Advocacy, Analysis, and Accountability: Developing Informed Approaches to International Humanitarian Law, International Criminal Law and Human Rights Law in the Asia-Pacific Region
Summer Institute May 11-24, 2008
The 2008 Summer Institute for International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights (Summer Institute 2008) is an advanced two-week workshop designed for participants working across a broad range of fields and disciplines related to IHL and Human Rights. The workshop is best suited to people working within the Asia-Pacific region or with an Asia-Pacific focus. Summer Institute 2008 seeks to attract journalists, NGO workers, investigators, monitors, government agency workers, as well as lawyers and advanced law students to participate.
Summer Institute 2008 will be held with our partners, the Office of Human Rights Studies and Social Development at Mahidol University in Bangkok next year. It will focus on the theme of Asia-Pacific Transitional Justice and Peace-Building.
Summer Institute 2008 will provide participants with an in-depth look at the key mechanisms being utilized to deal with gross IHL and human rights violations committed throughout the Asia-Pacific region today, with a particular focus on Southeast Asia. Some of the mechanisms that will be considered during the course include:
- Transitional justice mechanisms
- Post conflict trials
- Methods of inquiry and investigation
- Legal framework to post conflict situations
- Human rights monitoring and reporting
- Peace-building initiatives
Participants will be taught by a faculty of experts from the region, including David Cohen, director of Asian International Justice Initiative, Dato Param Cumaraswamy, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers and Member of the Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism, and Norman Farrell, Principal Legal Officer, ICTY.
To inquire about the program contact Michelle Staggs, Coordinator, at summerinstitute@eastwestcenter.org.
To download a complete brochure and application form, Click below
Application
Brochure
For more information, click here to go to the East West Center Summer Institute webpage
About the Institute
The 2 week course will be built around a core curriculum and 3 electives. The core will focus on the international and national legal framework and political dimensions of transitional justice mechanisms, and particularly those that have been employed in Southeast Asia. Some of the mechanisms that will be considered during the course include: post-conflict human rights trials (focusing on East Timor, Indonesia, and Cambodia), national human rights commissions and commissions of inquiry and investigation, reconciliatory processes (including truth and reconciliation commissions), forms of delivering reparations, and forms of mediation and arbitration. The electives, drawing upon in-depth case studies from the region, will allow participants to focus on issues or areas of interest for their particular career path. Electives will change from year to year to reflect emerging issues and topics of particular regional importance. In 2008 the three electives will include: (i) judicial mechanisms, human rights commissions, and truth commissions; (ii) human rights investigation, documentation and reporting; and (iii) peace-building and conflict resolution tools. The faculty will include distinguished practitioners and experts from the region and beyond, including judges, prosecutors, and defense counsel from international tribunals, members of national human rights commissions and national and international commissions of inquiry, UN special rapporteurs, and leading academics.
The course will provide opportunities for young and mid-career professionals in human rights related areas to advance their expertise and professional performance. It will also provide the basis for furthering a network of such professionals in the ASEAN region. Building upon this network and the participation of leading regional experts as faculty for the Institute, the organizers, in collaboration with the ASEAN Human Rights Working Group, aim to use the impetus of this regional collaborative network to develop an ASEAN Human Rights Research Center that would support the ASEAN human rights mechanism. Such a permanent research center would also fulfill an important function in develop regional research agendas, undertaking important regional studies, and providing training and experience for young professionals from throughout the ASEAN member states.
