Press Release
15th March 2019
London.UK. Professor Steven Haines, Trustee of Human Rights was invited to give a lecture at the University of Westminster on his latest research on the oceans governance “Beyond the Grotian Era: The Quest for Lawful Seas”. The event was co-organised by the International Law at Westminster Research Cluster and ILSA (International Law Students’ Association) at Westminster. Nickolas Louis (LL.M) and Elizabeth Mavropoulou(LL.M), doctoral researchers in International Law acted as discussants and the panel was chaired by Dr Marco Longobardo, Research Fellow of Public International Law.
Professor Haines delivered a fascinating lecture on the contemporary challenges facing today the international law of the sea, including the most pressing matter of the protection and enforcement of human rights on the high seas.He remarked that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was never meant to address human rights and the contemporary challenge of enforcing international law in the maritime space and most notably on areas beyond national jurisdiction, such as the the high seas, challenges the notion of exclusive flag state jurisdiction. This as well as the various human rights abuses perpetrated at sea is the springboard for the emergence of the new debate on human rights at sea in international law.
