The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law is currently seeking contributions for a special issue, entitled, Ocean-Based Action: The Ocean-Climate Nexus and Human Rights, including advance publication online on a rolling basis. Abstracts are welcome until 1 August 2022, with further details and deadlines in the call for papers.
Monthly Archives: May 2022
Vacancy: Associate Legal Officer at ITLOS
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, an international court with its seat in Hamburg, Germany, has opened the following vacancy: Associate Legal Officer (P-2). Application deadline is 28 June 2022. More information is available here.
Filed under Vacancies
Calls: Implementing “Fit for 55”
The InterTran Research Group for Sustainable Law and Business, at the University of Helsinki and Turku School of Economics (Finland) welcomes proposals for extended abstracts to be presented at the upcoming international conference on Implementing Fit for 55 – The right Logistics and Transport Infrastructure for a Net Zero-Carbon Future. The Nordics at the Helm? The event is organized in collaboration with the Finnish Swedish Chamber of Commerce (FINSVE) and the Institute for Sustainability Science at the University of Helsinki (HELSUS). The conference will include presentations by invited participants (August 24) as well as by extended abstracts selected in the course of this call (August 25). Deadline for submission of abstracts is 20 June 2022. More information can be found in the call and here.
BS MoU: Interim Guidance on Repatriation of Seafarers due to the Conflict in Ukraine published
The Secretariat of the Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control in the Black Sea Region (BS MoU), have agreed on an interim guidance on the issue of repatriation of Ukrainian seafarers, creating a common approach for implementing inspection activities in respect to the repatriation of seafarers. Inter alia, the document encourages Port State Cntrol Officers to show “flexibility” and adopt a “pragmatic approach”, all the while considering that the port State should be assured that seafarers with certificates of competency and associated documentation issued by Ukraine might face difficulties when seeking their renewal. This Interim Guidance on Repatriation of Seafarers due to the Conflict in Ukraine published 10 May 2022 by the BS MoU is available here. A press release from BS MoU dated 19 April 2022 is here.
Filed under International Organizations, State Practice
Events: maritime boundary delimitation in practice
Law firm Volterra Fietta is organizing a seminar entitled Maritime boundary delimitation in practice. This event will address will discuss how States and private companies alike can better understand and negotiate, and if necessary, plead maritime boundary delimitation in the most sophisticated and detail-oriented ways. The event will take place on 18 May 2022. For more information, see here.
Filed under Events
Vacancies: Postgraduate Researcher at the University of Greenwich
The University of Greenwich (U.K.), with the support of NGO Human Rights at Sea, is offering a scholarship for a postgraduate researcher to address the relationship between International Human Rights Law (IHRL), the Law of the Sea and those other bodies of law of relevance within the maritime environment. The applicant must address the application of IHRL, the monitoring of human rights standards, compliance with and enforcement of the law. Closing date for applications is 30 June 2022. More information is available here and here.
Filed under Non-State Actors, Vacancies
CSO Alliance Launched to Support Vanuatu Initiative to Seek an ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change
On 5 May 2022, the Civil Society Organisations Alliance to Support the Government of the Republic of Vanuatu’s Bid to Request a UN General Assembly Resolution Requesting an Advisory Opinion on Climate Change from the International Court of Justice (CSO Alliance) was launched. In September 2021 the Prime Minister of the Republic of Vanuatu formally announced Vanuatu’s intention to pursue a campaign to request an ICJ Advisory Opinion on the rights of current and future generations in the context of climate change. This followed the previous positive response of the leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum (50th Pacific Island Forum (August 2019) Forum Communique, para. 16), and has had the subsequent indicated support of the Heads of Government at the Thirty-Third Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) (Communique (March 2022)). Consistent with Article 65 of the Statute of the ICJ and Article 96(1) of the UN Charter, the Vanuatu campaign has signalled its intent to table a resolution proposal before the United Nations General Assembly in September 2022 which, if adopted, would request the ICJ Advisory Opinion. The “exact statement of the question upon which an opinion is required” (Article 65, ICJ Statute) does not appear to have been publicly disclosed to-date, but the most recent comments of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Vanuatu (May 2022) refers to a request “to clarify the legal obligations of states to protect human rights and the environment from climate change”.
More information is available on the websites of the Vanuatu ICJ Initiative and the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change. On former related initiatives, see the 2011 (unsuccessful) attempt by Palau and the Republic of the Marshall Islands to have the UN General Assembly “request an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the responsibilities of States under international law to ensure that activities carried out under their jurisdiction or control that emit greenhouse gases do not damage other States”, including an explicit reference to Article 194 of UNCLOS.
Filed under Non-State Actors
Book launch: Unconventional Lawmaking in the Law of the Sea
The International Law Association (Australian Branch) will host a webinar, entitled, Unconventional Lawmaking in the Law of the Sea: A conversation with contributors, 26 May 2022, online, to celebrate the release of Natalie Klein (ed.) Unconventional Lawmaking in the Law of the Sea (OUP 2022). For more information see here.
Filed under Events
Calls: Non-use measures for global goods and commons in international law
The Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea (NILOS) and the Utrecht Center for Water, Oceans and Sustainability Law (UCWOSL) of Utrecht University, in collaboration with the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), are organizing the workshop “Non-use measures for global goods and commons in international law”, which will take place on 8-9 May 2023 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The workshop intends to look at a selection of non-use measures (e.g., bans, moratoria, closed areas) to better understand how specific non-use measures were adopted (or not) and with what effects, and to consider the potential for success of proposals currently under discussion or consideration. Non-use measures related to four themes will be discussed: marine living resources, Antarctica, areas beyond national jurisdiction at sea, and the atmosphere and outer-space. The deadline to submit an abstract is 31 July 2022. More information is available here.
UNGA: High-Level Commemorative Meeting on 40th Anniversary of UNCLOS
On 29 April 2022 the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly held an event to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), entitled, Informal meeting of the plenary to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (programme). The event was convened followed a request from the delegations of Denmark, Grenada, Kenya, Portugal and Singapore.
On 30 April 1982, following a request for a recorded vote by the USA, the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea adopted UNCLOS by 130 votes (in favour) to 4 (against), with 17 abstentions (A/CONF.62/SR.182, paras. 26-28, subject to drafting changes and with 2 delegations not participating in the vote). UNCLOS was formally adopted and opened for signature on 10 December 1982 (A/CONF.62/122).
Filed under International Organizations
Events: International Fisheries Law Conference 2022
The University of the Faroe Islands and the Law of the Sea Institute of Iceland are organizing a conference entitled Persistent and Emerging Challenges in International Fisheries Law. This conference will focus on challenges that emerge and those that persist in international fisheries law, including IUU fisheries related matters, institutional mechanisms in RFMOs, jurisdictional aspects in regard to fisheries disputes, substantive aspects in regard to disputes on the conservation and management of transboundary fish stocks, trade related measures with respect to fisheries resources and fisheries related matters concerning BBNJ. The event shall be held in the Faroe Islands, at Kongshøll, on 23 – 25 June 2022. Early bird registration deadline is 15 May 2022. More information is available here.
Filed under Events
EU/Norway: Understanding on Fisheries Management in Northeast Arctic
On 28 April 2022 the European Union and Norway reached an understanding on sustainable fisheries management in the Northeast Arctic (ICES subareas 1 and 2), including in the Fishery Protection Zone around Svalbard. The Ad-hoc exploratory consultations in relation to the fisheries in ICES areas 1 and 2 includes agreed cod quotas and consultations on (direct and by-catch) catch limits for other listed species. This resolves a bilateral disagreement brought to the surface following the 2021 UK-Norway Fisheries Agreement and Svalbard cod quota therein (see also, Agreed Record of Fisheries Consultations for 2022, press release, and 2020 Framework Agreement on Fisheries). Similar to the 2021 UK-Norway Fisheries Agreement, the 2022 EU-Norway Understanding notes “Norway’s rights and duties as a coastal State to regulate, in accordance with international law, the conservation and management of marine living resources in areas where it has sovereign rights, including in the Fishery Protection Zone around Svalbard” and is without prejudice to the Parties respective interpretations of the 1920 Spitsbergen Treaty, Part VII of UNCLOS, and the 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement.
For more information see the Norwegian press release and EU press release.
Filed under State Practice
Vacancies: Associate Professor in Law at University of Tromsø
The Faculty of Law of UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, opened a position for an Associate Professor, with primary teaching duties in international law of the sea and environmental law. Closing date for applications is 23 May 2022. More information is available here.
Filed under Vacancies
Calls: NCLOS Conference 2022
The Norwegian Centre for the Law of the Sea (NCLOS), at the Faculty of Law of UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, has launched a call for papers for its annual Conference, which will be organized in Tromsø, Norway, November 23-24, 2022. NCLOS invites papers addressing the Conference theme “Ocean Space”, broadly constructed. Examples of topics that would fall within the scope of the Conference includes the spatial architecture constructed by the law of the sea; challenges posed by ocean connectivity of currents, species, domains etc.; integrated ocean management; marine spatial planning; protection and preservation of the marine environment in the land-sea interface; limits and possibilities of thinking land and sea together within and beyond the LOSOG framework; effects of emerging issues threatening the marine environment, such as climate change, marine plastic pollution, ocean acidification etc. More information is available here.
Filed under Calls
De Maribus 