SIXTEENTH LAW OF SEA FELLOWSHIP AWARDED

NEW YORK, 13 December (Office of Legal Affairs) -- The Legal Counsel of the United Nations, acting on the recommendation of an expert advisory panel, has made two awards under the Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe Memorial Fellowship on the Law of the Sea, the regular sixteenth award to Kamran Hashemi of Iran and a second, funded by a special grant from the United Kingdom, to Boris Danailov of Bulgaria.

The Fellowship was established in 1981 in memory of Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe of Sri Lanka, who served as the first President of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea.  That Conference adopted, in 1982, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, universally accepted as setting the international legal norm for matters governing the use of the oceans, as well as for the protection and preservation of the marine environment and its resources.

Mr. Hashemi of Iran is a Legal Officer with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran, where his responsibilities include matters related to the law of the sea, international organized crime and international terrorism.  He intends to devote his study during the fellowship period to either an intensive course on recent developments in the law of the sea or to undertake advanced research on the subject of crimes at sea.  Mr. Hashemi holds a Masters degree in international relations, with a focus on crimes at sea.

Mr. Danailov of Bulgaria, who was granted a special award based on a contribution to the fellowship fund by the United Kingdom, is a Legal Adviser at his country’s Maritime Administration Directorate.  He participates in project developments of the Maritime Administration with respect to international conventions, particularly those of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).  He holds degrees in marine engineering and law.  He intends to fashion his course of study in a way that would allow him to participate in updating his country’s maritime legislation.

In the event that the selected candidates do not accept the award, the alternate candidates, in order of preference, were David John of Guyana, Damien Nindorera of Burundi and Yuraima E. Franco of Venezuela.  Those alternate candidates were designated as “finalists” by the Advisory Panel.

The Fellowship is intended primarily to improve the expertise of government officials, research fellows or academics who are involved in law of the sea or marine affairs.

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*     Reissued for technical reasons.

The Fellowship is intended to assist successful candidates in developing in-depth knowledge of specific provisions or special regimes part of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, in order to promote overall 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, Office of Legal Affairs, of capacity-building related to teaching, study, dissemination and wider appreciation of international law of the sea.

The Amerasinghe Fellowship has been awarded annually since its establishment by the General Assembly.  Previous Fellows have represented nearly all regions of the world, coming from Barbados, Cameroon, Chile, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Samoa, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Republic of Tanzania and Yugoslavia.

In the past year, Cyprus has made a financial contribution to the Fellowship fund, while the United Kingdom has, like in previous years, committed funds for special awards.

The specialized areas of studies chosen by past Fellows included maritime delimitation, methods for the determination of the outer limits of the continental shelf, maritime transport of hazardous materials, marine scientific research and the marine environment.  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 Jamaica, Patricia Durrant; Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom; the Permanent Representative of South Africa, Dumisani  Shadrack Kumalo; the Permanent Representative of France, Jean-David Levitte; the Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of China, Wang Yingfan; Professor John Norton Moore, Director, Center for Oceans Law and Policy, University of Virginia (Chairman), and Annick de Marffy, the Director of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs.

The Fellowship programme continues to attract a wide range of high-calibre applicants:  in 2001, 23 applications were received 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 prized for the academic opportunity and the expertise it provides to the Fellows.

The General Assembly has continually called on Member States and interested organizations, foundations and individuals to make voluntary contributions towards the financing of the Fellowship.  Such further contributions would enable the award of additional fellowships.

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; School of Law, University of Georgia, Athens (State of Georgia, United States); School of Law, University of Miami, Florida; School of Law, University of Washington, Seattle and William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaii, Honolulu.

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