MILITARY LEADERSHIP FORUM
22-28 February 2008
The APCML co-hosted with the St James Ethics Centre and the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) a seminar in Jakarta in the period 26-28 February 2008. The seminar was part of an ongoing regional Military Leadership Forum that was established following the conduct of a successful pilot activity in Thailand in the period 27 February – 1 March 2007. The pilot activity had Minister of Defence approval with the ongoing forum being conducted with the support of International Policy Division.

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CENTRE FOR DEFENCE AND STRATEGIC STUDIES (CDSS)
18-20 February 2008

Over the period 18 to 20 February 2008, the Asia Pacific Centre for Military Centre (APCML) presented an International Law Module at the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies (CDSS) at the Australian Defence College. This is the second year the APCML was invited to make such a contribution.

CDSS hosts the Defence and Strategic Studies course - the senior course in Australia for senior military officers (Colonel (Equivalent)) and other Government officials engaged in national security issues. It is responsible for providing Australian and overseas participants with the knowledge and skills required to operate at the strategic level in a complex and modern security environment.

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MARITIME SECURITY COOPERATION COURSE - HAWAII
4-8 February 2008

This course was held at the Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hawaii. This is only the second time that the APCML has conducted the MSC Workshop, and the first time that the Course has been conducted in Hawaii. The Course was jointly conducted by the APCML and the International Law Department (ILD) of the US Naval War College, with significant support also provided by the US Pacific Command. The Course was attended by operators and military legal professionals from Australia (5), Cambodia (1), Canada (1), Indonesia (1), Philippines (3), Sri Lanka (1), US (11), and Vietnam (1). Guest presenters for the Course came from Australia, Canada, UK and US.

 

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IHL COURSE AT UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH PACIFIC – VANUATU
7-16 January 2008

Dr Helen Durham with course participants

APCML Acting Associate Director Dr Helen Durham taught an intensive IHL course at the Law School at the University of the South Pacific on behalf of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). As well as regular students of the University, the ICRC also sponsored a number of regional military members to attend the course from countries such as Fiji and Tonga. The students engaged in exercises, class room debates as well as presentations on topics such as the inter-face between IHL and Human Rights. Whilst academic in nature, the course also focused upon regional issues and the practical use by the military and police of IHL.

 

COMMONWEALTH HUMAN RIGHTS MEETING IN DELHI
28-30 January 2008
APCML academic staff member Ms Alison Duxbury is attending a meeting of the International Advisory Commission of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative on 28-30 January, in New Delhi, India.  The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative is a pan-Commonwealth human rights organisation with offices in Delhi, Accra and London.

 APCML STAFF UNIVERSITY NODE JAN-JUNE 2008
APCML Director Professor Tim McCormack is on sabbatical leave from 1 January to 30 June 2008.  During this period Professor Stuart Kaye will be Acting Director and Dr Helen Durham will be Acting Associate Director – University node. 

SIR KENNETH KEITH LAUNCHES NUREMBERG VOLUME IN THE HAGUE
11 December 2007
His Excellency Justice Sir Kenneth Keith of the International Court of Justice launched the APCML volume of essays on the Nuremberg Trial at a ceremony in the Carlton Ambassador Hotel in The Hague on 11 December 2007.  Sir Kenneth is the first New Zealander ever to be elected to a nine-year term as judge of the International Court of Justice and he has long been a supporter of the APCML.  The book was edited by APCML academic staff member Dr David Blumenthal and APCML Director Professor Tim McCormack and is entitled The Legacy of Nuremberg:  Civilising Influence or Institutionalised Vengeance? It includes revised papers presented at the APCML one-day Seminar of the same title held in Canberra to mark the 60th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trial.   The Hague launch was attended by judges from the International Court of Justice and from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia as well as by diplomats, international lawyers from the various courts and tribunals in The Hague, academics and Dutch Government lawyers.

The Nuremberg Trial book is Volume 20 in the International Humanitarian Law Series published by Martinus Nijhoff in Leiden and co-edited by Professor Tim McCormack and Professor Christopher Greenwood QC of the London School of Economics. 

 

Sir Kenneth Keith launching the book

 

 

 

 

Click here for more information on The Legacy of Nuremberg including how to order online:http://www.brill.nl/default.aspx?partid=10&pid=25655

PROFESSOR MICHAEL SCHMITT 2006 LECTURE NOW PUBLISHED
International Humanitarian Law and Contemporary Armed Conflict: Can the Law Survive? Public Lecture - 13 September 2006 at 6pm

The 2006 Sir Ninian Stephen Visiting Scholar Lecture was presented at the Melbourne Law School on 13 September by Professor Michael N. Schmitt, Professor of International Law and Director of the Program in Advanced Security Studies at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. In his lecture, entitled' International Humanitarian Law and Contemporary Armed Conflict: Can the Law Survive?', Professor Schmitt considered how the changing nature of warfare is affecting the content, application and interpretation of the Law of Armed Conflict and International Humanitarian Law, with particular reference to the use of technology in armed conflict.

The text of Professor Schmitt’s lecture has now been published in the latest edition of the Melbourne Journal of International Law.

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LATEST EDITION OF MELBOURNE JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
December 2007
This edition (Vol 8 issue 2) includes a number of contributions from past and present members and associates of the APCML, including the current Director and Deputy Director, and all four previous Sir Ninian Stephen Visiting Scholars - Professor Peter Rowe, University of Lancaster, UK (2003), Dr Gerry Simpson, London School of Economics and Political Science (2004), Professor Hilary Charlesworth, The Australian National University (2005) and Professor Michael N Schmitt, George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies (2006)

http://www.mjil.law.unimelb.edu.au/issues/current.asp for the contents page of this edition of MJIL

IHL IN AIR & MISSILE WARFARE MANUAL
Regional Workshop
15 - 16 November 2007
The APCML, in conjunction with the Harvard Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (HPCR) conducted the first International Humanitarian Law in Air and Missile Warfare Manual Regional Workshop on 15-16 November at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Darling Harbour, Sydney.

The Workshop was part of an international collaborative effort by the HPCR to produce a Manual on International Humanitarian Law Applicable to Air and Missile Warfare. Such a Manual has the potential to decisively influence global thinking on the conduct of aerial warfare and significantly shape operational policy in this area. The Asia Pacific Region was selected to commence this review process with further regional workshops planned for Africa and South America over the next year.


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MALCOLM FRASER INAUGURAL PROFESSORIAL LECTURE
25 October 2007
The Rt Hon Malcolm Fraser AC CH, Professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne, attached to the Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law in the Melbourne University Law School, gave his Inaugural Professorial Lecture on 25 October 2007 at the Melbourne Law School.

In the remarks prefacing his lecture ‘Finding Security in Terrorism’s Shadow: the Importance of the Rule of Law’, Professor Fraser stated that he regarded it as both an honour and a privilege to be associated with the Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law and to be able to work with people committed to the purpose of reminding us that ‘there can be no peaceful civil society without the Rule of Law at its heart.’

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APCML CO-HOSTS IHL EXPERT MEETING - Stockholm
4-5 October 2007
An International Expert Meeting on International Humanitarian Law and Gender was held in Stockholm on 4-5 October. Co-hosted by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Swedish Defence College, the Folke Bernadotte Academy and the Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law, the event brought together experts and senior military representatives from across the world to discuss issues relating to IHL and gender, including workshops on means of warfare, methods of warfare and detainees. The event was opened by the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and the dinner was hosted by the Minister of International Development, both of whom expressed high regard for the APCML and its role in co-hosting the Meeting.

Dr Helen Durham, APCML Senior Research Fellow, was a key-note speaker and she provided an insight into the fact that whilst to date debates about gender issues and IHL have focused upon women, there is much work to be done in relation to men in this area as well. The meeting was deemed a success by those attending and it was acknowledged that further work on this topic is needed and a number of ‘follow-up’ events have been proposed.