Miguel Enrique Tesoro Torres of Cuba Awarded Twenty-fifth Hamilton Shirley

 

Amerasinghe Memorial Fellowship on Law of the Sea

 

Ousmane Diouf of Senegal Selected as Alternate;

Winner’s Proposed Research Focused on Delimitation of Maritime Spaces

NEW YORK, 23 July (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea/DOALOS, Office of Legal Affairs) — Miguel Enrique Tesoro Torres of Cuba has been awarded the twenty-fifth Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe Fellowship on the Law of the Sea.  Ousmane Diouf of Senegal has been selected as alternate in case Mr. Torres is unable to accept the Fellowship.

Mr. Torres will carry out his proposed research/study on the issues of “delimitation of maritime spaces and the exploration and exploitation of sea resources”.

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.  It 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 Patricia O’Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel, on the basis of recommendation by a High-level Advisory Panel.  This year’s Panel comprised the following:  Mateo Estreme, Chargé d’affaires of Argentina; Isabelle F. Picco, Permanent Representative of Monaco; Mohammed Loulichki, Permanent Representative of Morocco; Wilfried I. Emvula, Permanent Representative of Namibia; Sanja Štiglic, Permanent Representative of Slovenia; Fernando Arias, Permanent Representative of Spain; and Palitha T.B. Kohona, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka.

Prized for the academic opportunity and practical experience it provides to participants, the Fellowship involves 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 followed by a research period at a participating academic institution.

The Fellowship was established in 1981 in memory of Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe, 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, opening it for signature in December that year.  The Convention now has 162 States parties and is generally regarded as “the constitution of the oceans”, regulating international legal norms for all matters relating to the governance, uses and protection of the oceans.

Part of the capacity-building programme of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, the Fellowship is also part of the Office of Legal Affairs’ overall programme of teaching, study, dissemination and wider appreciation of international law.  Despite its clear benefits and widespread recognition and appreciation, only one Fellowship could be awarded in a year due to lack of funds.

The General Assembly has again this year, in its resolution 66/231, called on Member States and interested organizations, foundations and individuals to continue to make voluntary contributions towards the financing of the Fellowship to ensure that it is awarded every year.  In the past year, the Governments of Argentina, Cyprus, Monaco, Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have made financial contributions to the Fellowship fund.  Also, in the past, individual States have made special contributions to finance the award of special Fellowships at designated universities or institutions.

Previous fellows have come from nearly all regions of the world:  Argentina; Barbados; Bulgaria; Cameroon; Cape Verde; Chile; Colombia; Indonesia; Iran; Kenya; Nepal; Nigeria; Palau; Papua New Guinea; Sao Tome and Principe; Samoa; Seychelles; Sri Lanka; Thailand; Tonga; Trinidad and Tobago; United Republic of Tanzania; Viet Nam; and the former Yugoslavia.  They have devoted their study and training period to various topics such as maritime boundaries 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.

Seventeen 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:  Centre for Oceans Law and Policy, University of Virginia, United States; Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada; Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, United Kingdom; Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, Switzerland; Institute of International Studies, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile; Institute of Maritime Law, University of Southampton, United Kingdom; Marine Policy Center, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts, United States; Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, Germany; Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea, University of Utrecht, Netherlands; Research Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom; Rhodes Academy of Ocean Law and Policy, Greece; School of Law, University of Georgia, United States; School of Law, University of Miami, United States; School of Law, University of Washington, United States; William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaii, United States; Gerard J. Mangone Center for Marine Policy, University of Delaware, United States; and the Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore.

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For information media • not an official record