Abstract:

Since the time of Hugo Grotius, freedom of the seas was conceptualised based on freedom of navigation. Freedom of navigation was instrumental to the expansion of trade, the control of strategic goods, and the colonial expansion of States. Today, the same reasons underpin freedom of navigation, as included in Article 87 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Yet, as in the past, freedom of navigation does not go unchallenged today. The presentation will discuss the extent to which freedom of the seas is today challenged from both within the system of the law of the sea, as well as from outside. It will advance some considerations on the issues that freedom of the sea faces today and will conclude with some proposal for strengthening freedom of navigation, while safeguarding the other main interests of the international community. 

About the Speaker:

Prof. Irini Papanicolopulu is British Academy Global Professor of International Law at SOAS University of London, where she conducts research and teaches in international law and the law of the sea. She holds a PhD in international law from the University of Milano, and has previously worked at the University of Oxford, the University of Glasgow, and the University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy). Irini is a Visiting Professor at Catòlica University (Lisbon, Portugal) and St. Gallen University (Switzerland). She is the author of two monographs, including International Law and the Protection of People at Sea (OUP 2018), has authored numerous articles and book chapters and has edited several collective volumes, including the award-winning Gender and the Law of the Sea (Brill 2019). She is the Chair of the ILA Committee on Protection of People at Sea, Vice-Chair of COST Action Blue Rights and a member of the Coordinating Committee of the Interest Group on the Law of the Sea of the European Society of International Law. She has advised states, international organisations, civil society organisations and business actors on issues of international law, the law of the sea, human rights law and environmental law.

SILE ACCREDITED CPD ACTIVITY

1.0 Public CPD Point (To be Confirmed)
Practice Area: International Law
Training Category: General

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