ILA Singaporean Branch: Lecture on International Law Relating to Islands

ILA Singaporean Branch: Lecture on International Law Relating to Islands Event Report: Lecture by Professor Sean Murphy on "International Law Relating to Islands"

On 13 December 2016, Professor Sean Murphy of the George Washington University Law School and member of the United Nations International Law Commission delivered a lecture titled "International Law Relating to Islands". Co-organised by the Singapore Branch of the International Law Association and Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP, the topics covered in the lecture included:

- the meaning of "island" in international law, and whether artificial islands generate maritime entitlements; 
- the relevance of islands in generating maritime zones;
- the acquisition of sovereignty over islands;
- the effects of islands on maritime delimitation
- the legal ramifications for the effect of climate change for islands; and
- the prospects for resolving island-related disputes peacefully.

Professor Murphy gave participants a tour de force of public international law relating to islands, focusing in particular on how the Hague-based tribunal in the recent Philippines v China arbitration (constituted under Annex VII of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ('UNCLOS'), with the Permanent Court of Arbitration acting as the registry) analyzed the issue of what constituted "islands" in the South China Sea.   

Click here to download a full report:   International Law relating to Islands - Report of Seminar (490KB)