Researchers' Activities

Dr Tan Hsien-Li gave the opening lecture of the Conference on the Rule of Law: Issues and Perspectives organised by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Cambodia on 10 March 2022.

Research Associate Chan Sze-Wei judged the inaugural Malaysia Model ASEAN Meeting (MYMAM).

On Human Rights Day, Thursday 10 December 2020, Dr Tan Hsien-Li and Professor Alison Duxbury (University of Melbourne) discussed their co-authored book ‘Can ASEAN Take Human Rights Seriously’.

Dr Tan Hsien-Li spoke at the “Asian Legislative Experts Symposium (ALES) – Legislations on Infectious Diseases and cooperative measures of Asia countries in the post COVID-19 era”.

Co-Director (Teaching) ASEAN Law and Policy Dr Tan Hsien-Li, Research Associate Chan Sze-Wei and Research Assistant Yvette Foo attended the 35th ASEAN Roundtable ‘The COVID-19 Crisis: Impact on ASEAN and the Way Forward’, an online event organised by the Yusof-Ishak Institute for Southeast Asian Studies ASEAN Studies Centre. The programme included sessions on ASEAN’s management of the pandemic and health emergencies in general, and the economic and geopolitical impact on ASEAN.

Assistant Professor Tan Hsien-Li spoke at an international conference organised by Renmin University’s Human Rights Center on ‘Human Rights Protection under Law-based Pandemic Prevention and Control: The Role of Proportionality Principles’ on 20 June.

Assistant Professor Tan spoke on ‘From SARs to COVID-19: Reflections on ASEAN’s Collective Response to Public Health Crises’. Given that proportionality is a firm legal principle that has substantively different meanings in public law and public international law, and that the COVID-19 pandemic is still propelling different facets of governance, political, public health and legal strategies of containment, she discussed whether proportionality was a good tool with which to examine the ongoing phenomenon. Apart from the fact that proportionality has been rejected as a tool of judicial reasoning by some jurisdictions, socio-cultural contexts on law, politics and governance also differ widely on how proportionality might (or might not) be used.

Assistant Professor Tan Hsien-Li represented the CIL at the webinar—‘The Importance of Regional (Legal) Cooperation during Time of Pandemic Covid-19’—organised by the Faculty of Law, Universitas Indonesia on 11 June. She spoke on ‘ASEAN Cooperation in COVID-19’, shedding light on the quick collective regional action that complemented the ongoing national efforts. The long-term support by ASEAN dialogue partners, particularly China, Korea, Japan, the United States and Canada, in regional emergency relief and public health programmes have helped ASEAN react faster to the pandemic. She concluded by outlining ASEAN members’ longer-term plans of building more robust public health programmes, a regional fund and stockpiles, and strategies on economic recovery.

Research Fellow Arron N Honniball gave a presentation on the progress of and challenges to ASEAN’s regional cooperation in maritime safety and security at the Third ASEAN-India Workshop on Blue Economy, held in Bangkok on 12 September 2019. In his presentation, Dr Honniball focussed on the jurisdictional rights and responsibilities of states concerning maritime safety and security as well as the opportunities and necessity of deeper cooperation to help maintain the blue economy.

CIL researchers participated in the Asian Society of International Law conference in Manila on 21–23 August 2019.

At the Junior Scholars’ Conference, Dita Liliansa presented on ‘Protection of Sea Turtles in the Seas of Southeast Asia: An ASEAN Way?’, offering an ongoing investigation on the relationship between ASEAN law, policy and guidelines, and the development of international instruments in the context of the protection of sea turtles in Southeast Asia. Dr Arron Honniball presented on ‘The Role of Nationality Jurisdiction in Combating IUU Fishing: Recent Developments for the Asian Region’, addressing the evolution of the state of nationality in international fisheries law.

The panel on ASEAN Integration and International Law was filled by the CIL’s ASEAN team and chaired by Professor Damian Chalmers, Co-Director (Research) of CIL’s ASEAN Law and Policy Programme. The panellists presented the papers below.

• Dr Melissa Loja: ‘Regionalisation of Venture Capital Investments and the Compatibility of Regulatory Regimes in Southeast Asia: A Case Study of Fintech regulations in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines’
• Dr Heejin Kim: ‘The Laws and Politics of Data localization in Southeast Asia—Competing Regulatory Goals and Diverging Legal Development
• Loo Jing Xi Gloria: ‘Institutional Design and Models of Asian Capitalism’
• Dr Marija Jovanovic: ‘Trade-Labour Linkage: ‘From Social Clause Deniers to Trump as the Champion of Labour Rights in Free Trade Agreements and Back’

In addition, Professor Antony Anghie, Head of CIL’s Teaching and Researching International Law in Asia, convened a popular workshop on teaching and researching in international law. He also spoke on a book panel by the Oxford University Press and a forum on ‘Junior Scholars’ Guide to the Nuts and Bolts of How to Make It Past Rejection Slips’.

Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons was invited as a speaker and moderator to the ASEAN Regional Forum Workshop: Implementing UNCLOS and Other International Instruments to Address Emerging Maritime Issues. The workshop included three main themes: traditional security; issues relating to the sustainable management of natural living resources and conservation of the marine environment; and climate change impacts.

Ms Youna Lyons was a moderator on the second theme and presented on the third theme on the topic of international and regional legal and institutional framework applicable to environmental threats in the Asia Pacific, including from climate change and greenhouse gas emissions from shipping. She distinguished legal instruments and regulations applicable to mitigation of greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere and in the ocean from those applicable to adaptation from climate change. She also argued that climate change affects all maritime activities. Finally, the presentation of the regional bodies that form the regional institutional framework highlighted the number of bodies concerned with climate change impact and the need for robust cooperation to ensure adequate mitigation and adaptation. The presentation is available here.