Page 9 - ICWA NewsletterOctober- December 2020

INDIAN COUNCIL
OF WORLD AFFAIRS SAPRU HOUSE

ICWA Webinar on ‘India and the 1982 UNCLOS’

8 October 2020

The ICWA Webinar on ‘India and the 1982 ICWA was the commentator.
AUNCLOS’ held on 8 October 2020 was chaired Prof. Bimal Patel observed
by Prof Bimal N. Patel, Director General, Raksha that UNCLOS 1982 is one of the earliest international
Shakti University, Gujarat. Panelists included Dr. instruments in which aspirations of the developing
Aniruddha Rajput, Member, UN International world were reflected. It is the ‘Constitution of
Law Commission (2017-2021) and Member, ICWA the Oceans’.There are a number of critical issues
Governing Council, Captain Sarabjeet Singh Parmar, related to UNCLOS such as interpretation of the
Executive Director, National Maritime Foundation, UNCLOS by international tribunals, maritime
New Delhi and Dr. Pragya Pandey,Research Fellow, delimitation, the legal order of the world’s oceans
ICWA. Dr Vijay Sakhuja,Former Director, National and the UNCLOS, future of ocean governance and
Maritime Foundation, New Delhi, and Consultant, capacity development, and maritime law, etc.
The complex relationship between UNCLOS and
Exclusive Economic Zones needs to be understood.
Seabed plays a major role in the earth’s ecological
balance and is central to the development of the Blue
Economy. It has relevance in the context of India’s
‘Sagarmala’ vision.He further observed that the role
of conciliation could be used as a viable dispute
settlement process instead of referring matters
to international tribunals. He said that maritime
disputes in Europe and Asia will test UNCLOS.

ICWA Webinar on ‘ASEAN’s Regional Security Vision
and the Sabah Dispute’

12 October 2020

The Indian Council of World Affairs conducted a Webinar on ‘ASEAN’s Regional
ASecurity Vision and the Sabah Dispute’ on October 12, 2020. The Webinar was
chaired and moderated by Shri Gurjit Singh, Former Ambassador to Indonesia and ASEAN. The Speakers
comprised of Dr. Udai Bhanu Singh, Senior Research Associate, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies
and Analyses, New Delhi, India; Mr. Joseph Franco, Research Fellow, Centre of Excellence for National Security,
S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technology University, Singapore; and Dr. Shristi
Pukhrem, Senior Research Fellow, India Foundation, New Delhi, India. The discussion centered around the
ability of ASEAN in building consensus towards addressing and resolving intra-regional disputes and whether
ASEAN has the will and capacity to help settle the Sabah crisis given that it was established to maintain
regional peace and stability.

ISSUE : 23 | OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2020 9