About the Seminar (An In-Person Event)

There is growing momentum for a request for an Advisory Opinion by an international court or tribunal on international legal issues associated with islands. While the precise scope of an Advisory Opinion request remains under deliberation, there are a number of clear international legal issues that would benefit from clarification. These extend from the matters associated with statehood and territoriality, the law of the sea, international climate law, and state responsibility. These issues will be considered alongside an analysis of the possible implications of an Advisory Opinion for contentious island issues in Southeast Asia.

About the Speaker

Donald R Rothwell is Professor of International Law at the ANU College of Law, Australian National University where he has taught since July 2006, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law since 2015. His research has a specific focus on law of the sea, polar law, and implementation of international law within Australia as reflected in 27 authored, co-authored and edited books, and over 200 articles, book chapters and notes in international and Australian publications. Rothwell’s recent books include Islands and International Law (Hart, 2022), Rothwell and Letts (eds), The Law of the Sea in South East Asia: Environmental, Navigational and Security Challenges (2020); and The International Law of the Sea 2nd (Bloomsbury, 2016) with Stephens. Major career works include The Polar Regions and the Development of International Law (CUP, 1996), and Rothwell, Oude Elferink, Scott and Stephens (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the Law of the Sea (OUP, 2015). From 2012-2018 he was Rapporteur of the International Law Association (ILA) Committee on ‘Baselines under the International Law of the Sea’. Rothwell was previously Challis Professor of International Law and Director of the Sydney Centre for International and Global Law, University of Sydney (2004-2006), where he had taught since 1988.