Archived Issues

Newsletter 2011/8

AsianSIL Events and Announcements

Call for Submissions
Asian Journal of International Law (AsianJIL)
The Society’s Journal is soliciting submissions for future issues. Articles should be between 8,000 and 12,000 words (excluding footnotes) and be submitted exclusively to the AsianJIL, with publication subject to double-blind peer-review and editorial discretion. For details on style and the submission process, as well as information on how to subscribe, visit www.AsianJIL.org. For enquiries, please email AsianJIL@nus.edu.sg

As part of the launch, many articles are available FREE for download at www.AsianJIL.org. We encourage readers to make full use of this opportunity to access the latest international law scholarship. Please also visit our new Facebook page and recommend AsianJIL to your friends and colleagues.

To make AsianJIL accessible to as many as possible, especially within the region, please encourage your institutional libraries to subscribe to our Journal. More details are available here.

Call for Papers - 3rd NUS-AsianSIL Young Scholars Workshop 2012
The National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Asian Society of International Law (AsianSIL) are pleased to invite applications to attend the 3rd NUS-AsianSIL Young Scholars Workshop 2012 - Asian Approaches to International Law. The Workshop will be held at NUS in Singapore from Thursday, 23 February to Friday, 24 February 2012

Click here to view more information on the workshop website.

To submit a proposal, please complete the Online Abstract Submission Form by Friday, 16 September 2011.

The 3^rd Biennial Conference of the AsianSIL
Asia and International Law: A New Era
Sunworld Dynasty Hotel, Beijing, PRC
27-28 August 2011
The Third Biennial Conference of the Asian Society of International Law – Asia and International Law: A New Era – will be held in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, on Saturday and Sunday, 27 and 28 August 2011. The Conference will provide a forum for a wide ranging and in-depth exploration of the major international law issues confronting the peoples of Asia and the international community more generally. Registration for this exciting event of the Society is now open. We look forward to seeing you in Beijing this August!

Please click here for more information and to register for the 3^rd Biennial Conference.

Call for Papers – 9th Asian Law Institute Conference 2012
Law: An Asian Identity?
The Asian Law Institute (ASLI) and the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore will hold the 9th Annual ASLI Conference in Singapore on 31st May and 1st June 2012. The purpose of the annual conference is to bring together scholars of Asian law from within and outside Asia to interact, share ideas and build collegial networks which may facilitate dialogue and research collaborations.

The conference format remains broadly the same as last year: there will be five rounds of six parallel sessions over two days. The broad theme of the 2012 conference is "Law: An Asian Identity?

Please visit our conference web site at http://law.nus.edu.sg/asli/9th_asli_conf/index.html for selection criteria, guidelines for abstract or paper submissions and other related conference information.

For enquiries regarding the conference, please contact the ASLI Secretariat at asliconference@nus.edu.sg.

Launch of the New AsianSIL Webpage
The Asian Society of International Law is pleased to unveil its new interactive website <www.AsianSIL.org>. Members can use the enhanced functionalities to create their personal profiles for opportunities to network and collaborate on projects, denote their areas of international law expertise, join an online platform to publicise their publications, and advertise international law events. Membership entitles you to the above privileges, a monthly newsletter updating you of the Society’s events and international law developments in Asia, as well as a subscription to the Society’s flagship publication, the Asian Journal of International Law.

The AsianSIL membership registration portal is now operational. Please click here to join the Society.

NUS Centre for International Law (CIL) ASEAN Documents Database
The ASEAN Documents Database is a free, user-friendly, internet resource of selected ASEAN and International Law Documents. More than 200 selected ASEAN documents and 170 International Law documents are now included in the database. Please click here to access the database.

Under the deal signed in Kuala Lumpur on 25 July 2011, up to 800 asylum seekers that arrive in Australia by boat will be transferred to Malaysia for processing in exchange for 4000 people who have already been given refugee status. The Malaysian government is preparing to receive the first asylum seekers covered under its swap arrangement with Australia as early as Sunday.

Myanmar: Ban underlines need to release all remaining political prisoners (UN News, 29 July 2011)

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a telephone conversation with U Wunna Maung Lwin, Myanmar’s Foreign Minister, “underlined that he had publicly welcomed the reform measures announced by the new Government”. Ban expressed his hope that the Myanmar Government would now move toward concrete action and take the country forward towards peace, democracy and prosperity. He also called for “early action” on releasing Myanmar’s remaining political prisoners, describing their release as the “single most important step the international community expected to take”.

UN panel demands China free Nobel laureate (AP, 2 August 2011)

A UN panel of independent legal experts – the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention – is demanding that China immediately free Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo and his wife and pay them "adequate" compensation. The Working Group issued opinions saying China is violating international law by imprisoning Liu and holding his wife, Liu Xia, under house arrest. [China has not responded.]

International Criminal Law – Philippine Senate urged to back International Criminal Court (Sun.Star, 29 July 2011)
Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario has urged the Senate to give its concurrence to the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“The position that we take on this important issue reaffirms our country’s leading role in promoting justice, peace and the rule of law in Asia, being a model of democracy in this part of the world,” Del Rosario said. President Benigno Aquino III ratified the Rome Statute last May 6. Under the 1987 Constitution, treaties ratified by the President need the concurrence of the Senate before these can enter into force and effect

International Economic Law ­– India, EU reach settlement on drug dispute (Business Standard, 28 July 2011)
India and EU have reached an "interim settlement" under which none of the EU’s twenty-seven members will detain Indian generic medicines transiting through Europe on suspicion of intellectual property right (IPR) violations. EU will also issue interim guidelines to their customs and all member countries advising them how to take the core principles of our understanding into the EU legislation.

Nonetheless India will not withdraw its case against EU at the WTO filed in May 2010 unless the EU abides by what it promises. This was triggered by the repeated seizure of Indian pharmaceutical products at EU ports destined for Latin American countries. The EU Parliament is expected to take about 12-18 months to amend the legislation and then India would examine that law. Additional Secretary in the Commerce Ministry Rajiv Kher noted, "We will finally withdraw the dispute only after getting convinced."

Japan, ASEAN to develop plan for strategic economic cooperation (Mainichi News, 2 August 2011)

Economic ministers from Japan and the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will agree to develop a long-term plan for strategic economic cooperation at their annual meeting in Indonesia in August. They plan to launch a 10-year plan for promoting strategic partnerships in areas such as trade and investment, infrastructure development, connectivity, human resources development and technology transfer. An ASEAN official source said the proposal was floated by Japan in recent months and is seen as an effort to chart new directions for their economic cooperation, taking into account the impact of the earthquake and tsunami disaster that struck northeastern Japan in March this year, which disrupted supply chains and is widely expected to push more Japanese firms to look for investment opportunities outside Japan.

International Humanitarian Law – Request for interpretation of the Judgment of 15 June 1962 in the Case concerning the Temple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia v. Thailand) (ICJ Press Release, No.2011/22, 18 July 2011)
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has given its decision on the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by Cambodia in the case concerning the Request for the interpretation of the Judgment of 15 June 1962 in the Case concerning the Temple of Preah Vihear (Cambodia v. Thailand). The Court began by stating, by eleven votes to five, that both Parties should immediately withdraw their military personnel currently present in the provisional demilitarized zone, The Court also stated, by fifteen votes to one, that Thailand should not obstruct Cambodia’s free access to the Temple of Preah Vihear, or prevent it from providing fresh supplies to its non-military personnel; it said that Cambodia and Thailand should continue their co-operation within ASEAN and, in particular, allow the observers appointed by that organization to have access to the provisional demilitarized zone, and that both Parties should refrain from any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute before the Court or make it more difficult to resolve.

Law of the Sea – China issues guidelines to ease South China Sea tensions (Reuters, 2 August 2011)
China has unveiled rules (see the Chinese Foreign Ministry's website www.mfa.gov.cn) aimed at easing territorial disputes with Southeast Asian states. This follows the guidelines the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued after they were agreed upon at the ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers' Meeting in July. The People's Daily, the official newspaper, observed that China’s issuing of the rules promoting cooperation showed that Beijing was sincere about resolving the maritime tensions. However, it must be noted that China will not retreat from its own wide territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Newsletter 2011/7

AsianSIL Events and Announcements

Call for Submissions
Asian Journal of International Law (AsianJIL)
The Society’s Journal is soliciting submissions for future issues. Articles should be between 8,000 and 12,000 words (excluding footnotes) and be submitted exclusively to the AsianJIL, with publication subject to double-blind peer-review and editorial discretion. For details on style and the submission process, as well as information on how to subscribe, visit www.AsianJIL.org.

For enquiries, please email AsianJIL@nus.edu.sgAs part of the launch, many articles are available FREE for download at www.AsianJIL.org. We encourage readers to make full use of this opportunity to access the latest international law scholarship. Please also visit our new Facebook page and recommend AsianJIL to your friends and colleagues.

The 3^rd Biennial Conference of the AsianSIL
Asia and International Law: A New Era
Sunworld Dynasty Hotel, Beijing, PRC
27-28 August 2011
The Third Biennial Conference of the Asian Society of International Law – Asia and International Law: A New Era – will be held in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, on Saturday and Sunday, 27 and 28 August 2011. The Conference will provide a forum for a wide ranging and in-depth exploration of the major international law issues confronting the peoples of Asia and the international community more generally. Registration for this exciting event of the Society is now open. We look forward to seeing you in Beijing this August!

Please click here for more information and to register for the 3^rd Biennial Conference.

Launch of the New AsianSIL Webpage
The Asian Society of International Law is pleased to unveil its new interactive website <www.AsianSIL.org>. Members can use the enhanced functionalities to create their personal profiles for opportunities to network and collaborate on projects, denote their areas of international law expertise, join an online platform to publicise their publications, and advertise international law events. Membership entitles you to the above privileges, a monthly newsletter updating you of the Society’s events and international law developments in Asia, as well as a subscription to the Society’s flagship publication, the Asian Journal of International Law.

The AsianSIL membership registration portal is now operational. Please click here to join the Society.

NUS Centre for International Law (CIL) ASEAN Documents Database
The ASEAN Documents Database is a free, user-friendly, internet resource of selected ASEAN and International Law Documents. More than 200 selected ASEAN documents and 170 International Law documents are now included in the database. Please click here to access the database.

The United States has declared it is prepared to support a UN-backed human rights probe in Myanmar after opposition icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi urged such an investigation. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi appealed to in a first-ever video message to the US Congress, asking US lawmakers to do 'whatever [they could]’ to support the work of the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar and assured that a so-called commission of inquiry would not be a tribunal. The US State Department has issued a statement noting that the Department is “consulting closely with our friends, allies, and other partners at the United Nations [as] the United States is committed to seeking accountability for the human rights violations that have occurred in Burma by working to establish an international commission of inquiry”.

S'pore refutes US trafficking report (AsiaOne, 29 June 2011)
The Singapore Government yesterday cast doubt on the human trafficking report issued by the United States Department of State, saying it is "riddled with inaccuracies". Last year, Singapore was put on the watch list for the first time since the start of the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report in 2001, putting it in the company of countries like China, Afghanistan and Syria. Being on the watch list means there is a significant number of trafficked victims in the country, and that there has been little evidence those efforts have been made to curb the crime. This year, Singapore is back in Tier 2, where it usually resides, meaning that the country does not fully meet standards on human trafficking but are making efforts to do so.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) highlighted two errors out of "numerous others" which appeared in the report. The first is a claim that there have been more fishing vessels using forced labour that "originated in Singapore"."The US should thoroughly investigate the 'reports' before faulting us for not pursuing our 'phantom ships'," MFA said in a statement.

Please click here for the US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2011.

International Criminal Law - Khmer Rouge leadership balk at proceedings in U.N.-backed trail (CNN, 27 June 2011)
Case Number 2, a joint trial for the remaining top leadership of the now defunct Khmer Rouge government for crimes against humanity, murder and torture. There are four defendants in the case -- Ieng Sary, the former Khmer Rouge foreign minister; his wife, Ieng Thirith, former social affairs minister for the regime; Khieu Samphon, the nominal head of state; and Nuon Chea, the prime minister also known as Brother Number 2. The International prosecutor wants to try several more defendants in cases 003 and 004, but the government of Cambodia wants case 002 to be the end of the Khmer Rouge trials.

The spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon had earlier issued a statement rejecting media speculation that the UN had instructed the co-investigating judges to dismiss case 003.

International Economic Law ­– WTO rules Philippine liquor tax illegal (Reuters, 27 June 2011)
In a confidential report circulated to the parties involved in the dispute, a legal panel at the World Trade Organization ruled the Philippines' spirits taxes discriminate against brands such as Jack Daniel's and Jim Beam as well as Spain's Brandy de Jerez, while favouring domestic producers catering for the archipelago's US$3 billion spirits market, the sources said. The ruling is confidential until its publication in August, and trade officials for the EU and United States were unable to comment on its contents. But it is being eyed keenly by Spanish brandy makers and U.S. firms such Brown-Forman Corp. which owns Jack Daniel's, and Fortune Brands Inc , which makes Jim Beam. "We have long questioned the Philippines' discriminatory tax approach. We are optimistic of a positive result from the WTO panel, which will be particularly welcomed by Spain since Spanish brandy constitutes the main EU sprits export to the Philippines," said Jamie Fortescue, Director General of the European Spirits Organisation.

International Organisations – UNESCO regrets Thai decision to denounce World Heritage Convention (UN News, 26 June 2011)
The head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Irina Bokova stated that “the World Heritage Convention of 1972 is not only the foremost international instrument for the preservation and protection of the world's cultural and natural properties which have outstanding universal value, but also widely recognized as an important and indispensable tool to develop and encourage international cooperation and dialogue.” Ms. Bokova expressed deep regret at Thailand’s decision to withdraw from the convention and she hoped that Thailand would “carefully consider its future course of action” regarding the convention and “continue to be an active participant” in the discussion of world heritage issues.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has announced that the next government will decide whether or not Thailand should rejoin the convention.

Law of the Sea – 'Joint development' is key, says Jayakumar (Channel News Asia, 17 June 2011)
Amid rising tension in the South China Sea, former Singapore Senior Minister S. Jayakumar called on the countries concerned to consider the option of joint development.

"Many countries are reluctant to refer such disputes to adjudication or arbitration because the daunting prospect of losing the disputed territory is politically untenable," said Prof Jayakumar in a keynote address at the Centre for International Law's Conference on Joint Development and the South China Sea. But there was a way out. The countries concerned, China, Vietnam and the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, could consider the option of joint development.

Click here for the keynote address