ANNUAL LAW OF SEA FELLOWSHIP AWARDED TO ARIT MKPANDIOK OF NIGERIA
Press Release
SEA/1612
ANNUAL LAW OF SEA FELLOWSHIP AWARDED TO ARIT MKPANDIOK OF NIGERIA
19981214 NEW YORK, 11 December (Office of Legal Affairs) -- The thirteenth Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe Memorial Fellowship on the Law of the Sea has been awarded this year to Arit Mkpandiok of Nigeria. A special award, also under the Fellowship programme, funded by Germany, has been granted to Masio Nidung of Papua New Guinea.The Amerasinghe Fellowship was established by the General Assembly in 1981 in memory and recognition of the contribution made to the development of the law of the sea by the late Ambassador Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe of Sri Lanka, who presided over the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea from its inception in 1973 until he passed away in 1980. The Fellowship has been awarded annually for the last 13 years. Previous Fellows have represented nearly all regions of the world. The following countries have benefited from the Fellowship: Cameroon, Chile, Croatia, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Samoa, Seychelles, Thailand, Tonga, and the United Republic of Tanzania.
The fellowship is intended primarily for government officials, as well as research fellows or lecturers who are involved in ocean law or maritime affairs. It is part of the programme of the United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs, of assistance in the teaching, study, dissemination and wider appreciation of international law of the sea.
One purpose of the Fellowship is to assist candidates to acquire additional knowledge of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, in order to promote its wider appreciation and application, and to enhance specialized experience in those fields.
Ms. Mkpandiok is a lecturer at the Maritime Academy of Nigeria. She has published a number of articles and has been involved in areas concerning marine pollution and its impact on coastal zone management. She holds an advanced degree in maritime administration and environmental protection. She intends to utilize the Fellowship award to pursue a programme of study in sea use planning and coastal zone management.
Ms. Nidung, of Papua New Guinea, has been granted a special award funded by Germany and will pursue a course of study in international law at the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg, Germany. Ms. Nidung is Director, International Law in her country's Department of Attorney-General. For Papua New Guinea, which is a party to the Convention on the Law of the Sea, delimitation and marine scientific research have been identified as priority matters, according to Ms. Nidung. In this context, she intends to pursue a course of study revolving around the formulation of a consent regime for marine scientific research.
The Fellows are chosen on the basis of a demonstrated capacity for advanced study in the area of the law of the sea and its implementation, and in marine affairs and the determination for the award is that it would further the chosen Fellow's knowledge and specialization, and would be of benefit to his or her country.
The Fellowship is awarded by the Legal Counsel of the United Nations, Hans Corell, on the recommendation of an Advisory Panel, composed of eminent persons in international relations and in the law of the sea and its implementation. This year's panel was composed of the following: the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka, John de Saram; the Permanent Representative of Germany, Dieter Kastrup; the Permanent Representative of Egypt, Nabil Elaraby; the former Permanent Representative of Japan, Hisashi Owada (Chairman); the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom, Sir Jeremy Greenstock; Professor John Norton Moore, Director, Center for Oceans Law and Policy, University of Virginia (who did not attend); and the Director of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs, Ismat Steiner.
Over the years, the Advisory Panel, which evaluates the candidates, has urged that the facilities provided by the participating universities should be used to the fullest and that every effort should be made to accommodate more than one Fellowship in each year. The General Assembly, for its part, has repeatedly requested Member States and interested organizations, foundations and individuals to make voluntary contributions towards the financing of the Fellowship.
The participating universities are: Center for Oceans Law and Policy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville; Dalhousie Law School, Halifax, Canada; Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, United Kingdom; Faculty of Law, University of Southampton, United Kingdom; Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, Switzerland; Institute of International Studies, University of Chile, Santiago; International Boundaries Research Unit, University of Durham, United Kingdom; Marine Policy Center, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts; Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea, University of Utrecht; Research Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom; Rhodes Academy of Oceans Law and Policy, Greece;
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School of Law, University of Georgia, Athens (State of Georgia, USA); School of Law, University of Miami, Coral Gables; School of Law, University of Washington, Seattle; William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaii, Honolulu.
The Fellowship programme continues to attract a wide range of high calibre applicants, with 71 submissions from all regions of the world. The programme, which includes a course of study at a participating university or institute and a period of practical experience at the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, is steadily growing in interest and is prized for the academic opportunity and the expertise it provides to the Fellows.
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