GW Law’s Manatt/Ahn Professor of International Law, Sean D. Murphy, spent the last week of the summer teaching on the law of the sea in Arusha, Tanzania, at the Summer Academy on the Continental Shelf. The Academy, which was jointly organized by the African Institute of International Law and the University of the Faroe Islands, brought together 28 government lawyers and hydrographers, mostly from across Africa, to receive detailed lectures and workshops on the legal and geological aspects of the continental shelf.
“The continental shelf is the natural prolongation of the continent underneath the sea before it reaches the deep seabed, and it may be exploited by the adjacent coastal State,” said Murphy. “Many African States are interested in pursuing economic development by identifying their continental shelf and delimiting it vis-à-vis their neighbors. The rules for doing so under the law of the sea, however, are quite complex.”
Professor Murphy was part of a team of six instructors; his lectures focused on treaty interpretation, rules on delimitation and dispute settlement, and the potential effects upon continental shelf rights of sea-level rise from climate change.
Murphy also serves on the board of directors (known as the Curatorium) of the African Institute of International Law, which has a mandate to train Africans on matters such as the law of the sea, foreign investment, and African Union law.