International Relations - IMO International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI)

2019_01_08 - Judge Yusouf, Presid ICJ, visit (93) copy — H.E. Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, President of the International Court of Justice,delivered a lecture at IMLI on the 8 January, 2019

IMLI’s academic success is the result of its strong institutional links with national and international organisations in the maritime industry. Organisations such as The Nippon Foundation, IMO, Lloyd’s Register Foundation, and ITF Seafarers’ Trust have provided over the years the necessary fellowships for candidates from over 145 States and territories to pursue studies at IMLI. These organizations also support the Institute’s Distinguished Visiting Fellows Programme, such as the IMO Technical Cooperation Division which sponsors the visits to IMLI of senior IMO officials who lecture on the latest developments in the areas of maritime safety, maritime security, protection of the marine environment as well as delivered lectures on maritime legislation drafting which enhanced the IMLI students expertise in the field.

Other international institutions which provide valuable support to the Institute are the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Law Commission (ILC), the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC).

The Institute has also established strong cooperation relations with leading academic institutions, including the Universities of Ankara, Harvard, London, Ljubljana, Malta, Oxford, Queen Mary, Rome “Tor Vergata”, the World Maritime University, and Yale. Further, IMLI has concluded successful cooperation agreements with reputable institutions in the field of international maritime institutions such as Ankara University Research Center of the Sea and Maritime Law (DEHUKAM, Ankara), the International Foundation for the Law of the Sea (Hamburg ), the Centre for Commercial Law Studies (London), the International Ocean Institute (Malta), the Academy of Legal Sciences (Zagreb), and the US Naval War College (Rhode Island).

Furthermore, the Institute maintains extensive links with the Comité Maritime International (CMI) and its national maritime law associations such as the French Maritime Law Association, the Malta Maritime Law Association, the Nigerian Maritime Law Association, the Slovenian Maritime Law Association, and the Spanish Maritime Law Association. CMI has for several years supported the Institute’s Distinguished Visiting Fellows Programme by sponsoring the visits of leading world experts who visit the Institute and lecture in the areas of shipping law and maritime legislation drafting. These visits provide students with practical examples of the application of the international instruments and the response of the maritime industry in furthering the goals of IMO for safe, clean and secure seas.

It is these links with national and international organizations which are the cornerstone of IMLI’s position as the foremost educational Institute in international maritime law and an important venue for professional development and networking.