International law and ocean governance expert attends NATO conference in Lisbon

This September, Dr Edwin Egede, of Cardiff Law School attended the third Conference on Operational Maritime Law organised by the NATO Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Operations in Confined and Shallow Water and the Portuguese Navy.

Dr Egede specialises in international law and ocean governance and participated as a law of the sea expert at the event which took place in Lisbon, Portugal.

The conference explored current legal challenges in maritime security with an overall aim of specifically identifying legal positions among experts which may support current operations and contribute to the planning and executing of prospective operations.

The event’s audience was far reaching with NATO naval officers, national legal advisers, members of the US Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps and academics from a variety of NATO countries, such as the United States of America, Germany, Portugal, Netherlands, Estonia, Lithuania, France, Poland, United Kingdom and Turkey all being in attendance.

It was an occasion of fruitful interchange of views and vivid discussions on topical issues such as law of armed conflict, unmanned underwater vehicles, the mining of international straits, maritime law disputes on the horizon, South China seas dispute, freedom of navigation, stateless vessels, legal framework on persons rescued at sea and bunkering in the exclusive economic zone.