International Workshop (2019): “The LOSC 25 Years After its Entry into Force: Between Comprehensiveness and Exceptionalism”

Due to its comprehensive nature as a detailed and extensive framework treaty, which laid down the foundation for the further development and improvement of the law of the sea both at the international and domestic levels, the LOSC is often referred to as a “constitution of the oceans”. At the time, the LOSC introduced various novel or innovative legal concepts, some of which could be described as being “exceptional”. Against this background, the international workshop “The LOSC 25 Years After its Entry into Force: Between Comprehensiveness and Exceptionalism”, co-sponsored and co-organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan and the Institute for the International Law of the Sea and Maritime Law of the University of Hamburg, aimed to celebrate the LOSC's 25th anniversary and to evaluate the integrity, comprehensiveness and resilience of the LOSC as the main pillar of the legal regime for the oceans. The workshop took place on 24 September 2019 in the historic library of the AbyWarburg Haus in Hamburg, Germany.

Author: Sara Wissmann and Valentin Schatz