United Nations Jamaica 76th Anniversary

MESSAGES The Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport joins with the United Nations to celebrate and honour our frontline healthcare workers and their contributions in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. We welcome and support the Light Jamaica Blue initiative, as the United Nations celebrates its 76th anniversary during the period when we celebrate our Heroes. Let us use the opportunity to reflect on the past year and a half since the advent of the pandemic, being mindful of the fact that many of our healthcare workers have made the ultimate sacrifice. This nation and generations yet unborn will remain forever grateful. Our frontline healthcare workers continue to meet the pandemic head-on, on a daily basis, in our clinics, hospitals, doctor’s offices, even our pharmacies. They represent the best of us and our indomitable spirit. Indeed, they continue that rich tradition of Jamaican nurse Mary Seacole. Mary first treated cholera patients in Panama in the 1850’s, and like our frontline workers exposed herself, eventually catching a mild form of the disease. She later travelled to Balaklava in Crimea, where she established a hotel and hospice for soldiers engaged in the Crimean War. In the true sense of the Hippocratic Oath, Mary Seacole tended to both Allied and enemy soldiers. As Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport I salute and pay tribute to Jamaica’s frontline healthcare workers, who continue to work selflessly in the fight against Covid-19. Let us always celebrate and honour them for their service. Hon. Olivia Grange, CD, MP Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Tribute to Jamaica’s Frontline Heathcare Workers 2021 marks not only the 76th Anniversary of the United Nations but also the start of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. The Decade aims to foster scientific research and technological innovation in support of a more sustainable ocean. The objectives of the Decade are at the core of the International Seabed Authority (ISA)’s mandates, which are to promote and encourage the conduct of marine scientific research in the international seabed area (the “Area”), coordinate and disseminate the research and analysis when available and to facilitate participation of developing States in deep-sea exploration and research programmes. As we celebrate the achievements of the United Nations and contemplate ways to achieve the objectives of the Decade of Ocean Science and those of Agenda 2030 over the next 10 years, ISA stands ready to work with partners, at national, regional and international levels. In particular, ISA will continue to steadfastly implement the mandate given to it by the 1982 United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea to ensure the sustainable and equitable management and stewardship of the mineral resource found in the Area. Jamaica was instrumental in the evolution of the negotiations and the crafting of the Convention, which was signed by 119 countries in Montego Bay in December of 1982. Kingston was subsequently selected as the site for ISA’s headquarters when the Convention came into force on 16 November 1994, becoming one of the few countries, and the first in the region, to host a major UN body. Today, 167 States as well as the European Union have become parties to the Convention and are therefore Members of ISA. In 2021, Jamaica became one of the 22 Member States sponsoring exploration activities in the Area. Through ISA, access to the resources of the Area is assured to both developed and developing states, rich and poor, large and small. The data collected through exploration and marine scientific research expeditions is compiled with the aim of being shared broadly with all. Seafloor minerals, which are yet to be mined in commercial quantities anywhere in the world, are the only example of a global resource that has been placed under international management by an international organization established exclusively for that purpose. For many countries, particularly the developing countries, the existence of ISA fulfils a long-held vision that the mineral wealth of the deep seabed should not be appropriated by a few technologically advanced countries but should be accessible to all countries, including the most disadvantaged ones. As such, the efforts of ISA to put in place an effective regulatory framework for deep-sea mining represent a unique experiment in international relations. Let 2021 be the dawn of a new era of sustainable stewardship of the ocean and its resources, for the benefit of humanity as a whole. Michael W. Lodge Secretary-General International Seabed Authority Ensuring Responsible Stewardship of International Seabed Resources THE 76TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL FEATURE OF THE UNITED NATIONS IN JAMAICA 4