DSTO REPORT ON INAUGURAL ARMS CONTROL & DISARMAMENT COURSE
12-17 October 2005
An article on the inaugural Arms Control and Disarmament Course, conducted by APCML Director, Prof. Tim McCormack, and APCML Research Fellow, Dr Bob Mathews, at the Melbourne University Law School appears in the December 2005 issue of the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) monthly newsletter. The article refers to the MOU between the APCML and DSTO which is currently being drafted in recognition of the ongoing value of their collaboration.

REPORT ON APCML COURSE
Command and Staff Operations Law Course
10-21 October 2005
Select to go to the Courses page for a report on this recent APCML course

SWEDEN'S FIRST COUPLE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW TO VISIT APCML
6 - 23 December 2005
We are delighted to announce that Professor Ove Bring, Professor of International Law at the Swedish National Defence College in Stockholm and Dr Marie Jacobsson, Principal Legal Adviser in the Swedish Foreign Ministry will both be visiting the Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law in December.

Professor Bring aims to strengthen the links between the APCML and the Swedish National Defence College which were first established through the Challenges of Peacekeeping Project. To that end, Professor Bring will be accompanied by a young post-doctoral research fellow from the College. Dr Ola Engdahl completed his doctoral dissertation on the Convention on the Safety of UN and Associated Personnel. Professor Bring and Dr Engdahl are both keen to learn more of the ADF's approach to the Law of Peace Operations and, in particular, to legal lessons learned from military operations in our region of the world - particularly in East Timor, the Solomon Islands and in Tsunami relief operations.

Dr Jacobsson is the Nordic candidate for election to the International Law Commission in 2006 and will use the opportunity afforded by her visit to the APCML to meet other international law colleagues - academics and government practitioners - as well as to learn about regional approaches to international law issues. Her own areas of expertise include International Humanitarian Law and the legal regulation of weapons, the international legal regulation of the polar regions (the Arctic and Antarctica) and the Law of the Sea - including national security and naval operations issues.

			Prof Tim McCormack, Dr Marie Jacobsson, Prof Ove Bring

HUMAN RIGHTS CONFERENCE - SRI LANKA - 10-11 December 2005
APCML academic staff member Jessica Howard co-presented (with Alexandra Owens) a paper entitled 'Natural Disasters and Internal Displacement: What Guidance from International Human Rights Law?' at a 2 day conference 'Human Rights: Expanding the Agenda in Sri Lanka' held at University of Colombo, Sri Lanka on 10 and 11 December 2005.

PRO BONO AWARD TO PROFESSOR TIM MCCORMACK- 10 November 2005
APCML Director Professor Tim McCormack has been awarded the 2005 Law Institute of Victoria President's Pro Bono Award for his work in assisting Major Michael Mori, the US military lawyer assigned to defend Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks, with advice on international humanitarian law and international criminal law aspects of the charges against David Hicks. The LIV President's awards recognize outstanding contributions made within the legal profession and beyond.



PUBLIC SEMINAR - 19 November 2005
Nuremberg and Transitional Justice: Civilising Influence or Institutionalised Vengeance?
Law School, The Australian National University, Canberra
A one day seminar commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Commencement of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial presented by Australian Red Cross (ACT), the Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law (The University of Melbourne) and the Centre for International and Public Law (The Australian National University).

Select for further details on our Conferences Page
Select for Law Week Oration by Professor Tim McCormack on 17 May 2005
'Sixty Years from Nuremberg: What Progress for International Criminal Justice?'


COMMONWEALTH HUMAN RIGHTS MEETING IN MALTA - 23 November 2005
APCML academic staff member Ms Alison Duxbury is attending a meeting of the International Advisory Commission of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative on 23 November, prior to the 2005 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Valletta, Malta. The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative is a pan-Commonwealth human rights organisation with offices in Delhi, Accra and London. Alison became a member of the International Advisory Commission in October 2004.

INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW CONFERENCE – DARWIN - 11 November 2005
APCML academic staff member Ms Jessica Howard is a keynote speaker at the Australian Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Conference in Darwin on Friday 11 November. The conference is exploring issues surrounding the topic of torture and Jessica will speak on ‘Torture by Another Name? Coercive Interrogation Techniques’.

NEW STAFF APPOINTMENTS
We are delighted to announce that Senior Fellows of the Centre Andrew Mitchell and Tania Voon have both been appointed Senior Lecturers in the Melbourne Law School and will join the academic staff of the Centre in February 2006. For the last three years Andrew and Tania have been completing their PhDs at Cambridge University and working for the International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organisation respectively in Geneva. We are delighted to extend our congratulations on their academic appointments and to welcome them back to Melbourne to work more closely with the Centre.

Andrew will reactivate his Australian Army Legal Reserve position and both he and Tania will continue to pursue their research interests in International Humanitarian Law and Military Justice as well as their ongoing interests in International Trade Law.

PUBLISHED WORK - October 2005
Professor Tim McCormack, ‘Sixty Years From Nuremberg: What Progress for International Criminal Law?’, (2005) 1 Jurnul Hukum Humaniter (Humanitarian Law Journal – published by Trisakti University Law School, Jakarta in Bahasa) 1-20; the same article is also published (with the mutual agreement of both journals) in (2005) 5 New Zealand Armed Forces Law Review 1-18.

Please select link to the NZ Armed Forces Law Review

The article is an edited version of the Law Week Oration delivered at the Melbourne Law School in May 2005.



SAFEGUARDING AUSTRALIA EXPERT SUBCOMMITTEE
Professor Tim McCormack has been appointed to the Safeguarding Australia expert subcommittee, one of four subcommittees established by the Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training, to advise on the development of the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) for the distribution of $540 million over 5 years for major research infrastructure capabilities.

Subcommittees have been established in each of the four identified national research priority areas and the Chair of the Safeguarding Australia expert subcommittee is Dr Roger Lough, Australia's Chief Defence Scientist and the CEO of the Defence Science Technology Organisation. Dr Annabelle Duncan, Associate Director of the Bio21 Institute, is the other University of Melbourne colleague who is also a member of the expert subcommittee.



PUBLIC LECTURE - 28 September 2005 at 6pm
Picking up the Pieces: Building Democracy in Post-Conflict Societies
Professor Hilary Charlesworth, the APCML 2005 Sir Ninian Stephen Visiting Scholar, presented this lecture during her recent visit to the Centre.

Select to view the text of the lecture

Select to view flyer with further details

	LtoR: Professor Tim McCormack, Professor Hilary Charlesworth, Sir Ninian Stephen, Professor Jenny Morgan

US ARMY'S JUDGE ADVOCATE VISITS APCML - 3 August 2005
APCML Deputy Director LTCOL Geoff Cameron was honoured to host the visit by the US Army's Judge Advocate General, Major General T. J. Romig to the APCML and Military Law Centre (MLC) at Randwick Barracks on 3 August.

MAJGEN Romig was visiting Australia to conduct meetings with senior Defence personnel with a view to promoting the continuation of the Centre for Lessons and Military Operations (CLAMO) officer exchange program between the US and Australia.

Accompanied by Colonel John Ley JR (US Judge Advocate) and the Director General ADF Legal Services (Air Commodore Simon Harvey), MAJGEN Romig was briefed on the activities of the APCML and the work undertaken by the inaugural US Exchange Officer from CLAMO, Major Mike Roberts, who was located at the MLC from mid 2003 to mid 2005.

MAJGEN Romig was presented with two publications 'War Torn Environment: Interpreting the Legal Threshold', by Karen Hulme who was awarded the Lieber prize for the best literary work on the Law of Armed Conflict by an author under 35 years of age; and 'The Rule of Law on Peace Operations' - published papers from the 'Challenges of Peace Operations' Project Conference organised by the APCML in November 2002.

Centre: The US Army’s Judge Advocate General Major General T. J. Romig. Left to right : Major Grant Davies (UK), Colonel Gary Hevey (Dir Military Prosecutions), Colonel John Ley Jr (US Judge Advocate), MAJGEN Romig (TJAG), Air Commodore Simon Harvey (Dir Gen ADF Legal Services), Lieutenant Colonel Geoff Cameron(Dep Dir APCML & Dir Military Law Centre) Major Steve King (Dep Dir Military Law Centre).

PRESENTATION AT THE UN IN GENEVA - 2 August 2005
Prof Tim McCormack delivered a guest presentation to the Meeting of the Working Group on Explosive Remnants of War of the Group of Governmental Experts on the Certain Conventional Weapons Convention at the UN in Geneva. The topic of the presentation was 'General Principles of International Humanitarian Law and Explosive Remnants of War' and Professor McCormack was invited to identify the general principles of International Humanitarian Law specifically relevant to the problem of unexploded ordnance after the cessation of hostilities. Unfortunately many injuries are caused - often to the civilian population - by weapons which have failed to explode on impact during hostilities and lie waiting to explode when disturbed, sometimes years after the conflict is over. Professor McCormack was invited to speak at the meeting by the Australian Delegation to the Meeting in his personal academic capacity.

Select for text of the transcript of Professor McCormack's address

PUBLISHED WORK - August 2005
Legal Factors in Military Planning for Coalition Warfare and Military Interoperability
Col Mike Kelly in the Australian Army Journal Vol II, Number 2, Autumn 2005

Select for the text of the article


Melbourne Journal of International Law (MJIL)
The latest issue of this journal contains:

• a commentary entitled The War in Iraq and International Law by Dr Gerry Simpson, Reader in Law at the London School of Economics. This is the text of the Solferino lecture given on 18 May 2004 during his time at the Law School as the APCML's 2004 Sir Ninian Stephen Visiting Scholar,
  
• an article entitled The Law of Armed Conflict - A Contemporary Critique co-authored by Dale Stephens, former APCML LLM student,
  
• a book review by APCML academic staff member Jessica Howard of The Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Ghraib edited by Karen Greenberg and Joshua Dratel

Select for MJIL homepage with further details on this volume

PUBLISHED WORK - July 2005
Anti-Personnel Mines: No Legal Minefield for the Military

APCML Deputy Director Lt Col Geoff Cameron and APCML Advisory Board member Col Mike Kelly have recently published a joint article entitled 'Anti-Personnel Mines: No Legal Minefield for the Military' in a symposium issue on anti-personnel landmines in the April 2005 (no. 12) issue of the Australian Red Cross IHL Newsletter.

Select for IHL Newsletter

The ICC and Commonwealth States: Australia

APCML Director Prof Tim McCormack and APCML academic staff member Ms Jessica Howard recently published a joint chapter entitled 'The ICC and Commonwealth States: Australia' in Ben Brandon and Max Du Plessis, The Prosecution of International Crimes: A Practical Guide to Prosecuting ICC Crimes in Commonwealth States. The book has been published by the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.

Select for more details of the book

Judging of International Humanitarian Law Moot Court Competition
6 July

APCML Director, Professor Tim McCormack, joined Justice Robert Nicholson of the Federal Court of Australia, and Mr Greg Heesom of the Australian Red Cross, in judging the grand final of the 2005 Australian Red Cross/International Committee of the Red Cross IHL moot court competition held in Perth on 6 July in association with the annual conference of the Australian Law Students' Association. The problem for debate related to a hypothetical situation of child soldiers and humanitarian assistance in a country rich in natural resources. The winning team of Katharine Del Mar and Natalie McLeod from the University of Queensland will travel to Hong Kong in March 2006 to represent Australia in the Asia Pacific regional IHL moot court competition. Professor McCormack was extremely impressed by the presentations, saying, "With such a high level of talent displayed by these young students I am very optimistic about the future of international humanitarian law in this country".

Select for more details of the competition


New APCML Staff member
June 2005
The APCML welcomes Dr David Blumenthal as a member of academic staff. David is a full time lecturer in the University of Melbourne Law School and has honours degrees in Arts (majoring in Political Science) and Law, and a PhD in International Relations. He has worked as a Legal Officer with the Legal Policy division of the Department of Justice, as an Adviser at the United Nations in New York, and as a consultant to bodies such as the Royal Commission into the Metropolitan Ambulance Service, the Victorian State Parliament’s Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee, and the Coronial Inquiry into the 2003 Canberra Bushfires.

New APCML Publication
The Use of Force in Peacekeeping Operations - The East Timor Experience
Commander Dale Stephens CSM, RAN
June 2005
This is the first in our newly established series of monographs written by outstanding scholars in contemporary military law issues in the Asia Pacific region.

Select for a copy of the Abstract

Select for a copy of the Order form


Law Week Oration by Professor Tim McCormack
'Sixty Years from Nuremberg: What Progress for International Criminal Justice?'
17 May 2005
APCML Director Professor Tim McCormack gave the 2005 Law Week Oration at the Melbourne Law School on 17 May 2005. In his oration, he discussed the legacies of the Nuremberg Trials in the subsequent development of international criminal law, in particular the establishment of the International Criminal Court and the implications of opposition to it.

Select for Interview by Professor McCormack with SBS World View Executive Producer Andrew Kruger

Select for Law Week Oration 17 Mat 2005 - Professor McCormack

CONGRATULATIONS

APCML academic staff member John Tobin has been promoted to Senior Lecturer.

Professor Hilary Charlesworth visiting APCML
11-15 July

The APCML is delighted to welcome its 2005 Sir Ninian Stephen Visiting Scholar, Professor Hilary Charlesworth, who will be visiting the Law School from 11-15 July. During her week with us she will present a seminar on 'Sex, gender and the war in Iraq' and conduct meetings with APCML staff and students. Professor Charlesworth has just been awarded one of the Commonwealth Government's highly prestigious Federation Fellowships.

Select for more information on this award and Professor Charlesworth

US Naval War College Conference
22-24 June 2005

APCML Director Professor Tim McCormack participated in a panel discussion on the newly published ICRC Customary International Humanitarian Law Study with Professor Yoram Dinstein (Tel Aviv University), Dr Jean-Marie Henckaerts (ICRC) and Mr Joshua Dorosin (US Department of State) at the International Law Department of the US Naval War College's Conference "Law of War in the 21st Century: Weaponry and the Use of Force" at Newport, Rhode Island 22-24 June 2005. Professor McCormack prepared the Australian chapter for the ICRC study in the late 1990s. He spoke about his lessons learned from that experience and identified some potential beneficial uses of the voluminous material contained in the study.

Please select for a summary of the conference proceedings

Please select for more detail of the conference including complete program

Please select for more details on the ICRC's Customary International Humanitarian Law Study including links to comments on the study and publication details

Conference paper
16 June 2005

APCML academic staff member Alison Duxbury presented a paper at the thirteenth Annual Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law (ANZSIL), held 16-18 June 2005 in Canberra. Alison's paper was entitled 'Rights, Regionalism and the Integration of Europe' and it examined the use of human rights conditions to determine membership of NATO, the European Union and the Council of Europe in the 1990s and beyond.

Queen's Birthday Honours
13 June 2005

APCML Deputy Director Lieutenant Colonel Geoff Cameron was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, for outstanding achievement as the Chief Legal Officer for Headquarters Training Command and the Command Legal Officer for Land Headquarters. The Citation reads:

"Lieutenant Colonel Cameron has demonstrated exceptional service, consistently providing sound legal advice and unswerving support to both formations. Through his sharp intellect, the clarity of his analysis and diligence he has been instrumental in significantly improving the quality of command decisions and operational legal planning for land operations."

APCML Advisory Board member Colonel Andrew Dunn was also awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.

National Consultative Group on BioSecurity Issues
3 June 2005

APCML Director Professor Tim McCormack and APCML Principal Fellow Associate Professor Bob Mathews have both been appointed to Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's newly constituted National Consultative Group on BioSecurity Issues (NCGBI). The Group is composed of members from the biotech industry, academia and relevant government departments. The inaugural meeting of the Group took place in Canberra on 03 June and Bob Mathews reported extensively at the meeting on the success of the Biological Weapons Convention Regional Workshop held at the APCML in February 2005 (refer Conferences page for further details on the Workshop).

Amicus curiae in The Hague
9-13 May 2005
APCML Director Professor Tim McCormack attended the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague for the trial of Slobodan Milošević in his capacity as
amicus curiae on international law matters to the judges of Trial Chamber III.


Malcolm Fraser Collection at the Melbourne Law School
5 May 2005
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser has donated his extensive collection of personal papers and books to the University of Melbourne. APCML Director Professor Tim McCormack played a significant role in the negotiations between Mr Fraser and the University and key parts of the collection will be housed in the Law School, adjacent to the Centre. Mr Fraser expressed his pleasure at this decision by saying 'To have these papers in a place which has a firm, unshakeable commitment to the rule of law and to due process underlines a fundamental point of Australian life and a fundamental belief of my own'.

Malcolm Fraser Speech

Chancellor Ian Renard's speech

Article from The Australian 13 May 2005

Visit to APCML by HRH Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden
15 March 2005

APCML Director Professor Tim McCormack hosted a visit to the Centre by HRH Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden on Tuesday 15 March 2005. The Crown Princess had expressed interest in having substantive discussions on defence, strategic policy and military law during her visit to Melbourne, and Australia's Ambassador in Sweden, Richard Rowe, had immediately suggested the Centre and its Director as the best source of information on these topics.

During discussions with Professor McCormack and other members of the Centre's Management Team, the Crown Princess proved to be well-informed and asked many pertinent questions on Asia Pacific regional aspects of the Centre's work. A particular feature of the discussions was the Centre's involvement in the Swedish-led International Challenges of Peacekeeping project.

	L to R: APCML Deputy Director, Lt Col Geoff Cameron; HRH Crown Princess Victoria; APCML Director, Professor Tim McCormack

Contact details:

University Node Cathy Hutton Administrator Asia-Pacific Centre for Military Law Law School The University of Melbourne VIC 3010 AUSTRALIA Tel: + 61 3 8344 4775 Fax: + 61 3 8344 0054 Email: law-apcml@unimelb.edu.au

Military Node Ian Martin Administrator Asia-Pacific Centre for Military Law Building 100 Randwick Barracks Avoca Street RANDWICK NSW 2031 AUSTRALIA Tel: + 61 2 9349 0628 Fax: +61 2 9349 0757 Email: mlc.admin@defence.gov.au