Researchers' Activities

She presented her draft article about informal lawmaking in ASEAN. Professor Natalie Klein from UNSW served as a commentator for her article.

The event focused on the theme “Threats from the Global Commons.” She shared her forthcoming article about “Threats to Commercial Shipping During International Armed Conflicts.”

This workshop invited contributors to the APEC OFWG White Paper on Microplastics in Coastal Aquaculture Systems: Development of Regulatory Frameworks, Practices and Mitigation Efforts in APEC Economies to further discuss a mitigation/prevention plan for microplastics in the coastal aquaculture input chain in APEC economies.

Dr. Nilufer Oral was a member of the panellists at the informal plenary meeting.

She also presented in a panel on “SMART Cables” at Submarine Networks 2023, a conference that brings together the telecommunications industry in Singapore, on 28 September 2023.

She presented on “Southeast Asian Approaches to the Protection of Submarine Cables: Problems and Prospects for Cooperation.”

On October 26, 2023, Dita led a session on “Interception,” covering maritime zones, jurisdiction at sea, and grounds for interception under international law. The following day, October 27, 2023, Dita covered “Search and Rescue (SAR) at Sea” module, focusing on the international legal framework and the three phases of emergency set out in the SAR Convention. On both days, Dita also facilitated simulation exercises involving scenarios of smuggling of migrants by sea.

For the full conference programme, click here. To view Prof Beckman’s PowerPoint slides, click here.

Investigative reports have exposed the tragic working conditions experienced by some fishers in Southeast Asia. These fishers often find themselves labouring nearly around the clock with minimal access to essential provisions like food, water, and medical care. The situation is exacerbated by instances where those in need of medical assistance are abandoned at sea. To make matters worse, fishers are susceptible to various forms of abuse, including physical and sexual, inflicted by the vessel’s master or fellow crew members. The inability to leave the vessel compounds the abuses endured by these individuals, particularly considering the prolonged durations fishing vessels spend at sea.

His presentation was on “The Impact of the 2023 High Seas Treaty on Commercial Shipping”. For the abstract of this presentation and his PowerPoint slides, click here.

Prof Beckman delivered the keynote speech in Session 1, which was entitled “South China Sea: International Law Perspectives”.

Dr. Davenport gave a lecture on “Deep seabed mining and submarine cables.” More information on this initiative is available here: https://www.isa.org.jm/deep-dive/

Her presentation is available here.

The theme of the conference was ‘Future of Environmental Law in ASEAN and Beyond.’ On August 17^th, 2023, Dita presented on the topic of ‘Ocean Equity.’

On 9 August 2022, Dita delivered two presentations, covering the status of maritime boundaries in Southeast Asia, the ongoing requests for advisory opinions on sea level rise, and UNCLOS dispute settlement mechanisms in the Southeast Asian context.

TRILA Team co-organised the Junior Scholar Workshop at the University of Indonesia, Faculty of Law.

Dr. Davenport presented on “UNCLOS, IMO and Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships,” in Plenary Session 3 on Maritime Autonomous Surface Vessels.

The theme of this year’s MILOPS was ‘Cooperating to Defend the Rules-Based International Order in the Indo-Pacific.’

The conference, hosted by the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network (APLN) and Verification Research, Training, and Information Centre (VERTIC), focused on managing and mitigating incidents and escalation in the Asia-Pacific region.

Dita Liliansa delivered a presentation titled ‘Regional Cooperation on Fishing Vessel Safety in Southeast Asia” at the 2023 International Marine Economy and Maritime Services Forum in Ningbo, China (17-19 July 2023).

The 26^th Rhodes Academy was attended by 48 students from 29 countries from all regions of the world, including participants from four countries in Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Singapore. CIL sponsored the participation of Taufik Rachmat Nugraha of Indonesia, who is currently an ASEAN Visiting Fellow at CIL.

The only Singaporean participant at the 26^th Academy, Amanda Chong from the Attorney-General’s Chambers, who did Singapore proud by receiving an award for being the top student in the written examination. The top student in the oral examination was Ms. Aliki Gkana from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece.

28 June 2023: CIL Director Dr Nilüfer Oral was Invited by Durham University to Speak at the IPDM Annual Conference on “Maritime Security in a Changing World”.

This workshop, whose participants were mostly natural scientists, focused on four current issues and specific case studies on (1) marine plastics, (2) blue carbon, (3) shared fish stocks and fisheries refugia, and (4) marine protected areas, area-based management tools and endangered species. Each session had two specialised trainers: a scientist and a lawyer.

The Keynote focused on the Law-Science to policy interface to protect coral reef systems and emphasised the respective role of science and law to inform policy-making by governments and the importance of underused provisions of international law to protect the marine environment including coral reef systems and associated species. The presentation slides can be viewed here.

The lecture focused on the development of Seabed Mining under the Law of the Sea Convention 1982 Part XI ‘The Area’ and what ‘Space Mining’ can do based on The Area development to ensure the safety and security aspects of future space mining.