008 was instrumental in moulding the ISA from its inception as an international organization with a specific mandate including establishing its main organs- the Assembly, Council, Legal and Technical Commission and the Finance Committee. It was during his tenure that the Regulations on Prospecting and Exploration of Polymetallic Nodules in the Area also known as the ‘Nodules Regulations’ were promulgated that would regulate the actual conduct of deep-sea mining in the ‘Area’ . The establishment of an Endowment Fund in 2006 by the Authority for the advancement for marine scientific research (MSR) activities was also a significant feature of the work of the Authority and was widely welcomed as advancing the mandate of UNCLOS, 1982. Incorporating the ‘Precautionary Approach’ to the work of the Authority was a legacy of Amb. Nandan, which was validated by the Seabed Disputes Chamber in February 2011 in an advisory opinion that mandated the application of this principle as originally laid down in the 1992 Rio Declaration.
Amb. Nandan’s role in creating a global legal framework for fishery conservation was yet another shining aspect of his legacy. As Chairman of the Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, the global community would witness theadoption of the 1995 United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement under his leadership and the subsequent setting up of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. His lifelong commitment to sustainable use of marine living resources continues to inspire sustainability debates in the sector and remains highly valuable in the context of ‘blue economy’ debates.
The Virginia Commentary, which remains the most significant and reliable elucidation on the law of the seawas spearheaded by Amb. Nandan. It gives a masterly account of the treaty negotiation process leading to the adoption of the convention and forms a crucial corpus of the Law of the Sea. While it involved the effort of numerous individuals, Nandan is credited with providing intellectual leadership of the project as the series general editor of the work along with Shabtai Rosenne. The seven-volume book, which took 26 years to prepare, remains an indispensable account for any serious scholar or practioner of the subject.
