Even in the middle of the ocean, the law is in action. Legal experts are constantly needed to interpret the laws established by United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Thus, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) was established in 1994 as an independent body in Hamburg, Germany--a traditional port city--to deal with international maritime disputes. Today, a maritime law program is also based at the tribunal's headquarters.

The Convention on the Law of the Sea established a comprehensive legal framework to regulate all ocean space, including its uses and resources. It contains provisions relating to territorial waters, contiguous zones, continental shelves, exclusive economic zones, and the high seas. It also provides for the protection and preservation of the marine environment, for scientific marine research, and for the development and transfer of marine technology. One of the most important parts of the Convention concerns the exploration for and exploitation of the resources of the ocean floor and its subsoil.

With the support of the Nippon Foundation, ITLOS established a capacity-building and training program on dispute settlement under the UN's Convention on the Law of the Sea. The program has been developed to offer in-depth knowledge of the dispute-settlement mechanisms available to young government officials and researchers working with maritime law. The training program began in July 2007.

Applicants can be between the ages of 25 and 40. They must have a university degree in law and demonstrate a capacity to undertake independent scientific research, study and training. They should be mid-level government officials from an administration or government agency dealing with ocean affairs or sea-related matters, as well as legal issues relating to this field; or researchers from an institute (academic or government) dealing with ocean or sea-related matters as well as legal issues relating to these areas of concern.