The 2020 US Presidential Election: A Quest For Understanding by Professor Tommy Koh Introduction The United States of America is a very complicated country.  Although I have spent over 20 years of my life in that country, I am frequently surprised and puzzled by events in that country.  This essay is an attempt to understand the […]

Government Responsibility to Remediate Mercury-Contaminated Sites, a Philippine Perspective by Amiel Ian Valdez On 8 July 2020, the Philippines became the 123rd party to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (‘the Convention’), following its Government’s deposit of the instrument of ratification. For a country with a history of abandoned mine sites and sizable Artisanal and Small-scale […]

The ‘Enrica Lexie’ Incident Award and Exclusive Flag State Jurisdiction by Arron N Honniball Sugeesh at Malayalam Wikipedia / CC BY, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Enrica_Lexie.jpg Introduction On 21 May 2020 the Arbitral Tribunal (UNCLOS, Annex VII) in respect of the ‘Enrica Lexie’ Incident (Italy v. India), PCA Case No. 2015-28, furnished its Award. Once Italy and India agree […]

COVID-19 and Shipping: New Global Regulations and a New Normal by Robert Beckman COVID-19 has caused many serious problems for the global supply chain and the world’s economy. Fortunately, although maritime trade has slowed, it has continued. The Singapore port and many other major ports have remained in operation, and have allowed visits by commercial […]

Reproduced from the Business Times For Business Times – Dr Tan Hsien-Li, Co-Director (Teaching) for CIL’s ASEAN Law and Policy Programme, reflects on ASEAN’s collective response to public health crises. As the COVID-19 crisis was intensifying in the region in February and March, commentators from the media and academia noted that ASEAN was slow to […]

Digital Trade in the Time of COVID-19 by Neha Mishra The COVID-19 outbreak has caused a systemic shock to global trade. The World Trade Organization (WTO ) has predicted that global trade will fall between 13% and 32% in 2020. In a period of few months, the COVID-19 pandemic has already significantly disrupted global supply […]

The World Health Organization and COVID-19: How Much Legal Authority Does the WHO Really Have to Manage the Pandemic? by Ayelet Berman 1.      Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has placed the World Health Organization (WHO) in the defendant’s seat. It has been accused—mostly by the US but also by other countries—of having been unduly influenced by […]

A reflection on shipping and pandemics: From 14th century quarantines to the 2005 International Health Regulations by Nilüfer Oral The globalization of trade is not a new phenomenon, with historic examples as the silk route between the 2nd and 14th centuries. It should not be surprising that global trade and increased human mobility also brought […]