Satya Nandan

Satya Nandan, CF CBE, is the current Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority, a position he has held since March 1996. He was most recently re-elected to a third four-year term on June 3, 2004.

Lawyer and Diplomat

Nandan is a Fiji Indian who holds a Law degree from the University of London and is a Barrister-at-Law of Lincoln’s Inn, England. He is also a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Fiji. He was a representative of Fiji at the United Nations(1970-76 and 1993-95) and was Fiji’s Ambassador to the European Union, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands (1976-1980). He has served as Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Fiji.

Accomplishments

Nandan has had a distinguished career in international relations. Some of his numerous contribution is as follows:
*Member of UN Committees on Decolonization, Disarmament, Legal and Political matters.
*Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Law of the Sea from 1983 to 1992.
*Chairman of the United Nations Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (1993-95).
*President of the meeting of the States Parties to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1994 to 1996).
*Head of the Fiji delegation to the Seabed Committee (1970-1973) and to UNCLOS III (1973-1982).
*Chairman of Working Groups on the Exclusive Economic Zone, Delimitation of Maritime Boundaries and the High Seas.
*Chairman of Negotiating Group 4 of the Conference which dealt with the participation by landlocked and geographically disadvantaged States in the exploitation of the living resources of the neighbouring exclusive economic zones.
*Chairman of a group on production policy relating to deep seabed mining. He was Chairman of the Group of 77, developing States, (1978-1979).
*Chairman of the Committee of Ambassadors of the African Caribbean and Pacific States in Brussels He participated in the negotiations for Lome I, II and III Conventions between the ACP Group of States and the European Economic Community.
*General Editor of the Law of the Sea Commentary series, published by the University of Virginia Center for Oceans Law and Policy.
*Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the United Nations International School from 1996 to 2001.

Awards

Nandan was awarded honorary Doctorate of Law by the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada (1995) and an honorary Doctorate by the University of the South Pacific (1996). He received a C.B.E. in 1978 and was awarded Fiji’s highest honour, Companion of the Order of Fiji (C.F.), in 1997. He was honoured with the award of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany by the President of Germany (1996). He is married and has one son