Researchers' Activities

Associate Professor Robert Beckman and Visiting Senior Principal Research Fellow Captain Ashley Roach participated in the 42nd Annual Conference of the Center for Oceans Law and Policy of the University of Virginia, which was held in Beijing on 24–25 May 2018. The title of the conference was ‘Cooperation and Engagement in the Asia Pacific Region’. Captain Roach gave a presentation on the BBNJ Discussions, and Assoc Prof Beckman gave a presentation on ‘The Legal Regime Governing Passage on Routes Used for International Navigation through Indonesian Waters’. To see Assoc Prof Beckman’s PowerPoint presentation, click here.

Associate Professor Robert Beckman participated in 2018 Global Ocean Regime Conference organised by the Korea Maritime Institute at the Hyatt Regency, Jeju Island, Korea, from 16 to 18 May 2018. The title of the conference was ‘Promoting Cooperation in Overlapping Maritime Areas’. Assoc Prof Beckman gave a presentation on ‘Joint Arrangements in the South China Sea: Problems and Prospects’. To see his presentation, click here.

CIL Director Professor Lucy Reed spoke at the international conference on ‘The Rise of International Commercial Courts’ at Qatar University on 13 May 2018. Professor Reed spoke about the Singapore International Commercial Court on a panel discussing comparative features of international commercial courts, including the Qatar International Court and Dispute Resolution Centre. The keynote speaker for the conference was Justice Ramesh Kannan of the Singapore High Court.

Dr Ayelet Berman chaired a panel on “Investment Treaties and National Governance” at the 15th ASLI Conference 2018 in Seoul in May 2018. John Lumbantobing of the Faculty of Law, Universitas Katolik Parahyangan presented his paper “Very little spill: Internalization of investment treaties and their effects on domestic governance in Indonesia”. Younsik Kim of Sungshin University in Korea presented his paper on “Internationalisation of Investment Treaties in Korea”, and Sachinta Dias of Oxford University presented his paper on International Investment Agreements and Governance in Sri Lanka: An Analysis of Three Factual Scenarios”. This panel is part of an ongoing CIL research project on investment treaties and national governance. For more information about the project, please contact Dr Ayelet Berman.

At the 2nd Conference on Maritime Security and Coastal Surveillance Indonesia in Jakarta, Dr Zhen Sun spoke on ‘Fostering More Effective Non-Traditional Maritime Security Cooperation in Southeast Asia’ to an audience consisting of government officials, industry representatives, academics and members of other private sectors.

Dr Sun said that as non-traditional maritime security threats (eg, trafficking of drugs and humans, piracy and armed robbery against ships, etc) pose challenges to all Southeast Asian countries, coordinated efforts are required from various sectors on the national, regional and international levels. To use legal tools to address these threats, Southeast Asian countries will need to ratify and implement relevant international agreements. 

Click here to learn more about Dr Sun’s presentation.

Members of the CIL Ocean Law and Policy Programme participated in a workshop organised by INTERPOL on 17 April in Singapore entitled ‘Operation 30 Days at Sea: Asia Pacific Operational Planning Meeting’. The workshop was held as part of a year-long global project to enforce the international rules regulating marine pollution from ships. Associate Professor Beckman gave a presentation on ‘The Global Legal Regime Governing Ship-Source Pollution’. Research Fellow Dr Zhen Sun and Research Associate Ms Millicent McCreath also participated in the workshop, along with representatives from governments throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

CIL Director Professor Lucy Reed spoke on the opening plenary panel of the bi-annual Congress of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) in Sydney, Australia. The panel theme was ‘Law-Making in International Arbitration: What Legitimacy Challenges Lie Ahead?’, and Professor Reed spoke on arbitration tribunals as lawmakers. Professor Stephan Schill of the University of Amsterdam moderated the panel, and the other panellists were Singapore Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, ICC Court of Arbitration President Alexis Moure, and Professor Thomas Schultz of Kings College London. All the papers will be published in the official ICCA Congress Series (Wolters Kluwer).

Professor Reed also spoke at the follow-on AMINZ-ICCA International Arbitration Day in Queenstown, New Zealand, where the theme was ‘Making Arbitration Work in a Changing World: A Pacific View’. She was the commentator on Daniel Kaldermis’s keynote lecture entitled ‘International Arbitration in a Brave New World’.

Senior Research Fellow Ms Youna Lyons participated in the 72nd meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), at IMO London Headquarters. She was the head of delegation for the Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea (ACOPS).

Research Associate Ms Melissa Loja presented her research paper at the New Voices Panel at the 112th Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law in Washington DC. Ms Loja’s paper was about international agreements between non-state actors. Her paper discussed international agreements that national petroleum corporations such as Petronas, PetroVietnam, PetroleumBrunei and China National Offshore Oil Corporations enter into to manage disputes over petroleum resources that are shared by states across maritime zones and boundaries.

Professor Laurence Helfer, Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of International Law, remarked that her paper makes a concrete contribution to international law, because it presents primary data that have not been made known before, and it enables a granular examination of actual practices in international law.

Research Assistant Mr Robert Real participated in the Frankfurt Investment Law Workshop 2018 on International Investment Law and Constitutional Law. Held on 9 and 10 March 2018, the workshop was organised by the Goethe-University Merton Centre for European Integration and International Economic Order in Frankfurt, Germany. Participants in the workshop explored the different facets of the increasing interaction between international investment law and constitutional law and critically analysed the opportunities and challenges this interaction creates. The panel topics included the (domestic) constitutional law limits of international investment law, the European Union’s constitutional limits of international investment law, the role of constitutional law in investor-state dispute settlement, and international investment law as constitutional law.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Mr Anthony Wetherall participated in the seventh session of the International Nuclear Law Essentials (INLE) Course, which was organised by the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the Centre for International Law. The course was held for the first time outside of France, in Singapore, from 26 February to 2 March 2018.

On 28 February, Mr Wetherall delivered a presentation on nuclear security and also participated in a panel discussion on nuclear security and safeguards. Mr Wetherall’s presentation can be downloaded here, and a timeline on developments in international nuclear security can be downloaded here.

On 1 February 2018, CIL Director Professor Lucy Reed spoke at a programme at the Supreme Court entitled ‘The Singapore International Commercial Court’s potential to advance the rule of law’. The conference was sponsored by the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC), the Singapore International Law Association and Freshfields (Singapore). The speakers included two judges on the SICC, Justice Quentin Lowe and Sir Vivian Ramsey, as well as Mr Francis Xavier SC of Rajah & Tann, and Mr Nicholas Lingard and Mr Robert Kirkness of Freshfields. Professor Reed spoke on what characteristics make an international commercial court truly international.

CIL Director Professor Lucy Reed served as faculty at the 2017 Summer Institute of the ASEAN Human Rights Resource Centre (HRRC) held in Bali on 29–31 January 2018 (the volcano risk having postponed the original summer date). The chairman of the conference was HE Ambassador Ong Keng Yong, who is the chairman of HRRC and a member of the CIL Board of Directors. The theme of the conference was ‘Trade, Investment, and the Rule of Law in ASEAN’. Professor Reed spoke on ‘The Rule of Law and Dispute Resolution in ASEAN’ and moderated a panel on ‘Rights Dimensions in Trade and Investment in the ASEAN Community’.

The HRRC is a non-profit academic centre headquartered at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, in partnership with 11 other academic institutions in 7 out of 10 ASEAN member states. Its mission is to support a rights-based approach to ASEAN integration through research, training and education, and its core thematic areas are rule of law, business and human rights, and the rights of vulnerable populations. The Summer Institute is the HRRC’s signature annual event, organised in collaboration with the WSD Handa Center for Human Rights and International Justice at Stanford University and Udayana University.

CIL and the K.G. Jebsen Centre for the Law of the Sea (JCLOS), UiT The Arctic University of Norway held a side event at Arctic Frontiers 2018 in Tromsø, Norway on 24 January 2018 to launch the book entitled Governance of Arctic Shipping: Balancing Rights and Interests of Arctic States and User States. The book was a collaborative effort of CIL and JCLOS. The book sets out the legal framework that governs Arctic shipping, giving specific consideration to the roles of the International Maritime Organization and the Arctic Council, and compares the rights, interests, positions and practice of Arctic coastal states with those of user states, with particular emphasis on China, Japan and South Korea.

At the side event of Arctic Frontiers 2018, Associate Professor Robert C Beckman, CIL’s Head of Ocean Law Policy and Programme, presented a lecture on ‘The Cooperative Mechanism in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore: A Model for the Arctic?’.

This meeting was organised by the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP) together with the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies with the support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Topics covered included ways to strengthen nuclear governance in the Asia-Pacific, the future of nuclear power development in Asia with a focus on small modular reactors (SMR) and the networks that enable trade in nuclear technology, and radioactive materials in the Asia Pacific. Discussions also addressed what role academic research and international collaboration networks play in building nuclear-related tacit knowledge, and how a better understanding of the networks that undergird trade and knowledge transfer in nuclear-related industries and institutions might help to build commercial opportunities and a more effective culture of nuclear security in the Asia Pacific. The key findings of the discussions and the programme of the meeting can be found here.

Three members of the CIL Ocean Law and Policy team—Head of Programme Associate Professor Robert Beckman, Dr Zhen Sun and Ms Millicent McCreath—attended the 2018 Arctic Frontiers Conference in Tromso, Norway from 21 to 25 January 2018. The CIL team met with staff and students from the Jebsen Centre for Law of the Sea at the University of Tromso (UiT), and Assoc Prof Beckman gave a guest lecture at the UiT. The book Governance of Arctic Shipping was officially launched at a side event at the conference, and Assoc Prof Beckman, one of the book editors, spoke at the book launch. The book was edited by staff from UiT and CIL and was published by Brill. The CIL team also stopped in Oslo to visit the Scandinavian Institute for Maritime Law, where Assoc Prof Beckman gave a guest lecture to graduate students and faculty members at the University of Oslo law school.

Head of CIL Oceans Law and Policy Programme Associate Professor Robert Beckman participated in the 9th South China Sea Conference organised by the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam on 27–28 November 2017 in Ho Chi Minh City. The title of the conference was ‘Cooperation for Regional Security and Development’. Assoc Prof Beckman made a presentation to lead the panel discussion in the final session on the code of conduct for the South China Sea. He also chaired the session on Legal Dimensions in the South China Sea.

Head of CIL Oceans Law and Policy Programme Associate Professor Robert Beckman was invited to give a presentation during a plenary session of the ASEAN Conference on Reducing Marine Debris in ASEAN Region. The conference was held in Phuket, Thailand from 22 to 23 November 2017. Assoc Prof Beckman’s presentation was entitled ‘Legal Perspective: Transboundary Issues of Marine Debris’. CIL Research Associate Millicent McCreath also attended the conference and participated in the workshop on the second day on developing a project for the management of the plastic value chain to reduce plastic marine litter.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons participated in the KIOST/JVDI 2017 Regional Conference on the Ocean Policy for the East Asia and the Pacific Islands in Nadi-Fiji on 16–18 Nov 2017. The theme was ‘SDG 14 and Ocean Issues for the Pacific Islands and the East Asia’. She presented on the topic of ‘UNCLOS as the Cornerstone in the Implementation of SDG 14: A Central, Integrative and Framing Role’.

CIL’s Investment Law and Policy Programme team organised the workshop on ‘Investment Treaties and National Governance’ on 16–17 November 2017, in the Asian context. The workshop had a selective call for papers, and participating researchers (mostly from the Asia-Pacific region) presented case studies assessing the impact of investment treaties on national governance in India, Indonesia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

The workshop brought together researchers to discuss and unpack the following questions in the Asian context. What impact do investment treaties have on national governance? Although a considerate amount of research has examined the impact of investment treaties on FDI, very little is known about their effects on national governance. Are governments aware of their investment treaty obligations? Do they internalize their obligations, and if yes, how? Do investment treaties lead to improvements in the rule of law and good governance, or do they undermine national policy autonomy?

CIL Director Professor Lucy Reed represented the Centre at several events at the 2017 Seoul ADR Festival during the week of 6 November. At the joint programme of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and the Korea Commercial Arbitration Board (KCAB) on ‘Multiple Proceedings in Multiple Fora: Strategies and Synergies’, Prof Reed delivered the keynote address and was a speaker on the panel on ‘Consolidation and Joinder under Arbitral Institutional Rules’. She also spoke on the panel on International Investment Dispute Settlement, addressing ‘Momentum on Procedural Reforms:  The Way Forward’. Prof Reed was interviewed at the Young Arbitration Practitioners’ Forum ‘Fireside Chat’ organised by Young SIAC and the Korean Council for International Arbitration, and served as faculty for the second annual Seoul Academy for International Arbitration.

On 6 November 2017 the OECD’s Regulatory Policy Division’s ‘International Organizations Partnership for Effective International Rule-making’ convened a brainstorming session to discuss the partnership, bringing together the OECD, member states, international organisations and academics.

The partnership’s goal is to improve the quality, relevance and impact of international rule-making by international organisations. To advance these goals, the OECD has invited academics with in-depth knowledge and experience in the field of international rule-making, to collaborate with partnership. Dr Ayelet Berman has been invited to join this group of academics, called the ‘Academic Friends of the Partnership for Effective International Rulemaking’. She looks forward to contributing her knowledge and experience in fields such as informal international law-making, good regulatory practice, accountability and stakeholder engagement in international law-making. 

CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr Hao Duy Phan was invited to moderate a session in the Consultation on ‘A Rules-Based ASEAN: Legal Instruments and their Implementation’ on 1–2 November 2017 in Singapore. The event was jointly organised by the ASEAN Secretariat and the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies with the support of the ASEAN-US Partnership for Good Governance, Equitable and Sustainable Development, and Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit. CIL Associate Director Ms Sharon Seah Li-Lian, CIL Research Fellow Ms Ranyta Yusran, CIL Research Associate Mr Hadyu Ikrami and CIL Postdoctoral Fellows Dr Heejin Kim and Dr Marija Jovanovic also participated in the consultation.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr Hao Duy Phan was invited to speak at the 5th East Asia Maritime Security Forum on ‘Maritime Security and Cooperation: Opportunities and Challenges in Asia-Pacific and the Arctic’ on 26–27 October in Edmonton, Canada. Dr Hao Duy Phan delivered a presentation on ‘Addressing Maritime Security Challenges in the South China Sea: The Role of ASEAN’. The Forum was co-organized by the China National Institute for South China Sea Studies and the China Institute at the University of Alberta.

The Research Forum of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) took place at Washington University School of Law, St Louis on 26–28 October 2017. Following an anonymous and selective review process, academics, practitioners and government officials presented their papers in various sub-fields of international law. Speaking on the ‘International Governance’ panel, Dr Ayelet Berman presented her paper on ‘Accordion Governance’, which examines the establishment of international organisations, their displacement in favour of club governance, and the recent reversion towards bigger clubs. Dr Berman was also the moderator of and discussant on the panel ‘Fragmentation and Harmonization in International Law’. Further, as a panellist on ‘The Path to Practice in International Law’ panel, she spoke to students and new professionals interested in pursuing a career in international law.

CIL Director Lucy Reed, Head of International Dispute Resolution (Practice Skills) J Christopher Thomas QC, Head of Investment Law and Policy Jansen Calamita, Practice Fellow Emily Choo, and Global Associates Mark Feldman and Tara Davenport were part of the faculty of the 2017 Singapore International Arbitration Academy, which was organised by the CIL on 25 October 2017–2 November 2017. Ms Emily Choo was also team coach to one of the teams that took part in the Academy’s arbitration moot.

CIL Research Associates Millicent McCreath, Robert Real and Zoe Scanlon attended the Academy as participants and took part in the arbitration moot. Ms Zoe Scanlon was awarded a prize for excellence in advocacy.

Professor Reed, Mr Thomas, Research Associate Professor (CIL) Calamita and Ms Choo were speakers and moderators in the panel sessions in the CIL International Conference on Global Currents in International Investment Law on 2 November 2017.

On 23 October 2017, CIL Director Lucy Reed delivered the Seoul Arbitration Lecture 2017, sponsored by the Seoul International Dispute Resolution Centre. The lecture title was ‘Suite for ISDS: Mediation, Arbitration and Appellate Bodies’. She addressed the need for lawyers practising in the field of investment treaty arbitration to expand their repertoire or suite of skills to keep up with developments. On the one hand, it is important to be prepared for the new investment court system envisioned in the new EU-driven free trade agreements and, on the other hand, to play a more active role in furthering settlements of suitable disputes by mediated negotiations. The audience comprised over 100 Korean ministry representatives, practitioners and academics.

From 20 to 22 October, CIL Research Associate Zoe Scanlon participated in the 8th annual conference on ‘Global Commons and the Governance of Unappropriated Spaces’ organised by the German-Southeast Asian Centre of Excellence for Public Policy and Good Governance in Bangkok. Ms Scanlon presented an invited paper on ‘Maritime Activities Beyond National Jurisdiction: Governance and Enforcement Challenges’ on a panel addressing issues of governance of global commons in oceans.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Ms Youna Lyons was invited as a resource speaker by the European Union to the 4th ASEAN-EU High Level Dialogue on Maritime Security, which was held in the Philippines on 5–6 October 2017. Her presentation, titled ‘Moving beyond competing narratives on the status of the marine environment in Southeast Asia through data’, is available here.

On 28–29 September CIL Global Associate Tara Davenport and CIL Research Associate Zoe Scanlon participated in a Legal Working Group on liability for deep seabed mining activities in ‘the Area’. This was the first meeting of the Legal Working Group, formed to complete a project on liability for environmental harm from deep-sea mining activities in areas beyond national jurisdiction. This meeting, of an expert group of international lawyers specialising in oceans law, met in London to discuss key legal issues relating to seabed mining in international waters. The meeting was co-convened by the International Seabed Authority, the Centre of International Governance Innovation and the Commonwealth Secretariat. The work undertaken by this group will be directed to providing the International Seabed Authority Secretariat and the Legal and Technical Committee of the International Seabed Authority with a foundational understanding of the potential legal avenues for establishing a sector-specific liability regime for deep seabed mining.

CIL Research Fellow Dr Zhen Sun was invited to deliver a guest lecture on ‘Regulation of Shipping in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore’ at the World Maritime University (WMU) in Malmö, Sweden, on 27 September 2017. The lecture was part of the module ‘Multilateral Diplomacy and Negotiation’, which is designed for students enrolled in the MSc in Maritime Affairs Programme on Ocean Sustainability, Governance and Management at WMU. In the lecture, Zhen unfolded the dynamic relationship among Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore to cooperate in maximising governance and management strategies for issues relating to the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. The presentation can be downloaded here.

CIL Research Associate Ms Millicent McCreath presented a poster at the international conference organised by the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. The conference was held in Luxembourg on 25 and 26 September and was entitled ‘A Bridge Over Troubled Waters: Dispute Resolution in the Law of International Watercourses and the Law of the Sea’. Millicent’s poster was on ‘Standing and State Responsibility for Breaches of UNCLOS Environmental Obligations: Access to Compulsory Binding Procedures Marine Pollution from Land or International Watercourses’.

At a reception at the Asian Civilisations Museum on the evening of 19 September, Fountain Court Chambers announced the winners of the Christopher Bathurst Prize 2017. The prize is an annual writing competition, named in honour of the late Christopher Bathurst QC, who was a long-standing senior member of Fountain Court Chambers with strong ties to Singapore. The prize is open to full-time students enrolled at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law or the Singapore Management University School of Law, and lawyers under 30 years old qualified under the Legal Profession Act. The prize is supported by the Singapore Academy of Law.

CIL Research Fellow Dr Zhen Sun participated in the fourth biennial 2017 Arctic Energy Summit, ‘Bringing Together Arctic Energy Expertise, Innovation and Solutions’, in Helsinki, Finland, on 18–21 September 2017. The summit was organised by the Institute of the North and Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland as a project endorsed by the Sustainable Development Working Group of the Arctic Council. Zhen delivered a presentation on ‘Regulatory Gaps in Offshore Activities in the Arctic: Concerns and Lessons from Southeast Asia’ under the panel on ‘Sustainable Development and the Southeast Asian Experience’. The presentation can be downloaded here.

On 12 September 2017, CIL Director Professor Lucy Reed delivered the John E.C. Memorial Lecture at the McGill Faculty of Law in Montreal. The title of Lucy’s lecture was ‘International Dispute Resolution Courts: Retreat or Advance?’, and she focused on the recent progress of the Singapore International Commercial Court. Lucy was introduced by McGill Dean Robert Leckey and Mr Pierre-Olivier Savoie. Professor Fabien Gelinas and Mr Stephen Drymer of Woods led the discussion that followed the lecture.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Mr Anthony Wetherall, participated in a one-day joint workshop organised by the World Institute for Nuclear Security (WINS) and the International Airport Review during the Airport 2017 Expo, hosted in Vienna, Austria, on 12–13 September 2017. The purpose of the event was to explore opportunities between the nuclear and aviation sectors in the field of nuclear security. On 13 September, he gave a presentation on the ‘International Legal Framework for Nuclear Security’, including a timeline of developments. He also participated in the WINS Roundtable on 14 September, which built on the key areas covered on the previous day.

Assistant Professor Tan Hsien-Li, Co-Director (Teaching) of the ASEAN Law and Policy Programme at CIL, was invited to speak on a panel at the Tembusu Forum ‘ASEAN at 50: Success or a disappointment?’, which was organised by the Tembusu College at NUS on 12 September 2017.

On 11 September 2017, CIL Practice Fellow Ms Emily Choo participated, upon invitation, in a Young Public International Law Group (YPILG) debate. The YPILG is a network of young public international law (PIL) practitioners from law firms, the bar, international organisations, governments and academic institutions around the world. The purpose of YPILG is to connect early to mid-career PIL practitioners to one another, to facilitate exchanges of ideas and knowledge sharing in the PIL field, and to promote the next generation of PIL professionals. This debate was the YPILG’s first event in Asia.

CIL participated in the 6th Biennial Conference of the Asian Society of International Law (AsianSIL) on 25–26 August 2017 in Seoul, Korea. The conference was organised by the AsianSIL, the Korea Chapter of the AsianSIL, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea. The theme of the conference was ‘Asia and International Law in Times of Uncertainty’. CIL Director Professor Lucy Reed chaired the session on ‘New Proposals for Investment Dispute Resolution Mechanism’. Head of CIL’s Ocean Law and Policy Programme Associate Professor Robert Beckman chaired the session on ‘New Voices in International Law’, which featured presentations from two CIL Research Associates (see below). He also gave a presentation on the implications of the South China Sea arbitral award.

CIL Director, Professor Lucy Reed, represented the Centre and spoke at the inaugural colloquium on International Law of the Asian Academy of International Law (AAIL) in Hong Kong on 7-8 July 2017. The theme of the colloquium was ‘Common Future in Asia’, with panels on ‘One Country Two Systems: Interaction with International Law’, ‘Investment Collaboration: Opportunities and Challenges for Asia’, and ‘Interpretation of Treaties and UNCLOS: The Regime of Islands, Rocks and Offshore Archipelagos’. The welcome and keynote speakers included the new Hong Kong Chief Executive Mrs Carrie Lam, GBM, GBS; Mr Rimsky Yuen, GBM, SC, JP, Secretary for Justice of Hong Kong; Professor Teresa Cheng SC, Chairman of the AAIL; Dr Li Shishi, President of the Chinese Society of International Law; Professor Zhang Yuejiao, Former WTO Appellate Body Member and Chair; Mr Liu Zhenmin, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs of China (by video); and Mr Xie Zhenhua, Special Representative for Climate Change Affairs of China.

CIL Senior Visiting Research Fellow Dr Lynn Kuok recently participated in the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian, China, also known as the ‘Summer Davos’. it is the foremost global gathering on science, technology and innovation, and convenes the next generation of fast-growing enterprises shaping the future of business and society, and leaders from major multinationals, government, media, academia and civil society. In keeping with WEF founder Professor Klaus Schwab’s call for economics to be considered in its broader security context, Dr Kuok presented on a panel examining ‘A New Strategic Narrative for Asia’.

CIL Research Fellow Zhen Sun participated in the 6th World Congress for Korean Politics and Society 2017 organized by the Korean Political Science Association, Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Korea Foundation and Korea Maritime Institute. The conference was held in Yonsei University, Seoul on 22-24 June on ‘Rebuilding Trust in Peace and Democracy’. Zhen delivered a presentation on ‘Non-Traditional Maritime Security Cooperation in Southeast Asia‘ under the panel on ‘How to Promote Peaceful Uses of the Seas in Asia’.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons participated in the 2017 Global Ocean Regime Conference of the Korea Maritime Institute. The conference was held in Seoul on 19-21 June 2017 on the theme of the role of international law and its limits, in particular the maritime order in Asia after the South China Sea Arbitration. Youna presented on the ‘Protection of the Marine Environment after the SCS Arbitration Award‘.

On 16–17 June 2017, CIL Head of Ocean Law and Policy Programme Assoc Prof Robert C Beckman and CIL Research Associate Hadyu Ikrami participated in the Asia-Pacific Ocean Law Institutions Alliance (APOLIA) Conference on ‘Maritime Law Enforcement: Asia-Pacific State Practice’ and the ‘South China Sea Workshop on South China Sea Arbitration and Incidental Maritime Issues’. The conference and workshop took place in Da Nang, Vietnam and were organised by the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and The Development of International Law in Asia-Korea (DILA-Korea).

On 15 June 2017, CIL Director Professor Lucy Reed spoke at the public seminar programme on ‘Investor-State Mediation: Perspectives from States, Mediators & Practitioners’ sponsored by ICSID and the American University Washington College of Law Center on International Commercial Arbitration. Lucy again presented the results of the CIL Survey, in the broader context of legitimate versus perceived obstacles to State settlement of investor disputes. 

On 12–14 June 2017, CIL Director Professor Lucy Reed and Research Assistant Seraphina Chew attended the inaugural Investor-State Mediator Training at World Bank Headquarters in Washington DC sponsored by the Bank’s International Centre for Investment Disputes (ICSID), the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR), the International Mediation Institute, and the International Energy Charter (ECT). This training initiative reflects the increasing interest in mediation and conciliation of investor-State disputes, either before or while the parties resort to international arbitration. Lucy and Seraphina presented the results of CIL’s survey on obstacles to settlement of investor-State disputes, as part of training the participants to identify the inherent impediments States face in voluntarily settling disputes with investors. Other speakers included Meg Kinnear, Secretary-General of ICSID; Karl Mackie, co-founder of CEDR; Anna-Joubin-Bret, a drafter of the IBA Rules on Rules for Investor-State Mediation; and Alejandro Carballo Leyda, General Counsel of the ECT.

CIL Senior Visiting Research Fellow Dr Lynn Kuok recently participated in the IISS-Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier defence summit of defence ministers and delegates from over 50 countries, as a Southeast Asian Young Leader. The Dialogue was held in Singapore from 2-4 June 2017. Dr Kuok contributed two opinion editorials on recent developments in the South China Sea to The Straits Times and the Wall Street Journal.

CIL research associates (below) participated in the 14th Asian Law Institute Conference on “A Uniting Force? – ‘Asian Values’ and the Law” on 18–19 May 2017 in Manila, Philippines. The conference was organised by the Asian Law Institute of the National University of Singapore and College of Law at the University of the Philippines. The conference was attended by over 200 legal scholars and practitioners.

CIL Research Associate and Practice Fellow Elsa Sardinha and NUS Faculty of Law Assistant Professor Vincent-Joël Proulx presented a work-in-progress paper entitled ‘Requiem for a Deal, or the End of American Influence in the Investment Chapters of Asia-Relevant FTAs? Can Asian Trade and Investment “Values” Carry the RECP in the Wake of the TPP’s (Potential) Death?’

CIL Research Associate Millicent McCreath presented on ‘Burgeoning Practice of the Establishment of Marine Protected Areas in Southeast Asia to Target the Impacts of International Shipping’.

CIL Research Fellow Dr Zhen Sun presented on ‘ASEAN Framework to Enhance Maritime Security’.

CIL Research Associate Hadyu Ikrami presented on ‘Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines Cooperation in Combating Maritime Crimes: Lessons from the Malacca Straits Patrol and the Role of ASEAN’. 

Professor Lucy Reed, CIL Director, represented the Centre at the 111th Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law in Washington DC on 12–15 April 2017. Professor Reed was President of the American Society of International Law from 2008 to 2010. With the topical theme of ‘What International Law Values’, highlights of the meeting included: the Grotius Lecture by Harvard University Professor David Armitage entitled ‘Civil War Time: From Grotius to the Global War on Terror’; an interview by New York University Law School Professor Philip Alston of Hudson Medal Winner Professor Georges Abi-Saab; an Assembly address by Professor Philippe Sands on the origins of the ideas of ‘genocide’ and ‘crimes against humanity’ as illustrated in his new book East West Street; and a keynote address by the new General Counsel of the World Bank Group, Ms Sandie Okoro, on gender-based violence entitled ‘Seen and Not Heard’. NUS Law Faculty Dean and CIL Board Deputy Chairman, Professor Simon Chesterman, spoke on the panel on ‘Claims Against the United Nations: From Within and Without’. Ayelet Berman, soon to join CIL as a Senior Research Fellow, spoke on the panel on “The Rise of Multistakeholder Global Governance’. Professor Reed, Dean Chesterman and NUS Professor Tony Anghie attended the Colleague Societies Breakfast as representatives of the Asian Society of International Law. [Photos]

On 22–23 February 2017, CIL Director Lucy Reed participated in several events at Pepperdine University School of Law in California, which is the home of the well-known Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. Professor Reed was interviewed by Professor Tom Stipanowich, Dean of the Straus Institute, and Ms Maria Chedid, arbitration partner at Baker & McKenzie in San Francisco, in the inaugural international commercial arbitration ‘A Conversation With…’. Professor Reed spoke to Pepperdine/Straus law students and LLM candidates about the practice of international arbitration and, having judged the final Vis Moot rounds in both Vienna and Hong Kong, was warmly welcomed by the Vis team to sit a practice round. Professor Reed also had meetings on arbitration curricula, including with Professor Jack Coe, a leading international arbitration academic and rapporteur for the American Law Institute’s Restatement of the U.S. Law of International Commercial Arbitration.

On 16 February 2017, CIL’s Christopher Thomas QC was a discussant at the symposium on “International Investment Arbitration Across Asia” organised by the Centre for Asian and Pacific Law at the University of Sydney (CAPLUS) and by the Sydney Centre for International Law (SCIL). The following day, he spoke at the “SCIL International Law Year in Review Conference” on the prospects for and challenges to plurilateral and multilateral treaties in the area of international investment protection.

CIL Research Fellow Dr Zhen Sun participated in a Conference on ‘The Russian Far East, Arctic, and China: Reshaping Northeast Asia in the 21st Century?’ on 25-26 May 2017 in Cambridge, the United Kingdom. The Conference was organised by the Center for Rising Powers and took place at the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge. Dr Sun delivered a presentation on “Navigation Rights under UNCLOS: Application in the Arctic Ocean” under the Panel on UNCLOS. To download her presentation slides, click here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons participated in the Meeting of the Scientific Group of the London Convention and Protocol on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter as an observer member of the delegation of the Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea. The meeting was held at the International Maritime Organization in London on 27-31 March 2017.

Professor Robert Beckman (Head of CIL’s Ocean Law and Policy Programme), Dr Hao Duy Phan (CIL Senior Research Fellow) and Dr Lynn Kuok (CIL Senior Visiting Research Fellow) were invited to participate in the workshop on “Understanding Freedoms of Navigation-ASEAN Perspectives” on 7 March 2017 in Singapore. The workshop was organized by the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS) under the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Professor Beckman presented an “Overview of the International Navigational Regimes”, and Dr Hao Duy Phan spoke about “Vietnam’s Regulations on Navigational Rights of User States in its Maritime Zones”. To see Professor Beckman’s PowerPoint presentation, click here.

CIL Senior Research Fellows Mr Anthony Wetherall and Ms Denise Cheong and ESI Research Associate Mr Nur Azha Putra participated in the 8th annual Nuclear Power Asia Conference (NPA 2017) held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 7 to 8 March 2017. This year’s event was co-hosted by the Malaysian Nuclear Power Corporation (MNPC) and attended by over 200 international and regional stakeholders including representatives from industry, government and academia. Mr Wetherall was a panellist in the keynote panel discussion on ASEAN development, where he identified ways to strengthen ASEAN nuclear governance including the need for the region to establish an emergency preparedness and response (EPR) framework to deal with nuclear accidents. He was also a panellist in the discussion on the challenges in the construction of new nuclear power plants, where he spoke on the legal and policy challenges associated with a future deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs). He also chaired the session entitled “Advanced technology for safety & security”. The programme of the conference is available here. [View image from event]

On 3 March 2017, Research Associate Professor (CIL) N. Jansen Calamita, Head of CIL’s Investment Law and Policy Programme, was an invited speaker at a conference at Blackstone Chambers, London, titled ‘Current Issues in Rule of Law and International Trade and Development’. He spoke about investment treaties, foreign investment and the rule of law, addressing both whether investment treaties lead to higher levels of investment in the signatory states and whether investment treaties lead to improvements in the rule of law. His slides are available here.

On 27-28 February 2017, Research Associate Professor (CIL) N. Jansen Calamita, Head of CIL’s Investment Law and Policy Programme, gave lectures at University College London and the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge. He spoke on the compatibility of the European Union’s new investment tribunal system with existing instruments of the investment treaty regime, such as the ICSID Convention and the New York Convention. A summary of his remarks was reported in Global Arbitration Review. His paper is presently in prepublication review.

CIL Senior Research Fellows Ms Denise Cheong and Mr Anthony Wetherall, as well as ESI Research Associates Mr Nur Azha Putra and Ms Ira Martina Drupady, participated in the 6th meeting of the Nuclear Energy Experts Group held from 27 to 28 February 2017 in Singapore. This meeting was organised by the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP) together with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Mr Wetherall presented a discussion paper on the potential future deployment to emerging countries of small modular reactors (SMRs), including transportable nuclear power plants (TNPPs). In this context, he proposed the development of a ‘package approach’ to the establishment and implementation of national nuclear legislative and regulatory frameworks. The researchers participated in a number of discussions, including on the prospects of nuclear power growth in the Asia Pacific region and the options for strengthening nuclear governance. Mr Wetherall’s discussion paper can be downloaded here.

On 11-12 February 2017, CIL Research Associate Hadyu Ikrami judged four preliminary rounds and a semifinal round of the 2017 Indonesian National Rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, held at the University of Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Out of a field of 16 universities , the University of Indonesia and the University of Pelita Harapan were named the champion and runner-up respectively. Both teams will represent Indonesia in the Jessup International Rounds to be held in Washington D.C., USA in April 2017.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons was invited as a speaker to the 9th ASEAN Regional Forum Inter-sessional Meeting on Maritime Security (ARF ISM on MS), held in Tokyo on 8-9 February 2017. Her presentation was titled ‘Developing Cooperative Mechanisms for the Management of the Marine Environment in the South China Sea’ and can downloaded here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons was invited as an expert speaker at the 3rd Meeting of the CSCAP Study Group on Marine Environmental Protection, held in Tokyo on 6-7 February 2017. Her presentation was titled ‘Establishing MPAs in the Region: Some Considerations’ and can be downloaded here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Mr Anthony Wetherall participated in the Legal Frameworks Workshop ‘Vigilant Marmot’ organised by the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT) together with the governments of the USA, the Slovak Republic and Canada, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Held in Bratislava, Slovakia, from 24 to 26 January 2017, the event was attended by over 100 participants from GICNT partner nations and representatives of organisations, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), UNODC, the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI). The workshop was organized into a series of seminars, panel discussions and scenario-based dialogues to address challenges in adopting or updating national legal frameworks for nuclear security, highlight obligations under international legal instruments against radiological-nuclear terrorism, and consider practical models for implementing these obligations. The event focused on the criminalisation penalties in the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM), the 2005 Amendment thereto and the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ICSANT). Mr Wetherall participated in the panel discussion on the definitions in the aforementioned instruments. He also served as a roaming expert for five workshop sessions.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Mr Anthony Wetherall participated in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) week-long International Conference on Nuclear Security: Commitments and Actions. Mr Wetherall acted as co-Chair for the Technical Session entitled ‘Perspectives on Implementing Obligations under International Instruments for Nuclear Security’. He also served as the Panel Facilitator for two related panel discussions: ‘The challenges of implementing international commitments, nationally’ and ‘The role of regional organisations and bilateral programmes in supporting national implementation of international obligations’. The Ministerial Conference was attended by over 2000 participants from 139 IAEA Member States and 29 organizations. 47 IAEA Member States were represented at ministerial level. The Ministerial Conference was held from 5-9 December 2016 at IAEA Headquarters, Vienna, Austria. A ministerial segment, lasting a day and a half, adopted a Ministerial Declaration by consensus. A President’s Report will be published on the conference site.

On 27 October 2016, CIL Director Lucy Reed delivered the 31st Queen Mary University–Freshfields Arbitration Lecture in London, on the topic of ‘Ab(use) of Due Process: Sword vs Shield’. Professor Reed, who for many years led the Freshfields International Arbitration Group, framed her topic with the example of Donald Trump impugning the US federal judge who is presiding over a case against Trump University, by claiming the Mexican heritage of the judge—who was born and raised in Indiana—is biased because of Trump’s plans to construct a wall at the Mexican border if he is elected President.

Professor Reed described a growing trend in international arbitration for the unreasonable invocation of procedural complaints ‘under the banner of due process’ as a ‘brazen strategy’ to seek to pressurise arbitral tribunals. Her thesis was that arbitral tribunals should not allow parties to conflate routine procedural complaints (however stridently or repeatedly articulated, as Trump has done in interviews) with genuine ‘due process’ violations which have the potential to undermine the legitimacy of the arbitral process.

Defining due process as ‘a person’s right not to be deprived as property or other rights without the opportunity to represent themselves before neutral judges’, Professor Reed outlined the historical evolution of the concept of due process as a shield for legitimacy in international arbitration, before providing some practical illustrations of the strategy of (ab)using due process as a sword to influence the outcome. She focused on the boundaries and grey areas between routine procedural complaints and true due process violations. She concluded by urging arbitrators to confront the strategy, to prevent toleration leading to normalisation.

Due process, in Professor Reed’s words, ‘is meant to be a shield against procedural unfairness’ and for a party to ‘gleefully use due process as a sword is to cheapen due process’. As she concluded: neither Zorro nor the Three Muskeeters should be welcome in international arbitration hearing rooms.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr Hao Duy Phan was invited to participate in the 3rd ASEAN-EU High Level Dialogue on Maritime Security Cooperation on 15-16 September 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand. The Dialogue was jointly organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand and the European Union. Hao Duy Phan made a presentation on ‘Strengthening Regional Cooperation to Address Maritime Security Challenges: The Role of ASEAN’. To download his presentation, click here.

CIL Practice Fellow Emily Choo attended the inaugural KLRCA Summer Academy on International Investment Law and Dispute Settlement, which was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 25-29 July 2016. The Summer Academy was organised by the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration in partnership with Clifford Chance. The 5-day programme comprised lectures, interactive training and practical exercises on topical issues in investment law. Around 50 government officials, academics, members of the judiciary and private practitioners from Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong and France attended the Summer Academy. [View image]

On 20 July 2016, CIL Director Lucy Reed participated in the Panel Discussion on The Rule of Law and Dispute Resolution held in Singapore. The panel discussion, which was accompanied by a performance by the Temple Church Boys’ Choir from London, was moderated by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon and was jointly organised by The Honourable Societies of Inner and Middle Temple, The Temple Church and Singapore Academy of Law. To view the eBrochure, please click here. [View photo]

CIL Practice Fellow Emily Choo was invited to present her paper on “The Impact of Non-State Actors’ Intervention in Investor-State Arbitration” at the ILA British Branch Spring Conference on Non-State Actors and Changing Relations in International Law, which was held at the Lancaster University, United Kingdom on 8-9 April 2016. The conference was organised by the Lancaster University Law School and the International Law Association British Branch. Emily spoke about the impact of non-state actors on the development of investment law through their intervention in investor-state arbitration.

CIL Director Robert Beckman made a presentation in Jakarta, Indonesia on 17 March 2016 entitled ‘The Philippines v China Case and the South China Sea Disputes’. The one-day forum was organised by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) in collaboration with The Netherlands Embassy in Jakarta, and was entitled ‘ASEAN Dialogue on International Law: Strengthening the Rule of Law in the Region on International Law of the Sea’. For Prof Beckman’s presentation, click here.

IELPO LL.M Programme at Universitat de Barcelona re-invited CIL for the 4th time to teach its course on Asian Regionalism. CIL Research Fellow Junianto James Losari replaced Associate Professor Michael Ewing-Chow this year to teach the two-day-course on 9-10 March 2016 in Barcelona, Spain. In his course, James shared various stories of integration in Asia and discussed the main drivers of the integration, including trade and investment. He also focused on the ASEAN integration, which is considered as one of the most advanced integrations in the region.

On 29-30 November 2016, Research Associate Professor (CIL) N. Jansen Calamita, Head of CIL’s Investment Law and Policy Programme, chaired panels and served as a discussant at the Asia FDI Conference II in Hong Kong, ‘China’s Three-Prong Investment Strategy: Bilateral, Regional and Global Tracks’.

On 15 November 2016, Research Associate Professor (CIL) N. Jansen Calamita, Head of CIL’s Investment Law and Policy Programme, gave a keynote presentation at the Asian Business Law Institute’s Asia Pacific Arbitration Conference 2016 titled ‘The Rise of Investment Treaty and Investor State Arbitration Practices in Asia’. Among other issues, he addressed the current state-of-play of investment treaty making and investor-state arbitration in Asia, including the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement, as well as the status of ongoing negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Professor Robert Beckman, Head of CIL’s Ocean Law and Policy Programme, participated in the 8th South China Sea International Conference organised by the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, which was held on 14-15 November 2016 in Nha Trang, Viet Nam. Professor Beckman chaired a panel session on ‘Mechanisms for Managing South China Sea Tensions’ and made a presentation in the panel session on The Arbitral Award and Legal Implications for the Claims of Parties in the South China Sea. His presentation was entitled ‘The New Status Quo and Prospects for Cooperation in the South China Sea’. To see his PowerPoint presentation, click here.

The CIL Ocean Law and Policy team participated in the panel discussion on the marine environment chaired by Professor Robert Beckman at the 20th Anniversary Celebrations of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law (APCEL), held at the National University of Singapore on 10 November 2016. The theme of the conference was ‘Attaining the Sustainable Development Goals – Environmental Law, Policy and Management’. The panel made the following three (3) presentations: (1) ‘The International Legal Framework for the Protection and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity’ by CIL Senior Research Fellow Ms Youna Lyons (2) ‘International Law and the Protection of the Giant Clams in the South China Sea’ by CIL Research Fellow Ms Denise Cheong (3) ‘IMO Measures to Protect Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction – The Sargasso Sea’ by CIL Research Fellow Dr Sun Zhen.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Mr Anthony Wetherall participated in the 22nd Biennial Congress of the International Nuclear Law Association (INLA). Mr Wetherall presented on the ‘Future Deployment of Transportable Nuclear Power Plants: Legal and Regulatory Issues and Challenges’, as jointly prepared by Mr Wetherall and Research Fellow Ms Denise Cheong based on ongoing research as part of the ESI-CIL Nuclear Governance Project. The Congress is a leading international conference on legal issues relating to peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The conference was held from 7 to 11 November 2016 and hosted by the Nuclear Law Association in New Delhi, India. To download Mr Wetherall’s presentation, click here.

CIL Research Fellow Dr Zhen Sun participated in the Conference on Ocean Issues for the Pacific and East Asia. The conference was hosted by the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS) at the University of Wollongong, Australia and Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST), the Republic of Korea, on 2-4 November 2016 in Wollongong, Australia. The conference was attended by around 30 participants of academics and PhD students. Dr Sun presented on ‘Polar Code and Its Implementation in the Panel on New Frontiers’. To view her presentation, click here.

On 1 November 2016, Research Associate Professor (CIL) N. Jansen Calamita, Head of CIL’s Investment Law and Policy Programme, was an invited speaker at the ‘International Symposium on China and Development of International Dispute Resolution System in the Context of “the Belt and Road” Construction’ at the Silk Road Institute for International and Comparative law at Xi’an Jiaotong University School of Law in Xi’an, China. His presentation, entitled ‘Building Legal Infrastructure for International Arbitration’, addressed the importance of a consistent, internationalised commercial arbitration framework across the range of states being considered for inclusion in China’s One Belt, One Road initiative.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Ms Youna Lyons participated in the 70th Session of the International Maritime Organization’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), at the IMO Headquarters in London, from 24-28 October 2016, as the Head of Delegation of the Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea (ACOPS).

Assoc. Professor Robert Beckman, Head of CIL’s Ocean Law and Policy Programme; Mr Anthony Wetherall, Senior Research Fellow; and Ms S Nivedita, Research Associate, participated in the KIOST International Seminar on Ocean Sciences Diplomacy (ISOSD): A Novel Approach to Establishing a Cooperative Regime in the Asian Waters through Ocean Sciences to Promote Regional Peace held in Ansan, Republic of Korea, on 24-27 October 2016. The seminar was organised by Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology (KIOST). Assoc. Prof Beckman presented on the ‘Global Legal Regime Governing Pollution of the Marine Environment from Offshore Installations and Structures’ while Mr Wetherall presented on the ‘Future Deployment of Transportable Nuclear Power Plants: Legal and Regulatory Issues and Challenges’, as jointly prepared by Mr Wetherall and Research Fellow Ms Denise Cheong, based on on-going research as part of the ESI-CIL Nuclear Governance Project. Ms S Nivedita took the role of discussant during the panel discussion on coastal nuclear power plants. To download Assoc Prof Beckman’s presentation, click here. To download Mr Wetherall’s presentation, click here. [View photo]

On 12-13 October 2016, Research Associate Professor (CIL) N. Jansen Calamita, Head of CIL’s Investment Law and Policy Programme, was an invited speaker at the 5th Asia Pacific ADR Conference in Seoul, Korea, organised by, among others, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law and the Korean Ministry of Justice. He addressed the changing landscape of investment treaties, paying particular attention to the investment treaty policy of the European Union.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Ms Youna Lyons was invited to speak at the International Seminar on ‘Environmental and Maritime Security for a Blue South China Sea’ held in Hai Phong City, Viet Nam, on 10-12 October 2016. She presented a paper titled ‘A path towards Marine Protected Areas in the South China Sea following the Arbitral Award’, in the first session on Environmental Security in the South China Sea (Bien Dong Sea) after the Hague Award. To download her presentation in PDF format, click here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Ms Youna Lyons attended the 38th Conference of the Parties to the London Convention and Protocol on the Prevention of Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and other Matters as a member of the Advisory Committee for the Protection of the Sea (ACOPS) delegation. The meeting was held at the International Maritime Organization Headquarters in London from 19-23 September 2016.

On 29 August 2016, Professor Robert Beckman, Head of CIL’s Ocean Law and Policy Programme delivered the Keynote Address at an international conference on ocean governance and security at the Mandarin Orchard Hotel, Singapore. The title of the conference was ‘Resolving the Complex Challenges of Ocean Governance and Security for Secure and Sustainable Oceans in the Southeast Asian Region’. The organisers were the Mitsubishi Research Institute and the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Public Policy, with support from IHS Jane’s and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. A copy of Professor Beckman’s Keynote Address is available here.

CIL Research Fellow, Ms. Denise Cheong; ESI Research Fellow, Dr Monique Taylor; and CIL Research Associate, Ms. S Nivedita who are part of the ESI-CIL Nuclear Governance Project’s multidisciplinary team attended this year’s International School of Nuclear Law (ISNL). ISNL, in continuing its unique contribution to the field of nuclear law, held its 2016 summer session from 22 August to 2 September 2016 in Montpellier, France. ISNL was established in 2001 by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) in partnership with the University of Montpellier to provide participants with a comprehensive overview of the various inter-related legal issues relating to the safe, efficient and secure use of nuclear energy. ISNL’s faculty comprises renowned specialists in nuclear law from international organisations, governments, and industry and ISNL participants have the option of applying for a University Diploma (Diplôme d’université – D.U.) in International Nuclear Law from the University of Montpellier. [View photo]

Professor Robert Beckman, Head of CIL’s Ocean Law and Policy Programme and Ms Youna Lyons, Senior Research Fellow participated in the Asian International Symposium 2016: The Contemporary Maritime Security Issues in Asian Region in Jakarta, Indonesia on 21-22 August 2016. The Conference was organised by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) Indonesia. Professor Beckman chaired a panel session on The Role of UNCLOS and its Dispute Settlement Regime, and Ms Lyons made a presentation in the panel session on Marine Environmental Protection for Sustainability. For a copy of her PowerPoint Presentation, click here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr. Hao Duy Phan was invited to speak at the International Workshop on “Legal Status of Islands and Rocks in International Law and Practice in the South China Sea” on 17-18 August 2016 in Nha Trang, Vietnam. The Workshop was co-organized by Nha Trang University and Pham Van Dong University. Hao Duy Phan delivered a presentation on “The Philippines v. China Arbitration: The Bindingness of the Award and Its Significance”. To download Hao Duy Phan’s PowerPoint Presentation, click here.

On 3-4 August 2016, Prof Robert Beckman, CIL Head of Ocean Law and Policy Programme, participated in an international conference on the South China Sea that was organised by the Foreign Service Institute of the Philippines and held at the Manila Hotel, in Manila. Prof Beckman made a presentation in Plenary Session Four, which was entitled ‘International Norms and Rules: The Code of Conduct and other Remedies in the South China Sea’. To see his presentation, please click here. To view his paper, click here.

On 29 June 2016, CIL Director Professor Robert Beckman made a dinner speech on the South China Sea Disputes in New York at a meeting of the US-China Dialogue on Maritime Disputes and International Law. This is a Track Two mechanism between the National Institute for South China Sea Studies (NISCSS), Hainan, and the US National Committee on US-China Relations (NCUSCR), New York.

On 27-28 June 2016, CIL actively participated in the 40th Annual Conference of the Center for Oceans Law and Policy of the University of Virginia that was held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. CIL Director Professor Robert Beckman made a presentation in Panel 3 on the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. The title of his presentation was ‘Maritime Boundary Disputes and Compulsory Third Party Dispute Settlement Mechanisms: Unresolved Issues’. For Professor Beckman’s presentation, please click here. CIL Visiting Senior Principal Research Fellow Captain Ashley Roach made a presentation in Panel 1 entitled ‘Update on the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Negotiations’. To download Captain Roach’s presentation, please click here. In addition, Ms Rena Lee of the Attorney-General Chamber’s, Singapore made a presentation in Panel 2 entitled ‘Exploration and Exploitation of Ocean Mineral Resources: the Role of Sponsoring States’.

CIL Research Fellow Dr Zhen Sun participated in the 4th Asia Pacific Ocean Law Institutions Alliance (APOLIA) Conference on ‘Regulation on Navigation of Foreign Vessels: Asia-Pacific State Practice’ in Zhoushan, China on 22-23 June 2016. The Conference was hosted by the Centre for Ocean Law and Governance of Zhejiang University, and co-organised by Inha University and the University of Wollongong. Dr Sun delivered a presentation on ‘Regulation on Navigation of Foreign Vessels – Singapore’s Practice’ in which she reviewed Singapore’s maritime legislation on foreign vessels and discussed its practice relating to the regulation of navigation in the Singapore Strait. To view Dr Sun’s presentation, please click here. CIL Research Associate Shaun Kang also attended the Conference.

CIL Research Fellow Ms Ranyta Yusran participated in the AsianSIL Regional Conference – ‘International Law and a Dynamic Asia’ on 14-15 June 2016 in Hanoi, Viet Nam. The Conference was jointly organised by AsianSIL, the Diplomatic Academy of Viet Nam and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam. At the Conference, Ranyta presented her paper on ‘The ASEAN Convention against Trafficking in Persons, Especially in Women and Children: Is It Up to the Task?’ in a panel on ‘ASEAN after 2015’, chaired by the dean of the NUS Law Faculty. Within the same panel, Asst Prof Tan Hsien-Li, CIL’s ASEAN Integration through Law Director, also presented her paper on ‘The ASEAN Community: Its Ambitions, Laws and Dispute Settlement Mechanisms’. To download Ranyta’s presentation, click here.

CIL Director Professor Robert Beckman was invited to participate in the EU-DAV High-Level Workshop: Maritime Security and Development: International Cooperation and European – Asian Experience Sharing, which was held on 8-9 June 2016 in Ha Long, Vietnam. The Workshop was jointly organised by the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and the European Union. Prof Beckman was unable to attend, but his PowerPoint presentation was distributed to participants and presented by another speaker. His presentation was entitled ‘UNCLOS Dispute Settlement Regime & Philippines v China Arbitration’. He has submitted a draft paper to the organisers on the same topic. To view the draft paper, click here.

CIL Director Robert Beckman attended the 2016 IISS Shangri-La Dialogue, the 15th annual Asia Security Summit, organised by the International Institute for Security Studies, which was held at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore from 3-5 June 2016. Prof Beckman participated in a panel discussion on ‘Managing South China Sea Tensions’, together with defence officials from China, Vietnam and the European Union.

CIL Director Robert Beckman and CIL Non-Resident Fellow Captain J Ashley Roach participated in the Expanded ASEAN Maritime Forum Workshop on Maritime Boundaries, which was held at the Hanoi Hilton Opera Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam from 31 May to 3 June 2016. The full title of the Workshop was the EAMF International Law and Best Practices in Maritime Boundary Delimitation and Provisional Arrangements of a Practical Nature. The Workshop was organised by the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam (DAV) and the US Department of State. CIL and the Australian Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS) were supporting organisations. Prof Beckman and Captain Roach each made two presentations at the Workshop. CIL Research Associate Christine Sim attended the Workshop as an observer.

CIL Research Fellow Ranyta Yusran and CIL Research Associates Shaun Kang and Elsa Sardinha participated in the 13th Annual Asian Law Institute Conference – ‘Asian Perspectives on Legal Globalisation’ on 19-20 May 2016 in Beijing, China. The Conference was jointly organised by Peking University and the Asian Law Institute. At the Conference, Ranyta Yusran spoke at a panel on ‘International Law and Human Rights’ and delivered a presentation entitled ‘No Longer Taboo and Yet Still Awkward: Human Rights in ASEAN’. To download her presentation, click here. Shaun Kang and Elsa Sardinha spoke at a panel on ‘International Law and Globalisation’. Shaun delivered a presentation on ‘The Exodus of Rohingya People and Malaysia’s International Obligations towards Refugees’ and Elsa Sardinha delivered a presentation on ‘The Right to Regulate: Towards a New Regulatory Paradigm under Recent Free Trade Investment Chapters? A Dissection of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Canada-EU (CETA) and Singapore-EU (SEUFTA) Free Trade Agreements’. To download Shaun’s presentation, click here. To download Elsa’s presentation, click here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr. Hao Duy Phan was invited to speak at an international conference on ‘Maritime Boundaries and the Law of the Sea’ on 19 May 2016 in Dili, Timor-Leste. Hao Duy Phan delivered a presentation on ‘UNCLOS Dispute Settlement Mechanisms and the Timor Sea’. The Conference was organised by the Government of Timor-Leste. More than 500 international and local participants attended the Conference. To download Hao Duy Phan’s presentation, click here.

On 18 May 2016, CIL Research Associate Hadyu Ikrami participated in the International Seminar on the Establishment of a Regional Convention against Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing (IUUF) and Its Related Crimes. The Seminar took place in Bali, Indonesia, and was organised by the Indonesian Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs. It was attended by approximately 120 participants from 13 countries. The speakers of the Seminar were representatives of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), European Union (EU), Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC) of the West African Countries, as well as representatives of the governments of Thailand, Australia, the Philippines and the United States. Another speaker was a New Zealander official who delivered a presentation on how Interpol has assisted New Zealand in combatting IUU fishing.

CIL Director Robert Beckman participated in the 11th Japan-Singapore Symposium, which was held in Tokyo, Japan on 25-26 April 2016. Prof Beckman made a presentation on ‘Security Outlook in the Asia-Pacific: Roles of Maritime Nations’.

CIL Director Robert Beckman and CIL Research Assistant Anjali Sugadev attended the Third Hamburg International Environmental Law Conference 2016 in Hamburg, Germany from 15-16 April 2016. Professor Beckman gave an invited presentation on ‘Submarine Cables & Pipelines under UNCLOS’. To view his presentation, click here. Ms Sugadev participated in the conference and was a member of the Working Group on ‘Ocean Bed Pipe and Cable Systems’. [View photo]

CIL Director Robert Beckman and Research Assistant Anjali Sugadev attended the annual Plenary Meeting of the International Cable Protection Committee in Hamburg, Germany from 12-14 April 2016 (view photo). At the open session of the plenary, Professor Beckman gave an invited presentation on ‘Potential Impact of BBNJ Negotiations on Cable Industry’. To view his presentation, click here. Ms Sugadev presented a paper on ‘India’s Practice on Cable Repairs: An Appraisal’. To view her presentation, click here.