Researchers' Activities

CIL Director Robert Beckman made a presentation on 30 April 2014 in a panel on Aerial Defence Identification Zones (ADIZs) at the 27th Annual International Military Law and Operations (MILOPS) Engagement organized by the US Pacific Command, which was held from 27 April – 2 May 2014 at the Diamond Hotel, Manila, Philippines. To view the slides from his presentation, click here.

CIL Director Robert Beckman and CIL Research Associate Monique Page were invited to attend the annual meeting of the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Prof Beckman made a presentation on ‘UNCLOS and the 2012 OSPAR Guidelines on BEP in Cable Laying and Operation’.

CIL Director Robert Beckman participated in the Norway-Singapore Arctic Symposium at the Riverview Hotel on 14 March 2014. The symposium was organised by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), the Norwegian Embassy and the Singapore Maritime Institute (SMI). The keynote speaker was Else Berit Eikeland, Norway’s senior Arctic official in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Prof Beckman made a presentation on “UNCLOS and Prevention of Pollution in the Arctic”. For a copy of his presentation, click here.

CIL staff organised and participated in the ‘International Conference on Transboundary Pollution: Evolving Issues of International Law and Policy’. The conference was held at the Orchard Hotel, Singapore. Prof Tommy Koh and Prof S Jayakumar served as co-chairs of the conference. CIL Director Robert Beckman presented a paper on ‘State Responsibility for Transboundary Marine Pollution’, CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons presented a paper on ‘Transboundary Pollution from Offshore Activities: A Study of the Montara Offshore Oil Spill’, and Prof Alan Tan presented a paper on ‘Co-operative and Unilateral Mechanisms to Combat Forest Fires and Transboundary Haze’ in Southeast Asia. CIL Senior Research Fellow Hao Duy Phan played a major role in organising the Conference. CIL Research Staff Members Hao Duy Phan, Monique Page, Leonardo Bernard, Ranyta Yusran and Zhen Sun served as rapporteurs of the Conference, while Yvette Anthony served as Master of Ceremony. For more information on the Conference, please click here.

CIL Director Robert Beckman and CIL Research Associate Monique Page attended a CSCAP Experts Group Meeting on Security of Vital Undersea Communications Infrastructure on Monday 17 February in Jakarta. On Tuesday 18 February they will be attending a meeting of the CSCAP Study Group on Maritime Security. CSCAP is Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP). The Study Group is co-chaired by CSCAP Singapore, CSCAP Indonesia and CSCAP New Zealand. Prof Beckman will be making presentations at both of the meetings. For a copy of his presentation at the CSCAP Experts Group Meeting, click here.

CIL Director Robert Beckman visited the International Boundaries Research Unit (IBRU) of Durham University in order to discuss continued links between IBRU and CIL. While at the University, Prof Beckman also met with members of the Faculty of Law.

On 5 April 2013 CIL research staff had a roundtable discussion on the South China Sea Disputes with research staff of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) at their offices in Washington. The CIL delegation included CIL Director Robert Beckman, CIL researchers Tara Davenport and Leo Bernard, and Ambassador Arif Havas Oegroseno of Indonesia, a member of CIL International Advisory Panel. Prof Beckman began the discussion with a brief presentation, and it was followed by a general discussion. The CIL researchers were in Washington DC to attend the Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law. The roundtable discussion was arranged by Murray Hiebert, Deputy Director and Senior Fellow in the Southeast Asia Program at CSIS.

CIL Director Robert Beckman made a presentation titled “Role of ASEAN and the Philippines v China Case” on 4 April 2013 at the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law in Washington DC. Prof Beckman served on a Panel on Legal Solutions to Maritime Disputes in Asia, and he spoke about the South China Sea Disputes. The other members of the panel were Rosalyn Higgins, past President of the International Court of Justice; Loretta Malintoppi, Eversheds LLP Paris; and Galo Carrera Hurtado, Member of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. The Panel was chaired by Prof Nilufer Oral of the Faculty of Law of Istanbul Bilgi University. For a copy of Prof Beckman’s PowerPoint slides in PDF format, click here.

CIL Director Robert Beckman participated in the Five Universities Conference 2013 organised by the LKY School of Public Policy. He made a presentation on ‘Dispute Settlement Mechanisms and the South China Sea Disputes’.

CIL Director Robert Beckman participated in a Roundtable on Maritime Security in East Asia.The Roundtable was organised by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) and the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) and held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Singapore. Prof Beckman made a presentation on ‘International Law & Maritime Security in East Asia’.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons played a key role as CIL’s point person in organising a marine science, engineering, law and policy workshop entitled ‘Rigs-to-Reefs Prospects for Large Scale Artificial Reefs in Tropical Southeast Asian Seas’. The Workshop was organised jointly by CIL, the NUS Tropical Marine Science Institute (TMSI) and the NUS Centre for Offshore Engineering (CORE). CIL Director Robert Beckman made a presentation on ‘The International Legal Regime Governing the Disposal and Re-Use of Offshore Platforms’. Youna Lyons made a presentation on ‘Rigs-to-Reef in Southeast Asia: Legal and Policy Issues’. For more information and their presentations, click here.

CIL Director Robert Beckman participated in the 5th International Workshop on the South China Sea in Hanoi, Vietnam. The Workshop was organised by the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and its title was ‘The South China Sea: Cooperation for Regional Security and Development’. Prof Beckman presented a paper entitled ‘Disputed Areas in the South China Sea’. For a copy of his presentation, click here. For a copy of his draft paper, click here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons was invited as a speaker to the 2013 APAC Offshore Decommissioning Training Workshop organized by DecomWorld. She was a member of the regulatory panel and made a presentation on the international legal framework for rigs-to-reefs (download in PDF format) and on International law on offshore decommissioning in Southeast Asia (download in PDF format).

CIL Director Robert Beckman participated in a conference organised by the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, Haikou, Hainan, China. The title of the conference was ‘The South China Sea: UNCLOS and State Practice’. Prof Beckman presented a paper entitled ‘The UNCLOS Dispute Settlement System’. For a copy of his presentation, click here. For a copy of his draft paper, click here.

CIL Director Robert Beckman participated in the APEC Workshop on ‘Enhancing Supply Chain Connectivity: Submarine Telecommunications Cable Resilience in the Asia-Pacific Region’. The Workshop was organised by Australia and held at the Pullman Bali Legian Nirwanna, Bali Indonesia. Prof Beckman made a presentation on the international obligations of governments to protect submarine telecommunications cables. For a copy of his presentation, click here. CIL Research Associate Monique Page also participated in the Workshop.

On 19 September 2013, CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons took part as speaker and facilitator to the Rigs-to-Reef workshop organized by Universiti Technologi Petronas (UTP) Offshore Engineering Centre (OECE) at Impiana KLCC, Kuala Lumpur. She made a presentation on the international legal issues surrounding rigs-to-reefs in Southeast Asia. This presentation which focused on the development of Rigs-to-Reef in Malaysia is a prelude to the regional level workshop on the Prospects for Rigs-to-Reefs in Southeast Asia co-organized by CIL on 12-13 November 2013. To download Youna’s presentation in PDF format, click here.

CIL Research Fellow Leonardo Bernard participated at the Conference on Global Ocean Issues and Challenges on 9 September 2013 in Dankook University, Korea. The Conference was organized by the Wooseok Institute of Korean Territory Studies, Dankook University in cooperation with the Korea Institute of Maritime Strategy and SLOC Study Group-Korea. Leo spoke on Cooperative Mechanism in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, which addressed issues associated with current state of maritime cooperation under Article 43 of UNCLOS. Leo was also invited to attend the Conference celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Korea Coast Guard on 11 September 2013 at Incheon, Korea.

CIL Director Robert Beckman and CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons took part at Pacem in Maribus XXXIV in Bangkok, on 5-8 September 2013. Professor Beckman co-chaired the theme 2 of the conference on the implementation of UNCLOS in Southeast Asia and Youna Lyons was co-rapporteur for this theme.

CIL Research Fellow Leonardo Bernard participated at the Conference on Maritime Confidence Building Measure in the South China Sea on 11-13 August 2013 in Sydney, Australia. The Conference was organized by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Leo joined the second panel on Maritime cooperation in the South China Sea, which addressed issues associated with current state of maritime cooperation and prospective areas for cooperation. His presentation was “Joint Development of Oil and Gas Resources in the South China Sea”. To download the draft conference paper, click here.

CIL participated in the 18th session of the Rhodes Academy of Oceans Law and Policy in Rhodes, Greece as a full sponsor, together with the Center for Oceans Law and Policy, University of Virginia School of Law (Charlottesville, USA); the Aegean Institute of the Law of the Sea and Maritime Law (Rhodes, Greece); the Law of the Sea Institute of Iceland (Reykjavik, Iceland); the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (Heidelberg, Germany); and The Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea, Utrecht University (Utrecht, The Netherlands). CIL Director Robert Beckman lectured at the Academy, where he delivered three seminars on ship-source pollution, non ship-source pollution and the South China Sea disputes and co-supervised a workshop on the international regulation of shipping. He also served as one of the four examiners for the oral examination at the end of the course, together with Judges Wolfrum, Cot and Golitsyn from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. CIL Research Fellow Dr Hao Duy Phan won the Best Oralist Award at the Academy. Dr Hao Duy Phan, CIL Research Associate Monique Page and Cambodian official, Mr. Sok Khavan, participated in the Academy under the sponsorship of CIL.

CIL Director Robert Beckman participated in the ‘CIL Roundtable on the South China Sea Disputes’. The Roundtable was held at the Orchard Hotel, Singapore. Prof Beckman presented a paper on ‘The UNCLOS Dispute Settlement Regime’. CIL Research Fellows Tara Davenport and Leonardo Bernard played a major role in organising the Roundtable, while CIL Research Fellow Hao Duy Phan and CIL Research Associate Monique Page served as rapporteurs. For more information on the Roundtable, please click here.

CIL Director Robert Beckman and CIL Research Fellow Leonardo Bernard participated at the International Symposium on Peaceful Use of the Sea and Maritime on 22-23 June 2013 in Hangzhou, China. The Conference was organized by Centre for Ocean Law and Governance at Guanghua Law School, Zhengjian University. Prof Beckman and Leo joined the third panel on peaceful means for maritime dispute settlement together with Dustin Kuan-Hsiung Wang from national Taiwan Normal University and Anne Hsiu-An Hsiao from National Chengchi University, Taiwan. Prof Beckman presented a paper on “Framework and Issues for Joint Development of Hydrocarbon Resources”. To download the draft conference paper, click here; and to download the PowerPoint slides, click here.

CIL Director Robert Beckman presented a lunchtime talk on the South China Sea Disputes for members of the Europe-ASEAN Business Alliance (EABA).

CIL Director Robert Beckman made a presentation on Maritime Security and Submarine Cables on 8 June 2013 at a Meeting of the CSCAP Study Group on Maritime Security at the Trader’s Hotel in Singapore. For his presentation, click here.

CIL Director Robert Beckman chaired a panel on Boundary Disputes Involving Oil & Gas Fields at the Oil & Gas Asia Dispute Resolution Conference at the Shangri-la Hotel in Jakarta on 5 June 2013. The conference was organized by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC). The other members of the panel were Will Thomas of the Paris Office of Eversheds, Dominic Roughton of the Tokyo office of Herbert Smith Freehills, and Wesley Harris of the Malaysian office of Royal Dutch Shell.