1 Introduction

For a small island nation, Sri Lanka has produced well renowned scholars in the field of law. Two names spring to mind, among several legal scholars. One is Professor C.G. Weeramantry who served as the Vice President of the International Court of Justice and the other is Mr. Moragodage Christopher Walter Pinto who passed away on 21 July 2022. This article is a tribute to Mr. Pinto’s services and focuses on an evaluation of the contribution towards the development of international law by Mr. Pinto who served Sri Lanka in different capacities ranging from an outstanding diplomat to holding key positions in international fora. He served as the first Legal Advisor of the then Ministry of Defence and External Affairs. The present article specially focuses on the significant contributions he made in different roles, inter alia, as a Secretary General of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal (1982–2011); Chairman of the Sri Lankan delegation to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (1980–81); Chairman of the Conference’s Negotiating Group of the Whole on the International Regime for the Seabed Beyond-National Jurisdiction; Chairman of the International Law Commission in 1980 and a member from 1973 to 1981; and Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Conference on the Law of Treaties (1968–69). Apart from the above, he also contributed to developing a Statement of Understanding, regarding the extended continental shelf claim by Sri Lanka in the Bay of Bengal which helped negotiate a special procedure for making a claim for an extended continental shelf beyond 350 nautical miles. Mr. Pinto also helped to develop the Asian perspective on international law by working as a General Editor of the Asian Yearbook of International Law. It is important to point out that his contribution towards the development of international law in these areas is significant because as an individual representing a small island nation, the impact and discourse he was able to create as a legal scholar was truly unparalleled. Due to his outstanding legal career and in recognition of his contribution towards the law, the Faculty of Law of the University of Colombo has a special prize in his name for the best student research paper, and he has also established a special Trust Fund on education and research at General Sir John Kotelawala Defense University. This article gives a brief outline of Mr. Pinto’s contributions toward the development of international law.

2 A Delegate from Sri Lanka at the Vienna Conference on the Law of Treaties

The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT), sometimes referred to as the ‘treaty of all treaties,’ is an international legal instrument formulated in 1969 that prescribes the way international treaties are to be negotiated and enforced. Mr. Pinto took part in the conference as a member of the Sri Lankan delegation along with Sir Lalit Rajapakse who served as then the High Commissioner of Ceylon in the United Kingdom. At that time, Mr. Pinto was serving as a legal advisor for the Ministry of Defense and External Affairs. The importance of the contribution lies in the fact that Mr. Pinto while representing an island nation which at the time was not a major player in the international arena was still able to engage with the participants in the conference on complex issues which arose during the negotiations. One important fact pointed out by Mr. Pinto dealt with Article 3 of the draft convention where he suggested that the Articles 3, 69 and 70 should be replaced with a general Article. Though this was not agreed upon by the majority, the mere fact that such discussion was being made can be identified as something important from the perspective of Ceylon.

A rather interesting episode occurred regarding the amendment proposed by Mr. Pinto as one of the Ceylonese delegates. The amendment he suggested to draft Article 27 concerning the interpretation of treaties, though rejected by a majority of votes, nevertheless gained more votes¹ in favor in comparison to the amendments suggested by the United States of America and Vietnam.

Perhaps one of the more significant contributions towards the development of international law in the realm of law of treaties that was made by Mr. Pinto is the proposal which he brought forward regarding the inclusion of jus cogens as something written into the VCLT. He thought this would be a milestone for the progressive development of international law.² This is remarkable since it would create a fetter on the discretion of States in picking and choosing their respective obligations arising out of an international treaty. As a general rule, States are not considered bound by a treaty provision unless they have given their consent. However, with a particular norm of international law that is recognized as a peremptory norm, States are considered bound by such norms irrespective of the consent and it would not be possible to derogate from such norms. The idea enunciated by Mr. Pinto which was later discussed and adopted at the conference with the inputs of other delegates representing their respective States is reflected in Article 53 of the VCLT which clearly prohibits the possibility of legislating at the international level through treaties which go against the recognized preemptory norms of public international law.

3 The Law of the Sea Convention and the Extended Continental Shelf Claim

One of the major criticisms leveled at treaty making is the lack of voice given to so called ‘developing nations’ in making or substantiating a claim of their own. However, the Sri Lankan claim for an extended continental shelf may provide an exception to this general practice. Sri Lanka was able to both generate a dialogue and to create a consensus among the more powerful countries to consider their claim in a serious manner. This was made possible by the delegates who took part in the discussion, which also included Mr. Pinto along with Dr. Hiran Jayawardene who at the time was the special advisor on the law of the sea. Mr. Pinto was appointed as the Chairman of the informal body of the whole and played a significant role in pursuing the establishment of the Sri Lanka’s position on the issue of the continental shelf.³

As it was discussed prior to the intervention of Sri Lanka, which later came to be known as the ‘Sri Lankan problem,’ the agreement was that each costal state will be given rights over their continental shelf subject to a maximum extent of 350 nautical miles according to the Irish formula which was already formulated as a part of Article 76 of the Draft Convention. Sri Lankan delegates pointed out that, ‘the foot of the continental slope and the 2,500-meter isobath are very close to its coast, while there is an exceedingly broad continental rise that extends many hundreds of miles from the coast.’⁴ It was contended that, ‘this rise qualifies under the general principle that the continental margin consists of the shelf, the slope, and the rise but is excluded by the more detailed rules for defining the outer limit of the continental shelf and continental margin.’⁵

Based on equitable principles, Sri Lanka proposed an alternative method for delimiting its continental shelf, through a proposal in an aide-memoire, by presenting the arguments for an alternative method of delimitation regarding States in the southern part of the Bay of Bengal.⁶ This proposal considered the special nature of the geological and geomorphological factors present in the southern part of the Bay of Bengal.⁷ Then it was pointed out that Sri Lanka has a unique continental margin both its width and the uniform thickness of its sedimentary layer.⁸ As a developing country, if the Irish formula were to be applied, it would have had the effect of depriving valuable resources for Sri Lanka which it could not have afforded since it would have excluded vast extent of its margin.⁹ The initial proposal made by Sri Lanka was to add a new sub paragraph to Article 76 of the draft Convention. However, this was not possible given the fact that when these discussions were initiated, Article 76 was already negotiated and had secured significant consensus among the contracting parties. To make any changes to the consensus already reached concerning the substance of Article 76 would have undermined the efforts taken thus far and it would also have not been practical to do so. As an alternative a Statement of Understanding was prepared with the support of India which came to be known as the “Statement of Understanding adopted on 29 August 1980 by the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea in accordance with the Article 76 of the Convention.”¹⁰ This was made an integral part of the draft Convention and provided an alternative method for the delimitation of the continental shelf.¹¹ This is a significant achievement for a nation like Sri Lanka to pursue its claim and to secure its recognition with the support of countries such as India, Soviet Union, and the United States of America. Sri Lanka has made its submission on the claim for an extended continental shelf in 2009¹² and is currently being pursued before the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.

Another significant achievement for Sri Lanka was the compromise agreed upon at the Conference regarding the payments to be made on the resources extracted by countries beyond the 200 nautical mile limit of the continental shelf. This was proposed by Mr. Pinto¹³ and it is reflected in Article 82 of the final Convention on the Law of the Sea that was adopted in 1982.

4 Contribution of Mr. Pinto as General Editor of Asian Yearbook of International Law

International law has been for the most part considered as a creation of the European powers. Due to this factor many of the other nations who do not belong to Europe have always entertained a sense of skepticism about whether it is in their best interest to observe the rules of international law for which they had no part to play in its creation. As an alternative to the European discourse on international law, it became important to others who wanted to advance a different approach and to have an academic forum to advance their claims or to confront the Europeanized ideologies surrounding international law. Mr. Pinto pioneered in creating such an academic forum with the launch of the Asian Yearbook of International Law in 1991 as one of its main editors to provide an ample space to generate research and collaborations on the Asian perspectives of international law as well as to formulate a separate stance about the Asian interests under international academic discourse which led to the emergence of alternative view points on international law, such as third world approaches on international law commonly referred to as ‘TWAIL.’

The Asian Yearbook on International Law was developed as a project of the Foundation for the Development of International Law in Asia (DILA) in 1989 where Mr. Pinto was a founding member. He was elected as a member of the Board of Governors, and in this capacity he was a member of the executive committee.¹⁴ The Asian Yearbook of International Law provided a platform for those who focused on international law from an Asian perspective to put forward their scholarly work so that they would get a broader audience who could both express and critique their views so as to advance the knowledge and scope of international law through broader perspectives thus enabling a greater consensus among those who hold different opinions concerning international law. Mr. Pinto served as a General Editor of the Asian Yearbook of International Law from 1991 to 1999 and as the Editor from 2000 to 2006.

The Asian Yearbook of International Law has enabled scholars and practitioners alike to contribute towards the dissemination of facts and knowledge concerning the Asian perspective on a wider variety of issues which go beyond the matters of pure Asian origin or interest. Mr. Pinto by taking this initiate as one of the founding members of DILA contributed to the idea of promoting Asian perspectives on international law through academia. This must be acknowledged for the fact that he endeavored to establish something sustainable in raising an effective voice regarding Asian concerns and perspectives within the main realm of international law. The Asian Yearbook of International Law has become an overwhelming success in achieving its ultimate objective which is evident from the fact that it has continued its publication of scholarly work for more than thirty years culminating in over hundreds of scholarly articles that have made a significant contribution to the development of international law, especially from an Asian perspective.

5 Mr. Pinto as the Secretary-General of the Iran-US Claims Tribunal

The hostage taking incident in Teheran that occurred in 1979 resulted in many hostilities between the United States of America and Iran, including the freezing of Iranian assets by the Government of the United States. In the aftermath of the incident, a claims tribunal was established, and Mr. Pinto was appointed as its Secretary General in 1982 and served until 2011 for 19 years continuously. It can be considered as an honor for a Sri Lankan to be appointed to such a position given the nature of the incidents that resulted in the establishment of a claims tribunal, where the experiences of Mr. Pinto as a diplomat-lawyer as well as his experiences in dealing with politically sensitive issues would have had a profound impact upon his selection. It was also important for the tribunal to have a full-fledged secretariat due to the number of claims which were anticipated to be brought before it. The overall responsibility of handling such a daunting task was left for the secretariat which prompted the appointment of a very capable individual, and in Mr. Pinto, they found such an individual.¹⁵ In 2014, he was appointed to serve on the five-member Atlanto-Scandian Herring Arbitration Panel¹⁶ that was established to adjudicate the dispute between the Kingdom of Denmark in respect of the Faroe Islands and the European Union. This appointment would have been to a large part influenced by the fact that he had served for nearly 20 years as the secretariat of the Iran-US Claims Tribunal.

6 Moragoda Endowment and the Special Prize in Public International Law

Mr. Pinto, being the generous personality he is, has contributed towards the development of legal education in the country through numerous ways as well. One such contribution is the Moragoda Trust where he was the settlor. It was established to advance, promote, and provide further education in the field of international law. The trust will be used to arrange annual academic programs on selected topics of public international law to be conducted by internationally renowned experts. This is consistent with the United Nations initiative for the promotion and wider dissemination of international law. This endowment has been granted to General Sir John Kotelawala Defense University through a Memorandum of Understanding which was signed in 2013. The fund has facilitated many foreign collaborations and projects between the Kotelawala Defense University and foreign affiliations in subjects such as public international law including the law of the sea and space law.

Mr. Pinto has also contributed to the establishment of a special prize for third-year undergraduates of the faculty of law at the University of Colombo where there is a special award for the best essay written by third year undergraduates on a selected issue of public international law as decided by the faculty. The winner of the prize is given a monetary incentive as well as a medal in recognition of her/his academic achievement which is awarded at the annual general convocation of the university.

Mr. Pinto had a multifaceted personality and his expertise cut across wide and varied aspects of public international law. Mr. Pinto’s demise is an irreparable loss both to Sri Lanka as well as to the international legal community.