CIL Dialogues
An International Law Blog
CIL Dialogues is the re-imagination of the existing blog of the Centre for International Law (CIL) of the National University of Singapore (NUS). The editorial team’s approach to CIL Dialogues reflects two shared commitments. First, we share a generalist perspective of international law, viewed as raising shared foundational questions across specialised fields, institutions, regions, and inquiries. Secondly, we are appreciative that CIL Dialogues is not based in (the virtual space of), or associated with institutions in the ‘Western European and Others States Group’. The blog will therefore be interested in international law broadly conceived and seek to be attentive to regional perspectives to questions of universal and general relevance, particularly relating to Asia Pacific, as well as the views and voices that may have been traditionally excluded. More...
Featured Blogs
by Robert Beckman, Trung Nguyen and Joel Ong Jie Hao
At its thirty-third biennial meeting on 6 December 2023, the Assembly of the International Maritime Organization (‘IMO’) adopted Resolution A.1192(33) urging Member States and all relevant stakeholders to promote actions to prevent illegal operations in the maritime sector by the ‘dark fleet’ or ‘shadow fleet’ (‘the 2023 Resolution’). Read on ...
Artificial Intelligence And Article 33.4 VCLT
by Tarcisio Gazzini
Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to radically change legal education and the legal profession. Suffice it to mention the administration of justice through machines. This comment focuses on a much more specific issue, namely the interpretation of multilingual treaties. Article 33.4 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, in particular, directs the interpreter in overcoming differences between equally authoritative texts. Read on ...
Does breaching UNCLOS invoke the right of self-defence?
by Shani Friedman
Since October 2023, as part of the Israeli-Hamas war following the October 7 massacre in Israel, the Houthis – an Iranian-backed Yemeni terrorist group – attacked commercial ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea in support of Hamas. The attacks range from non-violent boarding and rerouting of ships to using missiles and drones. Read on
China’s engagement with the ITLOS climate change advisory proceedings and its strategic formalism in international law
by Ryan Martínez Mitchell
Several months ago, Beijing decided to take a stand against the expansion of advisory opinion jurisdiction to the full International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), as well as the potential use of such jurisdiction to define climate change obligations under the law of the sea. Read on ...
CIL has recently launched a new TREATY STATUS DATABASE to complement its documents database.
Click here for more information.
CIL Director Robert Beckman took part in the first edition of Channel NewsAsia’s Perspectives programme at 8.00 PM on 29 April 2012. The panel discussed issues such as the rise of China and the South China Sea territorial disputes.
CIL Director Robert Beckman took part in the first edition of Channel NewsAsia’s Perspectives programme at 8.00 PM on 29 April 2012. Perspectives presents a panel of distinguished thinkers from Singapore’s top institutions and think tanks who are expected to gather every month to dissect current events with in-depth analyses. Hosted by Debra Soon, the Managing …
The Centre for International Law is pleased to announce the selection of the first batch of CIL Overseas Interns. Law Year 3 and Year 4 students Ms Sadhana Rai, Mr Alvin Yap, Ms Dharshini Prasad and Mr Ramu Nachiappan have been given the opportunity to intern with leading international institutions.
CIL was pleased to host the visit of Judge Rudiger Wolfrum, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Germany. Judge Wolfrum delivered a talk on the dispute concerning the delimitation of the maritime boundary between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the Bay of Bengal on 17 April 2012 as part of the CIL Distinguished Speaker Series.
Submissions from both junior and senior scholars are invited. An abstract of 150 - 500 words should be sent (in .pdf or .doc format) to Angelina Fisher (FisherA@exchange.law.nyu.edu) by May 15, 2012.
Click here for more information.
Click here for more information.
CIL held the 3rd Fireside Chat on "Territorial Disputes in Asia: Lessons from Pedra Branca" on 30 March 2012. The talk explored Singapore’s first experience in international litigation when Singapore and Malaysia agreed to submit their sovereignty dispute over Pedra Branca, Middle Rocks and South Ledge to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Click here for more information.
Click here for more information.
CIL is pleased to announce the launch of the webpages of the Centre’s major research project: “ASEAN Integration through Law: The ASEAN Way in a Comparative Context” (ASEAN ITL). The ASEAN ITL research project examines the role of law and the rule of law in Asian legal integration.
Click here for more information.
Professor S Jayakumar hosted the second CIL Fireside Chat on International Law and Diplomacy on Friday, 2 March 2012. The topic was on “The Land Reclamation Case: Lessons in Law and Diplomacy”.
Click here for more information.
The second installment of CIL’s Fireside Chat Series on International Law and Diplomacy - "The Land Reclamation Case: Lessons in Law and Diplomacy" - took place on 2 March 2012.
The annual Rhodes Academy of Oceans Law and Policy will be held from 1-21 July 2012 in Rhodes, Greece. CIL continues its third year of association with the prestigious Academy in accordance with the CIL-Rhodes Academy MOU signed in 2009.
The Centre for International Law (CIL) and the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) jointly held a 3-day Workshop on Treaty Law and Practice from 16-19 January 2012.
The first in the Centre for International Law’s Fireside Chat Series on International Law and Diplomacy took place yesterday, 13 January 2012. Professor S. Jayakumar had a frank exchange with students on the topic "Diplomacy and International Law: A Singaporean Perspective".
The S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) of the Nanyang Technological University and the Centre for International Law (CIL) jointly hosted the 4th meeting of the Ocean Policy Institute Network in the East Asian Region (OPINEAR) in Singapore.
CIL is pleased to announced that a Global Associate of our Centre, Ambassador Kriangsak Kittichaisaree of Thailand, has been elected to the International Law Commission (ILC) of the United Nations for a 5-year term.
Assoc Prof Michael Ewing-Chow and Research Fellow Geraldine Fischer were consulted by Prof Sophia Listrani of Syiah Kuala University in Aceh about developing the first course on International Investment Law to be taught in English in Indonesia.
Mr Bilahari Kausikan, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore, delivered a motivating career talk on 19 October 2011 as a CIL Distinguished Speaker.
CIL is proud to announce that its own Head of Trade and Investment Law and Policy, Assoc Prof Michael Ewing-Chow, was selected to represent Singapore as a World Trade Organisation (WTO) chair, one of only 15 WTO chairs in the world.
Click here for more information.
Click here for more information.
CIL welcomed its first United Nations Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe Fellow on the Law of the Sea, Ms Sri Asih Roza Nova of Indonesia, in September 2011. The Fellowship is intended to advance the proficiency and capability of government officials, research fellows or academics from developing countries who are involved in the law of the sea or ocean affairs.
CIL and the International Boundaries Research Unit (IBRU) of Durham University signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on 19 September 2011. The MOU enabled CIL to bring IBRU’s celebrated training workshop on International Maritime Boundaries Delimitation to Asia and Singapore for the first time this year with another run planned for next year.
Click here for more information.
We are pleased to announce that former Senior Minister Professor S Jayakumar, who has returned to the NUS Faculty of Law upon his retirement from politics, has agreed to provide guidance and advice to the Centre for International Law (CIL).
A conference report on the CIL Conference on Joint Development and the South China Sea is now ready for download in PDF format.
CIL continues its second year of association with the prestigious Rhodes Academy of Oceans Law and Policy. At this year’s Academy, CIL Director Prof Robert Beckman was once again invited to join the Faculty. He delivered seminars on the South China Sea claims, provisional measures in maritime delimitation, and submarine cables.
The first book ever published on Asia’s first regional human rights system, Dr Tan’s monograph provides a groundbreaking assessment of the progress in Southeast Asia on human rights beginning in the wake of the ‘Asian values’ debate of the 1990s and culminating in the establishment of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR).
Click here for more information.
CIL organized a two day Conference on Joint Development and the South China Sea on the 16th and 17th of June 2011. The Conference brought together international legal experts on joint development and law of the sea, representatives from the oil and gas industry and Government Officials from the region to examine the law and policy issues relating to the joint development of oil and gas resources in areas of overlapping claims in the South China Sea.
CIL hosted a 2-day closed-door international conference on Joint Development and the South China Sea from 16-17 June 2011 at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel. Professor S. Jayakumar, the Patron of CIL, was the Guest-of-Honour.
CIL hosted the 2nd Singapore Conference on International Investment Arbitration on 31 May 2011. As with the inaugural conference in 2010, the second conference was organised to be back to back with the Singapore International Arbitration Forum.
CIL hosted the 2nd Singapore Conference on International Investment Arbitration on 31 May 2011. As with the inaugural conference in 2010, the second conference was organised to be back to back with the Singapore International Arbitration Forum.
On 25 April 2011, CIL Director Robert Beckman launched Gerd Droesse’s edited volume “Funds for Development: Multilateral Channels of Concessional Financing”. The book examines the concessional windows of the AfDB, ADB, CDB, IFAD, World Bank Group, and other multilateral development banks and financial institutions.
CIL has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the renowned Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea of Utrecht University (NILOS) effective from 1 April 2011.
CIL together with the Korean Society of International Law (KSIL) and the Society of International Law Singapore (SILS) organised a joint international conference on the topic of “Regional Cooperation: Looking Back and Moving Forward”.
CIL and the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) jointly organised a 1 ½ day Workshop on the Protection of Submarine Cables on 14-15 April 2011. The Workshop began on the last day of the ICPC Annual Plenary Meeting in Singapore from 12-14 April 2011.
CIL is pleased to have 3 new members to join the CIL Team in March 2011. In addition, CIL welcomes 2 visiting researchers.
CIL and the British Institute of International and Comparative Law signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on 21 March 2011 with a view to developing collaboration on a variety of public international law subjects of mutual interest to both organisations.
This inaugural publication of the Centre for International Law (CIL) offers a broad overview of public international law issues that confronted Singapore in its formative years. It gives the general reader a sense of the importance of international law to the life of a small state like Singapore. The volume is dedicated to Mr S Tiwari, a senior adviser to CIL, who passed away on 26 July 2010.
A/P Michael Ewing-Chow, Head of CIL’s Trade/Investment Law and Policy and A/P Dora Neo, CIL Associate, were invited by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to participate as experts at the WTO Advanced Regional Workshop on the GATS from 8-10 February 2011 in Singapore.
CIL is proud to have become a participating institution of the United Nations Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe Fellowship on the Law of the Sea. A Memorandum of Arrangement to the effect was signed in January 2011 by CIL’s Director Prof Robert Beckman and Mr. Serguei Tarassenko, Director of the United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (UNDOALOS).
CIL organized a Workshop on International Maritimes Crimes: Legal Issues and Prospects for Co-operation in ASEAN on 17-18 January in Singapore. The Workshop brought together international experts on the law of sea and transnational crimes, government officials from the 10 ASEAN countries and academics from around the world.
The ASEAN Economic Community Law and Policy course was launched on January 11th 2011 in the Faculty of Law, NUS. This is the first course in the world on ASEAN EC Law and it seeks to address the increasing integration and legalization efforts of ASEAN after the ASEAN Charter was ratified in 2008.
Mr Peter Ho, the former Head of the Singapore Civil Service and the former Permanent Secretary of the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs, spoke on the importance of international law for Singapore's foreign policy on 14 January 2011.
Click here for more information.
Click here for more information.
On 13 December 2010, Assoc Prof Michael Ewing-Chow, Head, CIL Trade/Investment Law and Policy, advised the members of the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR) on the legal implications and policy options for the food security agreement and its consistency with their existing trade obligations.
On 18 November 2010, Prof Alan Tan, head of CIL’s Air Law and Policy Programme, was invited by the Indonesian Directorate-General for Civil Aviation (DGCA) to address the Indonesian aviation community on an ASEAN Open Skies Policy.
Ms Tara Davenport, a research associate at CIL, has received a monetary prize of £1000 for a paper she submitted on submarine cables and international law. Tara’s paper, entitled "Submarine Cables: Problems in Law and Practice", was unanimously selected by the judges for first place.
CIL has been organising a groundbreaking South China Sea (SCS) Seminar Series. CIL’s SCS Seminar Series provides a select audience of researchers, policymakers and students the various Claimant States’ and Indonesia’s perspectives on the South China Sea territorial claims.
On 11 November 2010, CIL was honoured to welcome Dr Francis Deng, United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, as CIL’s third speaker in its Distinguished Speaker Series.
Click here for more information.
Click here for more information.
CIL organised the inaugural event of its 'ASEAN Charter Series' on 16 August 2010. The Regional Workshop on "Implementing Legal Personality and Privileges & Immunities" was opened by Prof Tommy Koh.
Click here for more information.
CIL was host to the International Law Panel of the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) 2010 on 23 August 2010.
Click here for more information.
Click here for more information.
CIL is proud to announce that Ms Sari Aziz, a Research Associate at CIL, will be taking up the post of Associate Legal Officer at the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in The Hague.
Click here for more information.
Pursuant to a memorandum of understanding between the Rhodes Academy and CIL, CIL sponsored two students to attend the Rhodes Academy this year, Dr Nguyen Thi Lan Anh, Vice Dean of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and Tara Davenport, Research Associate at CIL. CIL Director, Associate Professor Robert Beckman, also taught three classes on maritime security, the Straits of Malacca and submarine cables.
CIL Director Prof Robert Beckman conducted an “Introduction to International Law” course for the MFA Diplomatic Academy on 24-25 June 2010. Participants included policy and legal officers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Trade & Industry, Ministry of Defense...
CIL is sad to announce the passing of Mr S. Tiwari, a senior advisor to the Centre. Our deepest sympathies and condolences are with Mr. Tiwari’s family.
CIL participated in the Asian Society of International Law and Indonesian Society of International Law (ISIL) Conference, “International Law as a Political Instrument?” in Jakarta on 10 June 2010.
Click here for more information.
Click here for more information.
Click here for more information.
CIL co-organised the prestigious International Conference on Air Transport, Air Law and Regulation conference with McGill University’s Institute of Air & Space Law (IASL) and the Singapore Aviation Academy (SAA) from 24 to 26 May 2010.
Click here for more information.
Click here for more information.
Click here for more information.
The Protocol to the ASEAN Charter on Dispute Settlement Mechanisms (“Protocol”) was concluded by the Foreign Ministers of ASEAN in Ha Noi, Vietnam on 8 April, 2010. This is a significant step forward towards a rules based community.
CIL launched its Distinguished Speaker Series with Dr Patrick Low, Chief Economist of the World Trade Organization (WTO), as the Centre’s first CIL Distinguished Speaker.
Click here for more information.
Click here for more information.
CIL is pleased to report that its newly launched Documents Database has been incorporated into the NUS Libraries Electronic Databases and the ASEAN Law Association’s (ALA) list of Legal Resources in Singapore. We hope this will help to further promote the CIL Documents Database and make it more accessible to policy-makers, diplomats, international civil servants, …
Click here for more information.
Click here for more information.
CIL officially launched its Documents Database on 18 March 2010. The event was graced by His Excellency Mr Bagas Hapsoro, ASEAN’s Deputy Secretary-General, who specially made the journey from Jakarta to speak at the launch.
CIL has implemented a number of measures to help fight climate change and promote environmental sustainability.
On 11 January 2010, a CIL team led by Director Prof Robert Beckman made a day-trip to the ASEAN Secretariat (ASEC) in Jakarta to introduce the ASEAN component of the CIL Documents Database to key persons at ASEC and discuss possible collaboration between CIL and ASEC.
Click here for more information.
Click here for more information.