Things to know about the High Seas Treaty as it takes effect

The world’s first legally binding agreement to protect marine life in international waters took effect Saturday, marking a historic moment for ocean conservation after nearly two decades of negotiations.

The High Seas Treaty will govern nearly half the planet’s surface – the vast ocean areas beyond any country’s control. These waters face mounting threats from destructive fishing practices, shipping, plastic pollution, overfishing and potential deep sea mining, all compounded by climate change. The ocean absorbs carbon dioxide and produces oxygen, making its health critical for addressing the climate crisis.

The treaty entered into force 120 days after it reached the threshold of ratification by 60 countries in September. As of Friday, 83 countries had ratified it, including the recent addition of major maritime powers such as China and Japan.

The treaty creates the first framework for establishing Marine Protected Areas on the high seas, which make up about two-thirds of the world’s ocean. Currently, only around 1% of these international waters are protected.

From Saturday, ratifying countries must begin working together on ocean science and technology as well as help developing nations build capacity to participate in ocean governance. Companies planning activities that could harm marine life must conduct environmental impact assessments that meet the treaty’s standards. Those conducting research on ocean organisms that could be used commercially, such as for new medicines, must notify other countries and share their findings.

Perhaps most significantly, countries must now promote the treaty’s conservation goals when they participate in other international bodies that regulate ocean activities, such as regional fisheries organizations, the International Maritime Organization and the International Seabed Authority.

While key institutions like the treaty’s secretariat and scientific body are still being developed, countries can begin preparing proposals for Marine Protected Areas immediately. Potential sites include the Emperor Seamounts in the North Pacific, the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic and the Salas y Gomez and Nazca Ridges off South America.

Conservationists warn governments must act quickly to achieve the global goal of protecting 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030 – a target scientists say is critical for ocean health. Because the high seas make up such a vast portion of the oceans, their protection is essential to reaching that goal.

“The marine protected areas under the treaty will only be as strong as the governments make them,” said Megan Randles, global political lead for Greenpeace’s Ocean Campaign. “We can’t trust big fishing industry players to simply stop fishing in these critical ecosystems. We need governments to use the treaty to force their hands.”

How those protected areas will actually be monitored and enforced is undecided. Countries are exploring various options, from satellite technology to coordinating patrols between multiple nations to using other UN agencies to help with oversight, said Rebecca Hubbard, director of the High Seas Alliance. Those details will be worked out as the first protected areas take shape.

Within a year, the treaty’s first Conference of Parties will meet to decide key operational details, from budgets to the makeup of various committees. Countries have been working through many of those questions at preparatory meetings, with a final session scheduled for late March. The earliest any Marine Protected Areas could actually win approval would be at the second COP, since the scientific body that will review proposals hasn’t yet been established.

The United States has signed but not ratified the treaty, meaning it can participate as an observer but won’t have voting rights. Under international law, signatory countries are expected to comply with treaty objectives even before ratification.

“The High Seas Treaty has such incredibly broad and strong political support from across all regions of the world,” said Hubbard. “Whilst it’s disappointing that the U.S. hasn’t yet ratified, it doesn’t undermine its momentum and the support that it has already.”

Advocates emphasize that broad support must now turn into rapid implementation.

“The treaty is a sign that in a divided world, protecting nature and protecting our global commons can still triumph over political rivalries,” Randles said. “The ocean connects us all.”

Follow Annika Hammerschlag on Instagram @ahammergram.

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

Strands of kelp rise from a thinned kelp forest off the coast of La Jolla, Calif., Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)

FILE - Corals grow off Efate Island, Vanuatu, Saturday, July 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag, File)

FILE - Coral is visible in the protected area of France's Porquerolles National Park ahead of the U.N. Ocean Conference on June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag, File)

FILE - Common two-banded seabream fish swim in the protected area of France's Porquerolles National Park ahead of the U.N. Ocean Conference on June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag, File)

FILE - A clownfish swims at Havannah Harbour, off the coast of Efate Island, Vanuatu, July 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag, File)

BEIRUT (AP) — Robina Aminian's family believes the college student was killed by a bullet fired by Iranian security forces at close range, straight into the back of her head.

But her death in the nationwide protests that challenged the Islamic Republic's theocracy was only the start of the family's agony. In the aftermath of the killing, Aminian's mother had to look through piles of bloodied corpses to find her daughter's body. Then the family raced to escape authorities who might demand payment to release the body and buried her hastily in an unmarked roadside pit.

Their odyssey reflects the trail of anguish left by Iran's deadly assault on protesters, which has led to desperate relatives searching overflowing morgues across the country. For families, the loss of loved ones is compounded by the difficulty they face in grieving and giving the dead a dignified sendoff.

More than a week after she was killed, Aminian's relatives say they still have not held a funeral for the young Kurdish woman who was studying fashion in Tehran, the capital.

“She wanted a bright future for herself,” her uncle, Nezar Minoei, said from Oslo. “But unfortunately, the future has been stolen from her.”

Details about what happened to Aminian are scant. After her death, her mother called relatives outside the country, recounting what she learned from Aminian's friends, who were present when she was killed.

The Associated Press spoke to three relatives, who all described similar details from the mother's account. An Oslo-based human rights organization, Iran Human Rights, released a report about her killing, citing witness testimony. They verified there was a shooting on the night of Jan. 8 around the campus of the Shariati Technical and Vocational College for Girls.

With communications greatly limited in Iran, the AP has been unable to independently confirm the family’s account or the wounds to Aminian’s body or to verify its location. The Iranian mission to the United Nations in New York did not respond to questions about the death.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which relies on a network of activists on the ground and has been accurate during previous unrest in Iran, said at least 3,090 people have been killed. Iran's government has not offered any overall casualties figures.

Everything that Aminian's relatives abroad know about her death comes from a brief phone call her mother was able to make Jan. 10 to relatives in Oslo.

They say the mother, Amina Norei, got a call Jan. 8 from Aminian’s friends, who said she had been gunned down by security forces. The friends told Norei they were walking away from campus in Tehran after dark when they saw a protest and joined in.

A bullet fired by security forces struck the back of Aminian’s head, her friends told the mother.

Videos shared on social media, verified by the AP, and statements by rights groups, doctors and survivors, describe Iranian agents using rifles and shotguns to disperse protesters across the country.

Iran's theocracy, which has used violence in previous rounds of unrest, increasingly refers to demonstrators as “terrorists." Authorities allege some demonstrators were armed, but there are no allegations that anyone was armed in Aminian's vicinity at the time of her death.

Aminian’s relatives said she was not an activist or involved in politics.

Aminian's mother was in Kermanshah, a western city in the Kurdish region of Iran nearly 460 kilometers (230 miles) from Tehran, when she learned about her daughter's death.

She rushed to Tehran in the middle of the night, she told family. Norei recalled to them how she began unzipping body bag after body bag, looking for Aminian.

“She looked through so many beautiful faces, trying to find her girl," Hali Norei, Amnian's aunt, said from Oslo. ”And what is so horrifying for me is imagining what my sister feels as she searches for her daughter."

Many other Iranian families are searching overflowing morgues for loved ones, according to rights group Amnesty International. Bodies have piled up in trucks, freight containers and warehouses, the group said.

When Norei found her daughter, she was joined by her husband, daughter and son, and the family rushed out with the body, fearing authorities would block their way and insist on a payment to release the corpse, according to Minoei, Aminian’s uncle.

“She actually stole the body,” Minoei said.

In a statement to the AP, the New York City-based Center for Human Rights in Iran said it has received multiple accounts of intelligence forces demanding money from families in exchange for the return of protesters' bodies. The group called the levies “a well-known, standard practice” in Iran to scare families into not publicly mourning their dead.

Other families reported to the center that they were forced to sign papers falsely declaring that their dead relatives were members of the security forces in order to retrieve the bodies.

Iranian state television recently aired a statement saying mortuary and burial services were free, after repeated allegations of the practice.

Minoei said the mother told him that she and her oldest daughter spent the seven-hour ride back to Kermanshah clutching the body in the backseat, blood and tears staining their clothes. When they got home, the mother told him, security forces had surrounded their house.

Amina Norei told her family they had only one option: They drove out of town and dug a pit on the side of the road. They placed the body inside and drove away. Aminian is still believed to be buried there, in an unmarked grave.

Relatives said they have not heard from Amina Norei or other relatives in Iran since Sunday.

Frankel reported from Jerusalem.

Hali Norei, left, and her partner Nezar Minoei look at pictures of Norei's 23-year-old niece Robina Aminian on a cellphone during an interview in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2025. Aminian, a university student, was killed during Iran's protests. (AP Photo/Bjornar Verpeide)

Hali Norei shows a picture of her 23-year-old niece Robina Aminian as she gives an interview alongside her partner Nezar Minoei, in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2025. Aminian, a university student, was killed during Iran's protests. (AP Photo/Bjornar Verpeide)