SEA/1698

FIFTEENTH LAW OF THE SEA FELLOWSHIP AWARDED

NEW YORK, 7 December (Office of Legal Affairs) -- The Legal Counsel of the United Nations has awarded the fifteenth Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe Memorial Fellowship on the Law of the Sea to Mrs. Margaret N. Mwangi of Kenya.

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

The Fellowship is also 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 United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs, of assistance in the teaching, study, dissemination and wider appreciation of international law of the sea.

Mrs. Mwangi of Kenya is a Senior State Counsel in her country's Attorney- General's Office and holds an LL.B in Law. She intends to utilize the Fellowship award to pursue a programme of study in the control of marine pollution.

In the event that the selected candidate does not accept the award, alternate candidates in order of preference are Mr. Kaburoro Ruaia of Kiribati, and Mr.Phondany Sok of Cambodia.

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 has been awarded annually for the last 15 years. Previous Fellows have represented nearly all regions of the world. The following countries have benefited from the Fellowship: Barbados, Cameroon, Chile, Croatia, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Samoa, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga and the United Republic of Tanzania.

The Fellows are chosen on the basis of a demonstrated capacity for advanced study in the area of the law of the sea and its implementation, and in marine affairs; the determining factor is whether the award would further the chosen Fellow's knowledge and specialization, and would be of benefit to his or her country.

- 2 - Press Release SEA/1698 12 December 2000

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; the Permanent Representative of Germany, Dieter Kastrup; the Permanent Representative of South Africa, Dumisani Kumalo; Yukio Satoh, the Permanent Representative of Japan; 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, the Director of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs.

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, Coral Gables, Florida; School of Law, University of Washington, Seattle; William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaii, Honolulu.

A total of 49 applications were received in 2000 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 Panel found that the Fellowship programme continues to attract a wide range of high-calibre applicants and recommends that efforts be made to acquire additional funding for fellowships from philanthropic institutions, and to encourage universities to award fellowships to all finalists in the programme. In this regard, the General Assembly in resolution A/RES/55/7 has again 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 Fellowships provided by the participating universities.

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