Contemporary Concerns regarding International Law and Policy

The world is dependent on critical undersea infrastructure (CUI) in the form of fibre-optic cables and oil and gas pipelines. Without it, communication would be impossible and many nations would not be able to satisfy their energy needs. Yet CUI is notably vulnerable to attack and has been targeted by states and non-state actors in recent years. Many legal issues in respect of defending CUI remain unresolved, and in this talk Ian Park will identify and address salient legal challenges.

Ian Park is a Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School. He is a Commodore (Rear Admiral lower half) in the U.K. Royal Navy, a barrister, and Head of Navy Legal. Park has served in seven ships and deployed worldwide in support of the Royal Navy’s contribution to defense. He has also deployed as a legal adviser on operations to Afghanistan and, on many occasions, to the Middle East. Park is, or has been, a Visiting Fellow at Harvard Law School, a Hudson Fellow at Oxford University, a Mountbatten Fellow at Cambridge University, a First Sea Lord’s Fellow, and a Freeman of the City of London. He is a graduate and Scholar of St. John’s College, Cambridge; has a doctorate in international law from Balliol College, Oxford; and has lectured at Harvard Law School, Cambridge University, Oxford University, The Academy of Military Sciences, Beijing, Hanoi University, NUS Singapore, and Freiburg University, among other institutions. Park has written or contributed to five books including the monograph The Right to Life in Armed Conflict (Oxford University Press, 2018) and is a former winner of the Armed Forces Barrister of the Year at the U.K. Bar Awards.