MILINDA GUNETILLEKE OF SRI LANKA AWARDED NINETEENTH LAW OF SEA FELLOWSHIP

Fellowship to Be Used for Study on Issues relating to Continental Margin

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NEW YORK, 19 November (UN Office of Legal Affairs) -- Milinda Gunetilleke of Sri Lanka was awarded the nineteenth Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe Fellowship on the Law of the Sea.

Mr. Gunetilleke intends to utilize the resources afforded by the Fellowship to study the legal issues relating to the continental margin.  He believes that such a study would greatly benefit his country in the process of preparing its submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf of its claims in relation to the continental shelf.

The Legal Counsel also named Elena Ostrovskaya of the Russian Federation, Michele Ahmed of Maldives and Dramane Sanogo from Côte d’Ivoire as first and second alternates respectively.

The Fellowship was established in 1981 in memory of Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe, who served as the first President of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea.  That Conference, which began its work in 1973, adopted the Convention in April 1982 and opened it for signature in December of the same year.  The Convention now has 145 parties, and is generally regarded as setting the universally accepted international legal norms for all matters relating to the governance, uses and protection of the oceans.

The award has gained wide acclaim for its academic contribution to the overall understanding and implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.  The award was made by the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, the Legal Counsel of the United Nations, on the basis of the recommendation of a High-Level Advisory Panel.

The Fellowship is intended primarily to advance the proficiency and capability of government officials, research fellows or academics from developing countries who are involved in the law of the sea or ocean affairs.

The Fellowship programme continues to attract a wide range of high-calibre applicants:  in 2004, 29 applications were received from all regions of the world.  The programme involves a course of study at a participating university or institution and a period of practical training at the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea in the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs.  The Fellowship is prized for the academic opportunity and the practical experience it provides to the participants.  Although most fellows continue to carry out their training at the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, some fellows in recent years have chosen to pursue their training with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) or the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

Despite its clear benefits and widespread recognition and appreciation, the General Assembly has repeatedly called on Member States and interested organizations, foundations and individuals to continue to make voluntary contributions towards the financing of the Fellowship as this would make it possible to award more than one Fellowship per year.

In the past year, Namibia made a financial contribution to the Fellowship fund.  Also in the past, individual States have made special contributions, which financed the award of special Fellowships at designated universities or institutions.

The Amerasinghe Fellowship has been awarded annually since its establishment by the General Assembly in 1981.  Previous fellows have come from nearly all regions of the world:  Argentina, Barbados, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Samoa, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, United Republic of Tanzania and Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro).

The Fellowship is meant to provide the fellows with 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 its wider appreciation and application, and to enhance specialized experience in those fields.  The Fellowship is part of the programme of capacity-building of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs.  It is also part of the Office of Legal Affairs’ overall programme of teaching, study, dissemination and wider appreciation of international law.

Sixteen world renowned universities and institutes participate in the Fellowship programme.  All of them waive their usual tuition fees in order to allow the fellows to carry out their research/study at the institution or university of their choice.  The institutions 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.

In the past, fellows have devoted their study and training period to maritime delimitation, methods for the determination of the outer limits of the continental shelf, maritime transport of hazardous materials, marine scientific research, the marine environment, crimes at sea, settlement of disputes and the legal regime of genetic resources in areas of the deep seabed beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.

The Advisory Panel that makes its recommendations to the Legal Counsel is composed of eminent persons recognized for their expertise in international relations and in the law of the sea.  This year’s panel was composed of the following:  the Permanent Representative of Namibia, Martin Andjaba; the Deputy Permanent Representative of Poland, Beata Pęksa-Krawec; the Acting Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka, Bernard Goonatilleke; the Deputy Permanent Representative of Mexico,. Manuel Gómez Robledo; the former Ambassador of Cyprus, Andreas Jacovides; John Norton Moore, Director, Center for Oceans Law and Policy, University of Virginia (Chairman); and Vladimir Golitsyn, Director of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations.

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