Researchers' Activities

CIL Director Robert Beckman participated in the ‘International Symposium on the Philippines v. China Arbitration Case: The Efficacy of the Annex VII Tribunal in Resolving Complex Territorial/Maritime Disputes’ from 21-22 August 2014 in Beijing, China. The Symposium was organised by the National Institute for South China Sea Studies in cooperation with the China Center for Collaborative Studies of the South China Sea. He presented a paper on ‘Offshore Geographic Features and their Significance to Sovereignty and Maritime Claims’. For his paper, click here. For his presentation, click here.

CIL Research Associate Junianto James Losari attended a meeting held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia to discuss Indonesia’s review of the investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms included in its existing bilateral investment treaties and make recommendations for future investment agreements. The meeting, held on 14-16 August 2014 in Jakarta, was attended by government officials from various ministries and institutions in Indonesia.

CIL Research Associate Zhen Sun participated in the 8th IFLOS Summer Academy at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) from 27 July to 22 August 2014, in Hamburg, Germany. Ms Sun received a partial scholarship from the International Foundation for the Law of the Sea to participate in the Academy. The four-week programme brought together a prestigious faculty to cover important issues on the international law of the sea and maritime law, including ITLOS judges and leading academics and practitioners from the maritime field. There were 41 participants from 33 nations who attended the 2014 Summer Academy. Ms Sun also participated in the moot court competition, where she and her team argued in front of a panel of four judges. Ms Sun’s Certificate was awarded by the Chair of the International Foundation for the Law of the Sea, Ms Doris Konig, during the formal Senate Reception in the Town Hall of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. For more information on the Summer Academy, please click here.

CIL Director Professor Robert Beckman and CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr. Hao Duy Phan were invited to participate in the Conference on ‘Legal Issues regarding China’s Placement of the Oil Rig Haiyang Shiyou 981 in Viet Nam’s Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf’ in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam. The Conference was organised jointly by the Ho Chi Minh City University of Law and the Viet Nam Lawyers Association. Professor Beckman made a presentation on the Dispute Settlement regime under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and Implications for the Disputes between Viet Nam and China. To download Professor Beckman’s presentation, click here.

Ambassador-at-Large Tommy Koh delivered the keynote speech at the International Seabed Authority’s 20th Anniversary Commemorative Session in Kingston, Jamaica, on 22 July 2014. Noting that “the time for seabed mining has come”, Prof Koh emphasized that it “is now within our power to turn the ideal of the common heritage of mankind into reality”. For the full text of Prof Koh’s speech, click here.

CIL Head of Trade and Investment Law and Policy Professor Michael Ewing-Chow and CIL Research Associate Junianto James Losari spoke at the 2014 Society of International Economic Law Conference (SIEL) in Bern, Switzerland, on 10-12 July 2014. This biennial conference brings together the top academic experts and practitioners in the field to present their work and research on topics of trade, investment, and financial law. Professor Michael Ewing-Chow was an invited speaker at the session entitled ‘”Burning Issue” in IEL: Russia, Ukraine and the Crimea – IEL Dimensions’. Mr Losari presented a paper that he co-wrote with Professor Michael Ewing-Chow on ‘A Clash of Treaties – The Legality of Countermeasures in International Trade Law and International Investment Law’. To download the presentation, please click here.

CIL Director Robert Beckman taught at the 19th Annual Session of the Rhodes Academy of Oceans Law and Policy, which was held in in Rhodes, Greece. Professor Beckman delivered three lectures on the marine environment during the third week of the Academy and organised a 3-hour workshop on the legal regimes governing seafarers and fishers. He also judged the oral examination at the end of the course, together with three judges from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. In addition, he attended meetings with other members of the Board of Directors of the Academy. CIL sponsored three participants to the 2014 Rhodes Academy: Ms Lusitania Lopez of Timor Leste, Mr Dara In of Cambodia and Mr Chen Li of China. Two Singaporeans who attended the Academy, Luke Tang of the Attorney-General’s Chambers and Kenneth Kwa of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, won prizes for being the top students in the written examination.

CIL Director Robert Beckman and CIL Global Associate Captain J. Ashley Roach participated in the 38^th Annual Conference of the Center for Oceans Law and Policy (COLP) of the University of Virginia in Bergen, Norway. The title of the Conference was ‘Challenges of the Changing Arctic: Continental Shelf, Navigation, and Fisheries’. Professor Beckman made a presentation entitled ‘Arctic Legal Issues and the UNCLOS Dispute Settlement Regime’. For a copy of his presentation, please click here. Captain Roach made a presentation at the Conference entitled ‘Arctic Navigation: Recent Developments’. For a copy of his presentation, please click here. While in Bergen, Professor Beckman also attended a formal meeting of the Board of Directors of the Rhodes Academy of Oceans Law and Policy and met with professors from the K.G. Jebsen Centre for the Law of the Sea at the University of Tromso in Norway.

CIL Research Fellow Leonardo Bernard participated in the Summer Academy on the Continental Shelf, held at Torshavn, Faroe Islands on 21-28 June 2014. The Academy was organized by the University of the Faroe Islands. The Academy focused on the intricate legal and technical conditions governing the entitlement to and establishment of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles, and on the delimitation of overlapping entitlements to such areas.

CIL Research Associate Zhen Sun participated in the Second Asia Pacific Ocean Law Institutions Alliance (APOLIA) Conference, ‘After 20 Years of Implementation of UNCLOS by Asian Pacific States’, from 20-21 June 2014. The Conference was organised by the Centre for Ocean Law and Governance, Zhejiang University and the Korea Maritime Institute. Zhen delivered a presentation on Singapore’s implementation of UNCLOS, where she addressed the issues of Singapore’s international boundaries with its neighbouring countries and Singapore’s practice regarding IMO conventions. She also participated as a discussant at the International Symposium on ‘Sustainable Development and the Law of the Sea’ from 22-23 June 2014.