12-06-2012 | Faroese representative to join United Nations Commission
Last week the Faroese geologist, Martin V. Heinesen, was elected to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf for a five-year term. He stood for the election as a candidate for the Danish Kingdom with support from all the Nordic countries.
The 58 year-old Martin Heinesen has previously been Director of the Faroese Geological Survey and Director of the Faroese Petroleum Administration in the 1990s. He was also a member of the committee that negotiated with the United Kingdom about the maritime boundary agreement between the two countries.
Martin Heinesen has been Director of the Maritime Boundary Project since 2003. In this role, he helped prepare the Faroese maritime boundary claims beyond 200 nautical miles to the North and South of the Faroe Islands. There claims were submitted to the United Nations in April 2009 and December 2010, respectively.
'The Faroese government, together with all the other countries that have supported Martin V. Hansen by electing him to this important role, is confident that his strong experience and passion will benefit the work of the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf', the Faroese Prime Minister's Office wrote in their official statement.
The United Nations' Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf was established on the basis of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The purpose of the Commission is to deal with maritime boundary claims of coastal countries and to make recommendations on their boundaries beyond 200 nautical miles.
The Commission is based in New York and works for 21 to 26 weeks a year. The commission has 21 members, who are experts in the fields of geology, geophysics and hydrography. They are elected from different continents to ensure a geographic balance.
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