Trials for International Crimes in Asia

We have an announcement for the conference, "Trials for International Crimes in Asia," hosted by the Centre for Asian Legal Studies at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore, on October, 17-18, 2013.  According to the announcement, the conference

will examine the legal issues arising from the tribunals convened in Asia to deal with crimes of international import - namely, aggression, war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. It will consider both tribunals that have been established on the initiative of Asian governments and tribunals mounted in Asia at the behest of non-Asian governments or international organisations. In keeping with the legal theme, it will lay particular stress on the different modes of liability developed within these courts' respective jurisdictions - among them, joint criminal enterprise, command responsibility, complicity, and defences against them.

Over a seven-decade time-span, many tribunals have been convened in the region, from the earliest, established in Manila and Tokyo after the Second World War, to the latest, currently hearing cases in Phnom Penh and Dhaka. During the intervening years, lesser-known trials were also mounted by the colonial powers in Singapore, Hong Kong, Batavia, Saigon and elsewhere; by the Guomindang and People's Republic of China in the early Cold War period; and by the Vietnamese authorities after Khmer Rouge rule in the 1970s. Beyond the historical-political analysis, the conference aims to draw substantive conclusions about the legal legacy of these tribunals, and appraise the mechanisms evolving in Asia today, either at the 'hybrid' internationalised tribunals or within national systems.

Places are limited. For further details, please email: cals@nus.edu.sg.  The registration form is here.  The schedule appears after the jump.
Thursday 17 October 2013 (Day 1)

Keynote Speech: International Criminal Law with Asian Characteristics?
Professor Simon Chesterman
DEAN, FACULTY OF LAW, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

Panel 1: THE BACKSTORY AND LEGACY OF THE TOKYO TRIBUNAL
Chairperson: Professor Andrew Harding

Dr Kirsten Sellars, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
The Legal Hinterland of the Tokyo Tribunal

Professor Yuma Totani, UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII
Three Command Responsibility Trials at Manila, 1945-1949

Professor Robert Cryer, UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
Principles of Liability at the Tokyo Tribunal

Panel 2: AFTER THE EVENT: WAR CRIMES TRIALS IN NORTH-EAST AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA
Chairperson: Professor Pasha Hsieh

Professor Cheah Wui Ling, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
The British Military's Prosecution of Japanese War Crimes in Singapore: A Socio-legal and Historical Study

Professor Jia Bing Bing, TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY
The Plea of Superior Orders in the Hong Kong Trials

Professor Adam Cathcart, UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS
Manchukuo in the Afterlife: Postwar Trials of Japanese in Khabarovsk and Shenyang, 1949-1956

Panel 3: THE INDONESIAN EXPERIENCE, FROM BATAVIA TO JAKARTA 
 Chairperson: Dr Melissa Crouch

Ms. Lisette Schouten MA, HEIDELBERG UNIVERSITY
'Justice in Transition', War Crimes Trials in the Dutch East Indies, 1946-1949

Professor Komariah Emong Sapardjaja, UNIVERSITAS PADJAJARAN, FORMERLY JUDGE,
SUPREME COURT OF INDONESIA
The Indonesian Courts on Human Rights Violations and International Crimes

Professor Mark Cammak, SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
The Global and the Local in the Prosecution of Crimes Against Humanity: The Indonesian Human Rights Court for East Timor

Friday 18 October (Day 2)

Panel 4: MODES OF LIABILITY AT THE CAMBODIAN TRIALS
Chairperson: Professor Cheah Wui Ling

Ms. Tara Gutman, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
The World's First Genocide Trial: Cambodia 1979

Professor Nina Jørgensen, THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG
Joint Criminal Responsibility in the Khmer Rouge Trials

Professor Rehan Abeyratne, JINDAL GLOBAL LAW SCHOOL
Superior Responsibility and the Principle of Legality at the ECCC

Professor Neha Jain, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
The Doctrine of Joint Criminal Enterprise at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

Panel 5: 1971 REVISITED: THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMES TRIBUNAL IN BANGLADESH
Chairperson: Professor Wang Jiangyu

Professor Muhammad Rafiqul Islam, MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY
The International Crimes Trial in Bangladesh: Its Mandates, Standards, Modes of Liability, and Legal Legacy

Mr. Abdur Razzq, SENIOR ADVOCATE, SUPREME COURT OF BANGLADESH, AND CHIEF DEFENCE COUNSEL, INTERNATIONAL CRIMES TRIBUNAL
Trying International Crimes in Bangladesh

Roundtable: TRIALS FOR INTERNATIONAL CRIMES IN ASIA - PAST EXPERIENCES AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
Moderator: Dr Kirsten Sellars
Professor Robert Cryer, UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
Professor Komariah Emong Sapardjaja, UNIVERSITAS PADJAJARAN, FORMERLY JUDGE,
SUPREME COURT OF INDONESIA
Professor Jia Bing Bing, TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY
Judicial Commissioner Lionel Yee, SUPREME COURT OF SINGAPORE
Mr. Abdur Razzaq, SENIOR ADVOCATE, SUPREME COURT OF BANGLADESH, AND CHIEF DEFENCE COUNSEL, INTERNATIONAL CRIMES TRIBUNAL