The International Foundation for the Law of the Sea (IFLOS) is organizing a one-day conference as part of its ‘Maritime Talks’ series, entitled Arctic Issues with a Special Focus on Shipping and the Polar Code. The event will be held on the 14th March at The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), Hamburg.
For more information on registration fees, procedures and confirmed speakers see here.
Filed under Events
The Fisheries and Aquaculture Department of the FAO, and The Fisheries Administration (FiA) of Cambodia, will host a conference entitled Tenure & Fishing Rights 2015 A global forum on rights-based approaches for fisheries. It will be held between 23 – 27 March 2015, at the Apsara Angkor Hotel, Siem Reap, Cambodia. UserRights 2015 seeks participation and contribution from the widest variety of stakeholders with an interest in tenure in fisheries and sustainable natural resource use in general and fisheries in particular. The UserRights 2015 forum will provide its participants with a holistic understanding of the concept of rights-based approaches for fisheries needed for advancing and improving the basis for generating practical, constructive guidance for all stakeholders involved.
For more information see here, along with registration and a draft programme.
Filed under Events
Filed under Events
The Ad Hoc Open-ended Informal Working Group to study issues relating to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction, has concluded its final meeting (20-23 January 2015) by adopting a number of recommendations to the UN General Assembly. Of particular note the UN General Assembly should “[d]ecide to develop an international legally-binding instrument under the Convention on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction”.
For more information see the Working Group and its recommendations.
Filed under International Organizations
The K.G. Jepsen Centre for the Law of the Sea at the Arctic University of Tromsø is hosting a workshop on Environmental Standards for Deep Seabed Mining in Tromsø, Norway on 6‐8 May 2015. In addition to two keynote speeches on invitation by the organizers the workshop calls for abstracts by researchers (including young scientists) with a background in law, political sciences or environmental economics. On the basis of the submitted abstracts the steering committee will invite six speakers to present their papers at the workshop. The submission deadline is 28 February 2015 and more information about the call may be consulted here.
Filed under Calls
The University of Lapland is holding a conference on 20th February 2015 entitled “new challenges facing the Arctic ocean and other fragile seas”. The event occurs at the Arctic Centre in Rovaniemi, Finland, and there will be an online broadcast here (you can enter as a guest). The program of the conference is available here.
Filed under Events
The K.G. Jebsen Centre for the Law of the Sea (JCLOS) is arranging a PhD student summer course entitled ‘methodology and legal science within the international Law of the sea’. It will be held at Sommarøya (Summer Island), Norway, from the 4 – 5 June 2015.
For more information, see here.
Filed under Courses
The largest annual maritime conference in Europe will be held in Piraeus (Greece) on 28 and 29 May 2015. This year, the conference will focus on the role of ports and coasts as gateways to maritime growth. Many events are being organised: political sessions, workshops, face-to-face meetings, exhibitions and a networking reception. More information can be found here.
Filed under Events
Applications for the 2015 Programs of the Tulane Law School Summer Abroad are now being accepted. The course on “Maritime Law, Law of the Sea and Ocean Management” is to happen in Rhodes on May 17 – June 5, 2015. You can find more information on the application procedure here. The course list is to be found here.
Filed under Courses
The Centre for Maritime Research (MARE) will host the 8th People and Sea Conference in Amsterdam on the 24-26 June 2015. The theme shall be ‘Geopolitics of the Oceans’. Participants can propose the presentation of papers, posters and other visual materials. The deadline for submissions is January 31st, 2015. More information and submission forms can be found here.
Filed under Events
Despite the Note Verbale sent to the PCA on 1 August 2013, in which it reiterated “its position that it does not accept the arbitration initiated by the Philippines”, China has now reacted to the initiation of arbitration procedures through an official statement published in the Government’s website. You can have access to the whole document here: Position Paper of the Government of the People’s Republic of China on the Matter of Jurisdiction in the South China Sea Arbitration Initiated by the Republic of the Philippines. The deadline for an official reply from PRC to the arbitration court is the 15 December 2014.
Filed under Jurisprudence, State Practice
On 4 October 2013, the Kingdom of the Netherlands instituted arbitral proceedings against the Russian Federation under Annex VII to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The dispute concerns the boarding and detention of the vessel Arctic Sunrise in the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation and the detention of the persons on board the vessel by the Russian authorities. By Note Verbale to the PCA dated 27 February 2014, the Russian Federation has indicated its “refusal to take part in this arbitration”. The award on Jurisdiction was just delivered and can be found here.
Filed under Jurisprudence
The CPMR (Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions) Atlantic Arc Commission is looking for trainee in its Brussels office starting end of January or beginning of February 2015 for a 6 months period. The deadline to submit applications is 1st December 2014. Ideally, the trainee would be from one of the 5 Atlantic Member States: Portugal, Spain, France, United Kingdom or Ireland. Full details regarding this internship can be found on the websites of the Atlantic Arc Commission and of CPMR.
Filed under Vacancies
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has adopted the International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (Polar Code), and related amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) to make it mandatory, marking an historic milestone in the Organization’s work to protect ships and people aboard them, both seafarers and passengers, in the harsh environment of the waters surrounding the two poles. The continuation of this official press release can be found here.
Filed under International Organizations
The Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law (NIEM) has opened a call for papers. Applicants are to submit an abstract on the topic of “new challenges facing the arctic ocean and other fragile seas”(max. 500 words) and a brief CV (max 1 page), by January 15, 2015. The resulting conference is to happen on February 20, 2015 at the Rovaniemi, Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland. For further details, consult the call for papers. The program of the Conference will be posted here.
The University of Southern Denmark will be holding a conference entitled, Maritime Piracy: Remaining legal challenges and lessons learned. Where are we in 2014 and where are we heading? The event will occur on December 8-9, 2014. Templates, submission forms and further information can be found here.
A key step on the way to a mandatory Polar Code for ships operating in Arctic and Antarctic waters has been reached with the approval by the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) of the environmental provisions in the draft International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (the Polar Code), together with associated draft amendments to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), to make the Code mandatory. You can follow this update in more detail on the IMO website
Filed under International Organizations
The National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth will convene a conference entitled, Statesman and Seapower, 17 – 18 April 2015. The call for papers closes 28th November 2014.
More information, and submission procedures here.
Filed under Calls
This year’s Telders International Law Moot Court Competition, organized by the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, will be Law of the Sea related. The organizers have just announced that the participants will have to build on a mock case called The Faranian Shark-Finning Dispute which discusses a mock treaty called The Pacific Shark Sanctuary Convention 2013 . You can find the case here and more information about how to participate in the competition here. The deadline for application for participation by Universities ends on Monday 3 November 2014.
Filed under Competitions
The University of Dundee will organize the 2015 EU-Arctic Conference entitled “The European Union and the Arctic” on 29-30 May 2015. This conference will bring together academics and practitioners from relevant disciplines such as international law, international relations, political science and marine biology, NGOs, representatives from EU institutions and international organizations to discuss the EU’s potential contribution to enhance Arctic governance. A roadmap for increasing the effectiveness of the EU’s action in the Arctic will be drawn at the end of the conference. This conference is timely as the Council of the European Union recently (Council conclusions on developing a European Union Policy towards the Arctic Region, 24 May 2014) requested the European Commission and the High Representative to present proposals for the further development of an integrated and coherent Arctic Policy by December 2015. The call for papers can be found here (deadline: 15 January 2015).
Filed under Calls
The Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR) of the University of Porto is organizing the conference ‘20 anos da entrada em vigor da CNUDM: Portugal e os recentes desenvolvimentos no Direito do Mar’ (20 years of entry into force of UNCLOS: Portugal and the recent developments in the Law of the Sea). The conference will have two sessions, one on maritime spaces and natural resources and the second on the planning, management and control of the maritime space. The event will be held at the Salão Nobre of the Law Faculty of the University of Porto on 29 of October. Attendance is free but subject to registration. The whole event will be held in Portuguese.
Filed under Events
Judge Golitsyn (Russian Federation) was elected as President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and Judge Bouguetaia (Algeria) as Vice-President for the period 2014–2017 by the members of the Tribunal. (press release).
In further news: Mr Alonso Gómez-Robledo Verduzco (Mexico) and Mr Tomas Heidar (Iceland) were sworn in as members of the Tribunal. The two judges were elected at the twenty-fourth Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to serve a term of nine years, commencing on 1 October 2014. (press release).
Filed under International Organizations
An article on the South China Sea disputes by Robert Beckman and Clive Schofield was recently published in The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law. In this Seminar – happening the 9th of October – the authors will highlight the main points in their article and explain why they believe their suggestions could further the peaceful resolution of the maritime disputes in the South China Sea. More information and the registration form can be found here.
Filed under Events
The 69th United Nations General Assembly convened on the 16th September 2014, with the General Debate being held 24-30th September 2014 (UN Coverage). The opening of the General Debate on the 24th September marked the beginning of the intergovernmental negotiations on the future Sustainable Development Goals – which will expand on their predecessor: the Millennium Development Goals. The basis for negotiations, the UN Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals Outcome Document, currently includes:
Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
For further coverage, please follow the IISD Reporting Services.
Filed under International Organizations
Ghana has initiated arbitration proceedings under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Part XV, and Annex VII) to establish its maritime boundary with Côte d’Ivoire. For more information, see Ghanaian Government press release, and the Joint Press Release by Attorney General & Minster for Justice, Minister for Energy and the Chairman of the Boundary Commission.
The official press release of the Ghanaian government demonstrating the intended arbitration procedure.
Filed under Jurisprudence
The draft International Code of Safety for Ships using Gases or other Low flashpoint Fuels (IGF Code), along with proposed amendments to make the Code mandatory under SOLAS, were agreed by the inaugural session of the Sub-Committee on Carriage of Cargoes and Containers (CCC 1). The basic philosophy of the IGF Code is to provide mandatory provisions for the arrangement, installation, control and monitoring of machinery, equipment and systems using low flashpoint fuels, such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), to minimize the risk to the ship, its crew and the environment, having regard to the nature of the fuels involved. More on this can be found here.
Filed under International Organizations
The Association Internationale du Droit de la Mer has opened a call for papers on the following topic: International Law and Maritime Governance. Current Issues and Challenges for Regional Economic Integration Organizations. The event is to happen at the Université Ca’ Foscari Venice (Italy) on 20-21 November 2014. More information on the application procedure can be found here.
Filed under Calls
The University of Nantes (France) is organizing a conference entitled “The Legacy of the Slave Ship” to be presented by Markus Rediker. The event happens on October 14 and the registration form can be found here.
Filed under Events
The Federal Republic of Somalia has instituted proceedings against the Republic of Kenya before the International Court of Justice with regard to “a dispute concerning maritime delimitation in the Indian Ocean”. (Somalia Application).
In its Application, which is accompanied by three sketch-maps, Somalia contends that both States “disagree about the location of the maritime boundary in the area where their maritime entitlements overlap”, and asserts that “[d]iplomatic negotiations, in which their respective views have been fully exchanged, have failed to resolve this disagreement”. (ICJ Press Release).
The Somali Government requested the ICJ to establish a single maritime boundary between Somalia and Kenya in the Indian Ocean delimiting the territorial sea, exclusive economic zone, and continental shelf, including the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. (Somalia Ministry Foreign Affairs Press Release).
Filed under Jurisprudence
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea held its tenth regional workshop on 8 August 2014 in Nairobi, Kenya, on ‘The role of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in the settlement of disputes relating to the law of the sea in Eastern and Southern Africa’. The workshop was organized in cooperation with the Korea Maritime Institute (KMI) and with the assistance of Kenyan authorities. More information available in the ITLOS press release.
Filed under Events, International Organizations
On 13-14 November 2014, Ghent University (UGent) will be hosting an international two-day conference at the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the entry into force of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The conference, organized in partnership with the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Université catholique de Louvain – Mons (UCL-Mons) and the Université libre de Bruxelles, will pause at the success of the Montego Bay Convention in governing the use of the oceans. At the same time, it will look ahead and examine to what extent the Convention is properly equipped to withstand the various challenges ahead, including, for instance, competing territorial and maritime claims in the South and East China Seas and in the Arctic, the fight against piracy, future exploitation of the deep sea bed, ocean pollution, the increased recourse to the UNCLOS dispute settlement regime, etc. More information here. Registration and conference programme are available here.
Filed under Events
In its Award dated 7 July 2014, the Permanent Court unanimously decided that it has jurisdiction to identify the land boundary terminus and to delimit the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone, and the continental shelf between the Parties within and beyond two hundred nautical miles in the areas where the claims of the Parties overlap. The Tribunal was also unanimous in identifying the location of the land boundary terminus between Bangladesh and India and in determining the course of the maritime boundary in the territorial sea. By a majority of four votes to one, the Tribunal determined the course of the maritime boundary line between Bangladesh and India in the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf within and beyond 200 nautical miles (press release). You can read the full Award from the PCA here as well as the separate concurring and dissenting opinion to the Award of judge Pemmaraju Sreenivasa Rao.
Bangladesh-India Delimitation (p.163, Award)
Filed under Jurisprudence
The ESIL Law of the Sea Interest Group has already announced the selected presentations for the side event ‘International Law… and the Sea’ which will take place on 3 September 2014, at 16.30-18.30, in the occasion of the 10th Anniversary Conference of the European Society of International Law. The speakers have been selected through call for papers and will present a series of papers which focus on topics where the law of the sea has influenced the development of international law.The side event is open to anyone who have an interest in law of the sea issues and generally in international law. More information on the presentations can be found here.
Filed under Events
New requirements under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) to require all ships to have plans and procedures to recover persons from the water are among a set of SOLAS amendments entering into force on 1 July 2014. More information here.
Filed under International Organizations
Further commitments by states at the Our Ocean Conference (16-17th June) to ratify the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (PSM Agreement), will bring the PSM Agreement closer to entry into force – with nearly half the required number of parties. A Presidential Memorandum by US President Barack Obama, demonstrated continued commitment to seek congressional ratification of the PSM Agreement. As reported by the US Department of State, several states have made, or are shortly forthcoming, commitments to expanded marine protected areas (MPA) within the Pacific Ocean. This includes commitments by the Cook Islands, Bahamas and Palau – with a total area covered at approximately 3 million square kilometers. Should the announced USA Pacific Ocean MPA be formally adopted, it will replace the New Caledonia Coral Sea Nature Park as the World’s largest MPA. More information on this conference (attended by approximately 400 government officials, marine experts and conservation organizations from 80 countries) to be found here.
Filed under State Practice
The Goettingen Journal of International Law is launching its anual student essay competition. Participants are free to choose both the topic and the exact area of the international law of the sea on which their submissions will elaborate. The deadline for submissions is 15 September 2014. More information on this call can be found here.
The flyer of this year’s GoJIL student essay competition.
Filed under Calls
Government, employer and worker delegates to the International Labour Conference (ILC), at the 103rd annual meeting of International Labour Organization (ILO), overwhelmingly voted in favour of approving amendments to the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC,2006) in order to better protect abandoned seafarers, and provide financial security for compensation to seafarers and their families in cases of a seafarer’s death or long-term disability. These international legal measures are aimed at improving working and living conditions for seafarers, the most globalized of the world’s workers. These amendments can be found here and this ILO press release continues here.
Filed under International Organizations
Countries took a major step forward in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing today as they endorsed a set of international guidelines that will hold states more accountable for the activities of fishing vessels flying their flags. The FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Flag State Performance spell out a range of actions that countries can take to ensure that vessels registered under their flags do not conduct IUU fishing, one of the greatest threats to sustainable fisheries and related livelihoods. All the information on the results of the thirty-first session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries can be found here.
Filed under International Organizations
Seven Members of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea were today elected at the twenty-fourth Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, in session at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The States Parties re-elected the following five Members: Judge Yanai (Japan), Judge Hoffmann (South Africa), Judge Pawlak (Poland), Judge Kateka (Tanzania) and Judge Paik (Republic of Korea). In addition, the Meeting elected Mr Alonso Gómez-Robledo Verduzco (Mexico) and Mr Tomas Heidar (Iceland). The judges were elected for a term of nine years commencing on 1 October 2014. More information on who’s who can be found here.
Filed under State Practice
Countries today endorsed a set of wide-reaching guidelines that will boost the already vital role of small-scale fishers in contributing to global food security, nutrition and poverty eradication. The Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication are designed to support the world’s millions of small-scale fishers, particularly in developing countries, by promoting their human rights and safeguarding the sustainable use of the fishery resources they depend upon for their livelihoods. Those guidelines, endorsed by FAO’s Committee on Fisheries, are published here.
Filed under International Organizations
In an effort to highlight the role of the oceans, and thus the importance of the Law of the Sea, the 8th June marked this year’s World Oceans Day. The celebration of World Oceans Day 2014 coincides with the first day of the twenty-fourth Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention. On this occasion, some important statements have been produced:
World Oceans Day has been marked since 2009, having been established by General Assembly Resolution 63/111, para. 171.
Filed under International Organizations
The foreign policy communiqué of the Group of 7 (G7), published 4th June 2014, covers an item of particular interest to the law of the sea:
Maritime Navigation and Aviation
16. We reaffirm the importance of maintaining a maritime order based upon the universally-agreed principles of international law. We remain committed to international cooperation to combat piracy and other maritime crime, consistent with international law and internationally recognised principles of jurisdiction in international waters. We are deeply concerned by tensions in the East and South China Sea. We oppose any unilateral attempt by any party to assert its territorial or maritime claims through the use of intimidation, coercion or force. We call on all parties to clarify and pursue their territorial and maritime claims in accordance with international law. We support the rights of claimants to seek peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law, including through legal dispute settlement mechanisms. We also support confidence-building measures. We underscore the importance of the freedom of navigation and overflight and also the effective management of civil air traffic based on international law and International Civil Aviation Organization standards and practices.
It is available here.
Filed under State Practice
The Arbitral Tribunal in the case brought by the Republic of the Philippines against the People’s Republic of China under Annex VII to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (“the Convention”), has issued its second Procedural Order, establishing the next steps in the timetable for the arbitration. This follows the second meeting of the Members of the Arbitral Tribunal, held at the Peace Palace in The Hague on 14 and 15 May 2014. In accordance with the Tribunal’s first Procedural Order dated 27 August 2013, the Philippines filed its Memorial on 30 March 2014, addressing matters relating to the jurisdiction of the Arbitral Tribunal, the admissibility of the Philippines’ claim, as well as the merits of the dispute. In Procedural Order No. 2, the Arbitral Tribunal fixes 15 December 2014 as the date for China to submit its Counter-Memorial responding to the Philippines’ Memorial. The Arbitral Tribunal will determine the further course of the proceedings, including the need for, and scheduling of any other written submissions and hearings, at an appropriate later stage, after seeking the views of the Parties. More information on the case here and here.
Filed under Jurisprudence
Ministers from participating States in the Code of Conduct concerning the Repression of Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in the Western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden (the Djibouti Code of Conduct) have recognized the need to develop a mechanism for the region to run its own counter-piracy agenda, following the successful implementation by IMO of numerous projects aimed at improving regional capacity to counter piracy by developing enhanced regional cooperation and coordination. More information on this agreement can be found here.
Filed under International Organizations
Filed under International Organizations
The Refugee Law Initiative, University of London, and the Department of Law at Queen Mary University of London presents a conference titled ‘ “Boat Refugees” and migrants at sea: a comprehensive approach – integrating maritime security with human rights’. This conference aims to comprehensively address the contemporary phenomenon of ‘boat migration’ with a holistic approach. We will consider its multiple facets, combining knowledge from several disciplines and regions of the world, with a view to making a decisive contribution to our understanding of current trends, against the background of the fragmentary responses adopted and innumerable tragedies occurred thus far. The conference happens on 23 and 24 June 2014. More information here.
Filed under Events
The fifteenth meeting of the Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea will take place between the 27-30 May, 2014, at the United Nations Headquarters. The topic of the meeting is “the role of seafood in global food security”. More information on this meeting, and all previous meetings is available here.
Filed under International Organizations
After twenty years of negotiations, the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Government of the Republic Indonesia concerning the delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone boundary has been successfully signed. The Agreement was met with support by the European Union. Further information on this achievement is provided by the Philippines Government here.
The PH-RI EEZ Boundary is defined by geodetic lines connecting eight points. These points are indicated in geographical coordinates that form a single line as illustrated in the chart shown below. The total length of the line is 627.51 nautical miles or 1,162.2 kilometers from points 1 to 8.
Filed under Treaties
Filed under International Organizations
The European Maritime Safety Agency has just published its 5-year strategy for 2014-2019. The strategy provides clear and concrete guidelines for EMSA’s future development and has been updated to reflect the changes brought about by the revised founding regulation, in force since March 2013. The document is now available here.
Filed under International Organizations
De Maribus 