Researchers' Activities

CIL Director Robert Beckman attended the London International Boundary Conference at the Royal Geographic Society in London from 18-19 April 2013. The Conference was organized by the UK Hydrographic Office, Volterra Fietta and King’s College London and was held at the Royal Geographic Society. Prof Beckman spoke on a panel on the South China Sea and presented on the topic of “The Philippines v China Case and the South China Sea Disputes”. For a copy of his PowerPoint Slides in PDF format, click here.

In April 2013, the Human Rights Resource Centre (HRRC), an Indonesian-based research institution, published two baseline studies to which CIL Research Fellow and Associate contributed as Country Rapporteurs. Dr. Hao Duy PHAN is the Country Rapporteur for Viet Nam in HRRC’s Baseline Study on “Business and Human Rights in ASEAN”; the Baseline Study was recently launched in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 9 April 2013. Ms. Ranyta YUSRAN contributed to HRRC’s Baseline Study on “Violence, Exploitation, and Abuse and Discrimination in Migration Affecting Women and Children in ASEAN” as the Country Rapporteur for Indonesia; due to the wide scope of the Study, the Baseline Study is only published a year after its launch on 30 May 2012. CIL Fellows and Research Associate have been involved constantly as Country Rapporteurs in HRRC’s Baseline Study series since 2011. For more information and to download both above-mentioned Baseline Studies, click here.

CIL Research Fellow Hao Duy Phan was a presenter at the Conference on Business and Human Rights in ASEAN in Jakarta, Indonesia on April 9, 2013. The Conference was a major event organized by the Human Rights Resource Centre for ASEAN to launch a baseline study that examines the legal framework of ASEAN member states in response to business and human rights issues. The outcome of the study is a book published and distributed on the occasion of the Conference. Dr. Phan participated as a rapporteur of the Vietnam Country Report chapter. At the Conference, he delivered a presentation entitled “Business and Human Rights: Vietnam’s Legal Framework”. To download the presentation in PDF format, click here.

CIL sponsored a Panel at the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) in Washington DC on 5 April 2013, titled “Challenges for ASEAN: The South China Sea, Investment Protection and Myanmar”. Prof Michael Ewing-Chow opened the Panel with discussion on ASEAN legalization, institutionalization and economic law issues facing ASEAN, followed by Ambassador Arif Havas Oegroseno who talked about ASEAN and the South China Sea disputes. CIL’s Research Fellow Tara Davenport then talked about the approach of ASEAN Member States in negotiating and settling maritime boundaries (download her presentation in PDF format). Finally, CIL’s Senior Research Fellow Dr Tan Hsien-Li closed the Panel with a discussion of ASEAN’s approach to the human rights situation in Myanmar. The Panel was chaired by Edmund Sim of Appleton & Luff, and co-sponsored by the ASIL Law in Pacific Rim Interest Group and the ASIL International Economic Law Interest Group.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr Tan Hsien-Li presented her paper on ‘From “pariah state” to “civilised nation”? A gradual relinquishing of Westphalian sovereignty in Myanmar’ at the American Society of International Law Meeting 2013, Washington DC. She was part of the CIL-sponsored panel entitled, “Challenges for ASEAN: The South China Sea, Investment Protection and Myanmar” at which Professor Michael Ewing-Chow, Ambassador Arif Havas, Mr Edmund Sim and Ms Tara Davenport also presented. For more information, click here.

A/P Michael Ewing-Chow, Head of CIL’s Trade and Investment Law and Policy Programme and WTO Chair, NUS was invited by the World Trade Institute of the University of Berne and the Universitas Pelita Harapan to teach at the inaugural Masters of Law in Trade, Investment and Competition Law & Policy (MTIC) Program in Jakarta. Together with Research Associate, James Losari, he taught Investment Law with a particular emphasis on ASEAN and the context of investment policy in Indonesia.

A/P Michael Ewing-Chow, Head of CIL’s Trade and Investment Law and Policy Programme and WTO Chair, NUS was invited by the Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH) and the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN (ERIA) and East Asia to speak at the UPH-ERIA Distinguished Lecture Series on “Engendering ASEAN’s Services Value Chains”. H.E. Gita Wirjawan, the Minister of Trade for Indonesia opened the session and Prof Ewing-Chow emphasized the value of the rule of law for investor confidence in services investments particularly for telecommunications, logistics and finance.

CIL Director Robert Beckman participated in the 9th Japan-Singapore Symposium organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in Tokyo, Japan. Prof Beckman made a presentation on the South China Sea Disputes as part of the panel on ‘Maritime Issues in the Region: Establishment of the Order of the Law of the Sea’.

CIL Director Robert Beckman presented a paper entitled “The Philippines v. China Case and the South China Sea Disputes” at a Conference on the South China Sea at the Asia Society in New York from 13-15 March 2015. The Conference was co-organized by the LKY School of Public Policy. To download Prof Beckman’s paper, click here. To download his PowerPoint presentation in PDF format, click here.

A/P Michael Ewing-Chow, Head of CIL’s Trade and Investment Law and Policy Programme and WTO Chair, NUS was invited to teach at the University of Barcelona’s IELPO LLM Programme. He taught “Asian Regionalism” and suggested that the production network, the ASEAN hub and legalization were essential elements of the development of Asian Regionalism.