Researchers' Activities

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 Research Associate, Junianto James Losari spoke in the Plenary Discussion on Cooperative Ventures toward ASEAN Integration. The Plenary discussion was a part of the full day Business Law Convention held by De La Salle University College of Law in cooperation with the Department of Trade and Industry of the Philippines on Doing Business in Free Trade Areas: Cooperative Ventures toward ASEAN Integration. The event, attended by almost 1,000 students, academia and business community, was meant to raise awareness about the upcoming ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015. For more information, click here.

On 8-9 February 2014, CIL Research Associate Junianto James Losari judged three preliminary rounds and the final round of the 2014 Indonesian National Rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, held at Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH), Indonesia. Universitas Indonesia and UPH respectively came as the Champion and the Runner Up of the competition in which 17 universities participated. In April, the two teams along with Universitas Udayana (Exhibition Team) will compete in Washington DC, USA.

CIL Head of Trade and Investment Law and Policy and Singapore’s WTO Chair, Prof. Michael Ewing-Chow and CIL Research Associate, Junianto James Losari taught Investment Law at the Master in Trade, Investment and Competition Law & Policy Program of Universitas Pelita Harapan in Jakarta, Indonesia. The 5-day intensive course (3-7 February 2014) cover various aspects of international investment law. For more information, 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.

CIL Research Associate Yvette Anthony assisted Senior Principal Research Fellow Christopher Thomas QC in teaching a three-day intensive training course for Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) officials on dispute settlement under international investment agreements.

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.

Senior Principal Research Fellow Mr. Christopher Thomas, QC, was invited by Thailand’s Department of International Economic Affairs to participate in a panel discussion on 27 March 2013 organised by the Thailand Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with the Royal Thai Embassy in Brussels and the Mission of Thailand to the European Union, on the issue of investor-state dispute settlement under the current EU investment regime. Fellow panellists were Ms. Eugenia Costanza Laurenza of FratiniVergano Brussels and Professor Jayavadh Bunnag of International Legal Counsellors Thailand Ltd, and the session was moderated by Dr. Vilawan Mangklatanakul, Director in the International Law Development Division in Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The purpose of the session was to assist Thai government officials in their understanding of the kind of protection offered and reciprocally demanded in the present model of investment protection advocated by the EU and the significance of the option of investor-state dispute settlement in arbitrating disputes which may arise.

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’.