The 2010 Summer Institute in International Law and Human Rights with the theme "Internal Conflicts in the Asia Pacific Region" was successfully concluded in Bali and Aceh, Indonesia on May 22, 2010. The 2010 Summer Institute started last May 10, 2010. The Academic portion of the institute was held at Bali and the field trip in Aceh, Indonesia.
The Faculty, staff and Participants in the 2010 Summer Institute in IHL and Human Rights, Bali and Aceh, Indonesia
The East-West Center Brochure describe the purpose of the program as: "This two-week workshop is 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. Participants from Southeast Asia are strongly encouraged to apply. Lawyers, academics, journalists, non-governmental organization workers, investigators, monitors, government agency workers, as well advanced (graduate level) law students from across Asia and internationally will find the workshop relevant to their work."
Rebacca Minty (Left) and Vener Macaspac (Right) both Rotary Peace Fellows from UC Berkeley.
The two-week training was held at the Patra-Bali, in Tuban District of Denpasar, the capital of Bali. The participants came from various places in the Asia-Pacific region and from various backgrounds consisting of lawyers, academics, journalists and NGOs. Various themes were discussed such as Identifying the root causes of conflict, Characterizing the conflict in Mindanao and Southern Thailand, human rights concerns during internal conflicts, effective human rights reporting, the legal characterization of conflict, humanitarian responses during conflict, legal tools for responding to internal conflicts, and many others. The teaching approach include lecture-inputs, assigned readings, group discussions and large group discussion. The time was well managed. At the same time the giving of assigned reading in advance of the workshop provided the participants with good inputs that prepared them for the discussions. The variety of backgrounds enrich the discussions. Various insights were brought out and various insterpretation made it easy to contextualize the issues surrounding IHL and Human Rights in relation to the internal conflict in the Asia-Pacific Region.
The faculty of the institute provided much needed inputs and direction. The faculty consisted of professionals from various discipline. Indeed this institute and its focus has became an opportunity for the participants to fully understand, gain insight on the situation of the internal conflicts in the Asia-Pacific Region. After the institute the participants will go back to their home countries and their work, but the learnings they obtained from the institute will help improve the human rights situation in their countries.
Yusuf Kalla, former Indonesian Vice-President, played an important role in the Aceh Peace Process and the Peace Process in Sulawesi was a resource speaker and an honored guest
The Filipino Participants together with Ms. Carolyn Eguchi (Center) of the East-West Center
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