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Profile
Dr Hao Duy Phan is a Legal Officer at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). He previously served as a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore, and as a Legal Officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam. He has authored and co-authored numerous books and scholarly articles, with his work appearing in leading journals such as the International Journal of Constitutional Law, Ocean Development & International Law, International Organizations Law Review, Asian Journal of International Law, Asia-Pacific Journal of Ocean Law and Policy, and Contemporary Southeast Asia, among others. Dr Phan has also taught at various universities and held visiting fellowships at several academic institutions. He holds a BA in International Law from the Institute for International Relations in Vietnam, an LLM (summa cum laude) from the University of Notre Dame Law School, and an SJD from the American University Washington College of Law.
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Research Interests
- Public International Law
- Law of the Sea; International Dispute Settlement
- ASEAN Law & Policy
- Law of Treaty
- International Human Rights Law
- International Organizations
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Selected Publications
Books
- The Timor-Leste/Australia Conciliation: A Victory for UNCLOS and Peaceful Settlement of Disputes, co-editor with Tara Davenport and Robert Beckman (World Scientific, Singapore, 2019).
- The South China Sea Arbitration: The Legal Dimension, co-editor with S. Jayakumar, Tommy Koh, Robert Beckman, and Tara Davenport (Edward Elgar, Cheltenham-Northampton, 2018).
- Promoting Compliance: The Role of Dispute Settlement and Monitoring Mechanisms in ASEAN Instruments, co-author with Robert Beckman, Leonardo Bernard, Tan Hsien-Li, and Ranyta Yusran (Cambridge University Press, 2016).
- Transboundary Pollution: Evolving Issues of International Law and Policy, co-editor with S. Jayakumar, Tommy Koh, and Robert Beckman (Edward Elgar, Cheltenham-Northampton, 2015).
- A Selective Approach to Establishing a Human Rights Mechanism in Southeast Asia: The Case for a Southeast Asian Court of Human Rights (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden-Boston, 2012).
Journal Articles
- Limitations and exceptions to UNCLOS compulsory dispute settlement regime: Implications for maritime disputes and the South China Sea, 10 Asia-Pacific Journal of Ocean Law and Policy 74 (2025) (with Hoang Yen Tran).
- Upholding the rule of law at the United Nations: International law boundaries to decisions of the Security Council, 48–49 International Studies 249 (2023).
- The effects of ASEAN treaties in domestic legal orders: Evidence from Vietnam, 17 International Journal of Constitutional Law 205 (2019).
- International courts and state compliance: An investigation of the law of the sea cases, 50 Ocean Development & International Law 70 (2019).
- Promotional versus protective design: The case of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, 23 International Journal of Human Rights 915 (2019).
- Southeast Asian Court of Human Rights, Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law (2019).
- Interstate compulsory conciliation procedures and the maritime boundary dispute between Timor-Leste and Australia, 10 Journal of International Dispute Resolution 126 (2018) (with Anais Kedgley Laidlaw).
- The South China Sea arbitration: Bindingness, finality, and compliance with UNCLOS dispute settlement decisions, 8 Asian Journal of International Law 36 (2018) (with Lan Ngoc Nguyen).
- The Association of Southeast Asian Nations: International legal personality and its treaty-making power, 13 International Organization Law Review 273 (2016).
- The Asian way to settle disputes, 1 Asia-Pacific Journal on Ocean Law and Policy 5 (2016) (with Tommy Koh).
- Institutional design and its constraints: Explaining ASEAN’s role in the Temple of Preah Vihear dispute, 5 Asian Journal of International Law 7 (2015).
- State conduct in disputed maritime areas: The Guyana v. Suriname case, 54 Indian Journal of International Law 487 (2014).
- Promoting compliance: An assessment of ASEAN instruments since the ASEAN Charter, 41 Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce 379 (2014).
- Resolving the dispute over Pedra Branca: Lessons learned for Viet Nam in the South China disputes, 98 DAV International Studies Journal 65 (2014).
- Procedures for peace: Building mechanisms for dispute settlement and conflict management within ASEAN, 20 UC Davis Journal of International Law and Policy 47 (2013).
- Towards a rules-based ASEAN: The Protocol to the ASEAN Charter on dispute settlement mechanisms, 5 Yearbook on Arbitration and Mediation 254 (2013).
- Institutions for the protection of human rights in Southeast Asia: A survey report, 31 Contemporary Southeast Asia 468 (2009).
- Reparations to victims of gross violation of human rights: The case of Cambodia, 4 East Asia Law Review 277 (2009).
- A blueprint for a Southeast Asian Court of Human Rights, 10 Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal 385 (2009).
- The evolution towards an ASEAN human rights body, 9 Asia-Pacific Journal of Human Rights and the Law 1 (2008).
- A review of the legal framework for human rights protection in Viet Nam, 8 Asia-Pacific Journal of Human Rights and the Law 20 (2007).
- International law against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, 12 DAV International Studies Journal (2005).
Book Chapters
- Balancing the rights of coastal states and user states in the post-UNCLOS age: Vietnam and navigational rights, in Gordon Houlden and Nong Hong (eds.), Maritime Order and the Law in East Asia (Routledge, 2018).
- Air defence identification zones: Implications for freedom of overflight and maritime disputes, in Truong T. Tran, John B. Welfield, and Thuy T. Le (eds.), Building a Normative Order in the South China Sea (2019) (with Robert Beckman).
- Institutional building for maritime security in Southeast Asia: The role of ASEAN, in Myron Nordquist, John Norton Moore, Robert C. Beckman, and Ronan Long (eds.), Freedom of Navigation and Globalization (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden-Boston, 2014).
- Vietnam, in Business and Human Rights in ASEAN: A Baseline Study (Human Rights Resource Centre for ASEAN, Jakarta, 2013).
Other Publications
- 30 years of UNCLOS in effect: The role of ITLOS in the legal order for the seas and oceans, The World and Vietnam Report (2024).
- Australia and Timor-Leste’s landmark maritime boundary conciliation process, The Diplomat (2018).
- Book review: Politics and constitutions in Southeast Asia, 39 Contemporary Southeast Asia 210 (2017).
- The precedent-setting Timor-Leste v. Australia case, The Diplomat (2016).
- Why a ruling that cannot be enforced still matters, The Straits Times (2016).
- South China Sea ruling on dispute is no cause for gloom, The Straits Times (2016).
- Book review: ASEAN’s external agreements: Law, practice and the quest for collective action, 41 Commonwealth Law Bulletin 651 (2015).
- The ASEAN Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights and beyond, 40 Asia-Pacific Bulletin (2009).
- Non-traditional security issues and international law, Diplomatic Research Fellows Program Series, University of Hong Kong (2006).
