BILOS promotes free and online “Law of the Sea Week”

By Izabela Saralha Friguetto and Lillie Lima Vieira

Undergraduate students at Dom Helder Law School and interns at BILOS

The Brazilian Institute for the Law of the Sea (BILOS) promotes this month the Law of the Sea Week. For the first time in years, BILOS offers to all those interested in Law of the Sea, during a whole week, a series of events dedicated entirely to the Law of the Sea, in order to collaborate with the learning, research, publication and deepening of knowledge of this important legal branch. The events will be carried out between Monday (9) and Friday (13). It will happen virtually due to the covid-19 pandemic.

On the first day, Workshops on Law of the Sea will be held. In the morning, Professor Tiago. V. Zanella addresses the “Conceptual and Normative Foundations of the Law of the Sea”. In the afternoon, Professor Victor Alencar Mayer Feitosa Ventura will talk about “Brazil’s Rights and Duties on the Continental Shelf: Challenges for the Management of Marine Spaces under National Jurisdiction”. These workshops will be free of charge and transmitted by Zoom. The access to the virtual room is only to those who registered. For the subscribers a certificate will be issued.

On Tuesday (10) and Wednesday (11) the II ITLOS Moot Court Competition will occur. In this mock trial competition of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), six teams, three from Brazil and three from other countries, composed by undergraduate and graduate students will participate in preliminary, semifinal and final rounds. It simulates the trial hearing before ITLOS of a hypothetical case, written by Dr. Virginie Tassin Campanella. The debates will be entirely in English.

To maintain the confidentiality necessary for a competition like this, only the semifinal and final rounds that take place on Wednesday (11) afternoon and evening, will be transmitted live through the BILOS’ official channel on YouTube. The Dom Helder Law School, law school, whose team won the I ITLOS Moot Court Competition in 2019, will participate  again this year.

Lastly, on Thursday (12) and on Friday (13), the IV Brazilian Institute for the Law of the Sea Congress will be held. After the congresses in Salvador, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte, in 2020 the event will occur virtually, free of charge and transmitted through the BILOS’ official channel on YouTube. Several illustrious presences are confirmed on panels dedicated to various themes on Law of the Sea.

On Thursday (12), Judge Elsa Kelly, who was member of ITLOS between 2011 and 2020, will give the opening lecture. Then, on the same day, other lectures will be given in thematic panels. The most part of the lectures will be held in Portuguese, but a some of them will be in Spanish, French and English, valorizing the plurality of thoughts by the linguistic diversity.

On Friday (13), in multiple virtual rooms, the authors will present the papers approved for publication on the fourth edition of Direito do Mar: reflexões, tendências e perspectivas. This book will be launched during the Law of the Sea Week. All information about the lectures and other presentations can be found in the full schedule of the IV BILOS Congress. The event will end on evening, when Professor Yoshifumi Tanaka, at the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) will give the closing lecture.

To stay informed about all activities carried out and follow the public events, subscribe to BILOS’ official channel on YouTube and follow it on social networks.