History
The Centre for International Law (CIL) was established in 2009 at the National University of Singapore’s Bukit Timah Campus in response to the growing need for international law expertise and capacity building in the Asia-Pacific region. CIL was established as a university-wide research centre in order to foster multidisciplinary research and close collaboration with other NUS or external centres of research and academic excellence.
The Centre is an outcome of close cooperation between the National University of Singapore (NUS), the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The AGC contributes funding for many of CIL’s activities while the NUS Faculty of Law hosts the CIL premises and contributes its facilities and key members of its academic staff.
CIL was officially launched on 30 October 2009 by Senior Minister Prof S Jayakumar. The launch was also graced by Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong, Minister for Law Mr. K. Shanmugam, Judge of Appeal Justice Chao Hick Tin, Attorney-General Prof Walter Woon, Head of Civil Service and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mr. Peter Ho, Solicitor-General Ms. Koh Juat Jong, Ambassador-at-Large Prof Tommy Koh, Ambassador-at-Large Ong Keng Yong and Ambassador-at-Large Gopinath Pillai. Over 16 members of the diplomatic corps in Singapore and nearly 150 other guests from the legal, academic, government and business communities also attended the launch. For more information on the launch, click here.
Key milestones in the establishment of CIL are listed below:
| 27 February 2008: | Prof S Jayakumar, then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Law, informs Parliament that NUS, AGC and MFA are proposing to establish CIL. |
| 05 March 2008: | Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for Finance and Minister for Education, refers to CIL during the inaugural convocation of the NYU/NUS LLM programme. |
| 01 April 2009: | NUS Senate constitutes CIL as a university-level research institute. |
| 01 April 2009: | Assoc Prof Robert Beckman appointed as Director. |
| 01 May 2009: | Funding and office space for CIL transferred by Ministry of Finance and NUS Faculty of Law respectively. |
| 04 June 2009: | Dr Navin Rajagobal appointed as Deputy Director. |
| 15 June 2009: | NUS President appoints members of CIL’s Governing Board, with Prof Tommy Koh as Chairman and Prof Walter Woon as Deputy Chairman. |
| 16 June 2009: | First meeting of the Governing Board. |
| 01 August 2009: | CIL’s temporary website goes live. |
| 7 August 2009: | Office of Estate Development hands over the newly renovated CIL office to CIL management. |
| 01 September 2009: | Inaugural group of administrative staff appointed. |
| 25 October 2009: | CIL’s new internet website goes live. |
| 30 October 2009: | CIL was officially launched by Senior Minister Prof S Jayakumar. |
| 14-15 December 2009: | CIL organises its first international workshop on Submarine Cables and Law of the Sea |
| 20 January 2010: | CIL organises its first international conference on International Investment Arbitration |
| 18 March 2010: | CIL officially launched the CIL Documents Database |
Mission and Vision
The mission of CIL is to enable Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region to play a more significant role in the promotion and development of international law. CIL’s vision is to become a regional intellectual hub and thought leader for research on and teaching of international law.
Management and Staff
The founding director of the Centre is Associate Professor Robert C. Beckman and his deputy is Dr. Navin Rajagobal. For more information, click here.
Programmes and Activities
The Centre engages in research and training as well as counsel and consultancy on international law and policy. CIL organises conferences and workshops to encourage dialogue on significant international law and policy issues affecting South East Asia or the Asia-Pacific region. CIL also collaborates with a network of partner organisations in Singapore and overseas to further the development of international law thought leadership in the region. For more information on CIL’s programmes and activities, click here. For more information on CIL’s research projects, click here.
Focus Areas
CIL will initially focus on the following thematic areas:
- ASEAN Law and Policy
- Ocean Law and Policy
- Trade Law and Policy
- Aviation Law and Policy
- Intellectual Property Law and Policy
- International Dispute Resolution