Professor Robert Beckman participated in the online 2022 APOLIA Conference from 18 to 20 May 2022 entitled “UNCLOS in Asia-Pacific: 40 Years and Onwards”.  Prof Beckman made a presentation in Session 3, Navigational Regimes and Enforcement of Coastal State Jurisdiction. The title of his presentation was “Navigational Regimes and Freedoms of the Seas”. He outlined four issues relating to rights and jurisdiction under 1982 UNCLOS that remain unresolved:

1. the due regard obligation and military exercises in the EEZ involving the live firing of weapons;
2. Jurisdiction over acts against submarine cables in the EEZ;
3. Innocent passage of nuclear-powered ships and ships carrying nuclear or inherently dangerous or hazardous materials; and
4. rights and freedoms of autonomous ships.

On the first issue, he argued that the “due regard” obligation in UNCLOS required States conducting military exercises involving the live firing of weapons to consult the coastal State. On the second issue, he outlined the issues concerning the “due regard” obligation and jurisdiction over persons or ships cutting submarine cables in the EEZ. On the third issue he argued that it would be consistent with Article 24 of UNCLOS for coastal States to require that nuclear-powered ships or ships carrying nuclear or hazardous materials give notice of their intention to exercise the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea. On the fourth issue, he briefly outlined some of the issues relating to the passage rights of autonomous or unmanned ships, and highlighted that the US Navy had issued a new edition of the Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations in March 2022 which contained new provisions on what are described as navigation rights of “Unmanned Systems”.

The second presentation in the session was by Phan Ngoc Minh Trang of the Max Planck Foundation of Peace and the Rule of Law, Germany which analysed the designation of archipelagic sea lanes in Indonesia and the Philippines. 

The third presentation in the session was on Article 51 of UNCLOS, with a focus on the 2022 Agreement between Indonesia and Singapore on Military Training Activities in the archipelagic waters of Indonesia. The two presenters were Aristyo R Darmawan of the University of Indonesia and Dr Arron Honniball of the Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law, Heidelberg, Germany. Dr Honniball is a former Research Fellow at CIL.

Prof Beckman actively participated in a lively discussion on the issues raised in the three presentations.