LAW OF SEA FELLOWSHIP AWARDEES START RESIDENCE-IN-SCHOLAR PROGRAMME

Press Release
SEA/1695

LAW OF SEA FELLOWSHIP AWARDEES START RESIDENCE-IN-SCHOLAR PROGRAMME

NEW YORK, 24 August (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) -- The Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe Memorial Fellowship recipients, Fathima Razni Mulafer of Sri Lanka and Derrick F.P. Oderson of Barbados, are scheduled to start their research/study (Scholar-in-Residence) programmes at two of the participating universities.

Ms. Mulafer, who was the recipient of the fourteenth Fellowship award, is due to arrive at the University of Virginia Law School where she will pursue her research studies under the supervision of Professor John Norton Moore. She will carry out her research on delimitation of the continental shelf.

Ms. Mulafer will spend six months at the University and will then undertake an internship programme at the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations, which administers the Fellowship programme. Ms. Mulafer, who is a Legal Assistant at her country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is involved in law of the sea and trade and economic matters; she also coordinates the work of the Inter-Ministerial Committee established to prepare the submission of Sri Lanka to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. Ms. Mulafer holds an LL.B degree in Law and LL.M degree in International Law, and intends to utilize the Fellowship award to pursue a programme of study on the legal issues relating to the delimitation of the continental shelf.

Mr. Oderson, an Environmental Officer at the Barbados Ministry of Environment, Energy and Natural Resources who manages its Sustainable Development Programme will pursue his Scholar-in-Residence Programme at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Mr. Oderson holds a Masters degree in Planning and an LL.B degree in Law. Mr. Oderson was the recipient of a special award made available through the generosity of the Government of the United Kingdom and Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom, whose Permanent Representative to the United Nations is a member of the High Level Advisory Panel for the award of the Fellowship programme, has been extremely supportive of the Fellowship and has sponsored three Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe candidates through special awards. Germany has also financed a special award of the Fellowship. The Secretary-General has repeatedly expressed his gratitude to the United Kingdom and German Governments and has expressed the hope that other countries might follow likewise.

Mr. Oderson will pursue his research/study for a period of 6-9 months on maritime boundary delimitation, marine resources and dispute settlement under the supervision of Professor Vaughan Lowe. Mr. Oderson will thereafter undertake his internship for three months at the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea.

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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 is intended to assist successful 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. The Fellowship is part of the programme of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, of assistance in the teaching, study, dissemination and wider appreciation of international law of the sea.

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 Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka, John De Saram; the Permanent Representative of Jamaica, Mignonette Patricia Durrant, CD; the Permanent Representative of Germany, Dieter Kastrup; the Permanent Representative of South Africa, Dumisana Kumalo; Hisashi Owada, the former Permanent Representative of Japan (he was absent from the meeting but provided comments in writing); Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom; Professor John Norton Moore, Director, Center for Oceans Law and Policy, University of Virginia (Chairman) and Ismat Steiner, Director of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea.

The Fellowship has been awarded annually for the last 14 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, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Thailand, Tonga and the United Republic of Tanzania.

A number of universities and educational institutions are participants in the Fellowship. Under the agreement, the universities and institutions waive the tuition for the study/research programme. The travel, boarding and lodging expenses are provided from the Fellowship Trust Fund. The following universities and institutions participate in the programme: 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; School of Law, University of Georgia, Athens, United States; 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.

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Due to the wide interest the programme has generated the General Assembly has repeatedly requested Member States and interested organizations, foundations and individuals to make voluntary contributions towards the financing of the Fellowship. This would enable the Advisory Panel to recommend more candidates for awards of Fellowship.

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