CIL Ocean Law and Policy Research Assistant Amanda Wee participated as a panellist in the 15^th Annual Conference of the Cambridge International Law Journal held at the University of Cambridge from 23-24 April 2026. She presented her paper titled, “Neocolonialism and the Flag State Principle: A Challenge to its Legitimacy and Neutrality at International Law” in Panel 4 (International Environmental Law: Reimagining Environmental Governance in an Era of Planetary Crisis).

Her paper challenges the legitimacy of the Flag State Principle through a critical examination of its history, structure at international law, and modern day shipping issues emanating from its deficiencies through a TWAIL perspective. She argues that the Flag State Principle has been excessively exploited throughout history and modern day for the benefit of developed states to the detriment of developing states, resulting in nominal sovereignty and economic dependence of developing states. She also argues that this is a systemic problem as the Flag State stems from international law and the Western concept of mare liberum, which have colonial origins. As a result of this, developed states are accorded “power without responsibility” and developing states experience “exploitation without redress” in international shipping, and persistent issues such as labour and human rights violations and threats to the marine environment remain inadequately unaddressed.

During the conference, she particularly highlighted the environmental issues emanating from the deficient Flag State Principle through problems such as substandard shipping and the shadow fleet, in which developed states have offloaded the risks that come with the nature of international shipping to developing states.