Researchers' Activities

Associate Director Sharon Seah gave a presentation on the role of the academic sector in climate governance at the International Workshop on Partnership to Strengthen Transparency and Co-Innovation (PaSTI), which was held on 7–8 November in Manila, Philippines. The academic sector possesses institutional capacities, intellectual resources and ability to conduct cutting-edge research. These are strengths that governments and other private sectors can leverage on to increase climate transparency and promote greater climate ambition.

The workshop was organised by the Ministry of Environment, Japan in collaboration with the World Resources Institute. The workshop’s aims are to share knowledge and build networks among ASEAN participants, international institutions, experts and the private sector to develop critical tools for Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) development in the region. 

Robert Beckman participated in the 11th South China Sea International Conference on Cooperation for Regional Security and Development, on 6–7 November 2019 in Hanoi, Vietnam. The main organiser was the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam. Associate Professor Beckman was a discussant in the Special Session on the 25th Anniversary of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. He was also a speaker in the concluding plenary session on strengthening the foundation for peace and a rules-based legal order.

Postdoctoral Fellow Neha Mishra presented her paper titled ‘International Trade Law and Data Ethics: Possibilities and Challenges’ at the 6th Biennial Asian Economic Law Network Conference. The conference was held in Taipei on 25–27 October and was organised by National Tsing-Hua University; Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan; Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, National Tsing Hua University; and The Erasmus+ Program of the European Union.

Ms Mishra argued that the inherent tension between promoting data/digital innovation and ensuring ethical data management is likely to surface in international trade law, and is particularly prominent when data restrictive measures are examined under exceptions in international trade agreements. This tension appears irresolvable due to the technological uncertainty surrounding the future evolution and uses of AI and Big Data and the absence of international norms on data governance. Although international trade law cannot directly resolve these tensions, trade policymakers should remain open and responsive to relevant policy dialogues on data governance in various governmental and multistakeholder fora. Ms Mishra argued that by doing so, international trade law can play a more proactive and transformative role in dealing with ethical issues in data governance—addressing not only infrastructure-related issues (eg, access to telecommunications networks) but also regulatory concerns such as facilitating international cooperation on data policies, supporting internationally recognised internet standards, promoting fair competition and transparency in domestic data policies, and ensuring digital inclusion of developing countries. Trade rules should also not require countries to compromise on their data policies necessary for ethical reasons so as to participate in global digital markets. Although these outcomes appear ambitious, the ongoing dialogues at WTO on electronic commerce provide an opportunity to generate political goodwill and enhance cooperation among countries to achieve these results.

Senior research fellows Youna Lyons and Vu Hai Dang presented at the 4th Fisheries Management and Management Environmental Protection Workshop organised by the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue and the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute in Manila, Philippines, on 24 October 2019. The meeting discussed the establishment of a network of marine protected areas in the SCS.

At the workshop, Ms Lyons presented a mapping exercise of all marine protected areas and ecologically sensitive areas that have been established by coastal countries in the SCS, based on applicable international instruments and publicly available data from WDPA. Dr Dang presented options to support the development of a network of marine protected areas in the South China Sea.

CIL Researcher Eugenio Gomez-Chico participated in the Conference ‘REDIAL: Repensar la Enseñanza del Derecho Internacional en América Latina’ (Rethinking international legal education in Latin America), which took place in Bogota, Colombia on 23–24 October. He presented CIL’s TRILA programme (Teaching and Researching International Law in Asia), sharing its activities, goals and achievements.

REDIAL, like TRILA, is a project aimed to improve and strengthen the scholarship and community of international law scholars regionally, introducing Latin American perspectives and materials into the curriculum, and critically analysing the traditional Euro-centric contents and history of the discipline. In this second conference, scholars from different universities in the region discussed their challenges in teaching and researching on international law, and publishing in different languages.

Senior Research Fellow Denise Cheong participated in a faculty professional development course on nuclear security education held at the Nanyang Technological University of Singapore. This course was jointly organised by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. The aim of the week-long course was to build capacity in the design of nuclear security education programmes, including curriculum development, and to support human resource development in Asia. Participants were predominantly academics from a variety of disciplines including natural and applied sciences, social sciences and humanities, representing leading universities from countries within Southeast Asia as well as China, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Robert Beckman participated in the UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) Legal Expert Meeting on the Review of the Maritime Crime Manual for Criminal Justice Practitioners. The meeting was held in Mauritius on 16–18 October 2019. Assoc Prof Beckman led a discussion on the protection of submarine cables and participated in the discussions on stateless vessels, shiprider agreements and transnational maritime environmental crime.

Senior Research Fellow Denise Cheong and Research Associate Nivedita S participated in the Fourth International Workshop on the Indemnification of Damage in the Event of a Nuclear Accident on 8–10 October 2019, held in Lisbon, Portugal. Organised by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD/NEA), the Institute Superior Técnico (IST), and the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, the workshop brought together more than 140 participants from 29 countries, including representatives from government agencies, operators, suppliers, nuclear insurance pools and mutuals, law firms and academia.

The workshop facilitated in-depth, interdisciplinary discussions on the scope of ‘nuclear damage’ as defined in the international nuclear third party liability instruments as well as the mechanics of the transboundary claims-handling process, which the conventions do not address. A key outcome of the workshop was the recognition that a common understanding of these issues is needed to effectively and efficiently operationalise the international nuclear conventions in the event of a transboundary nuclear accident. Important links between emergency preparedness and response and nuclear liability were also drawn.

On 7 October 2019 Robert Beckman participated in the Arctic Frontiers symposium organised by Arctic Frontiers in collaboration with the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Singapore, the National University of Singapore and Innovation Norway.

In a panel discussion on Resources of the North, Prof Beckman argued that since the Arctic is an ocean, the right to explore and exploit the natural resources in the Arctic Ocean is governed by the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The CIL Ocean Law and Policy Programme organised an informal roundtable discussion on the ‘Governance of and Research on Pollution from Marine Plastic in Southeast Asia’ on 25 September 2019 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Participants to the roundtable include representatives from Indonesia’s relevant government agencies, research institutions and academia from Indonesia, and representatives from permanent missions of ASEAN countries to ASEAN. CIL was represented by Youna Lyons, Dita Liliansa, Vanessa Lam and Vu Hai Dang. Participants shared their research on pollution from marine plastic. For more information on the event, click here.