Developments and
news pertaining to Asia in various areas of IL
Law of the Sea - UN body picks arbitrators for Bay of Bengal dispute (Thaindian, 1 March 2010)
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) has nominated three judges to constitute an arbitration tribunal on the Bangladesh-India maritime boundary dispute. The judges are Rüdiger Wolfrum of Germany, Tullio Treves of Italy and Ivan Anthony Shearer of Australia. Wolfrum will preside over the tribunal.
According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Bangladesh must demarcate its sea boundaries by July 27, 2011, India by June 29, 2009 and Myanmar May 21, 2009. These three states have competing interests for the exploitation of resources in the Bay of Bengal and the ITLOS has already fixed the 2010 time-limits for the filing of the memorial and counter-memorial for the delimitation dispute between Bangladesh and Myanmar.
International humanitarian law, peace and security - Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) wants ‘self-governing’ Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) (Inquirer, 7 March 2010)
Peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the MILF resumed on 4 March in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia after hostilities erupted in August 2008 when the Philippine Supreme Court ruled that the GRP-MILF Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain was unconstitutional. With the Arroyo administration on its way out, both parties are still hopeful of forging a peace agreement before June 30.
Rafael Seguis, chairman of the GRP peace negotiating panel and Foreign Affairs Undersecretary, noted that the MILF presented its draft Declaration of Principles on Interim Governance Arrangements, an 11-page extract of its proposed Comprehensive Compact, containing its proposal for the ARMM. However, no negotiations were conducted, only dialogue and mutual clarification were carried out. Seguis said his panel will submit its counterproposal to the MILF draft for discussion at the next meeting in the coming weeks.
Present in the talks in Malaysia were Mohagher Iqbal, chairman of the MILF peace negotiating panel; Datuk Othman bin Abd Razak, chief facilitator; members of the GRP peace negotiating panel; members of the MILF peace negotiating panel; and members of the International Contact Group (ICG). About a week prior to the Kuala Lumpur talks, the International Monitoring Team (IMT) – comprising contingents from Malaysia, Brunei, Japan, and Libya – was formally redeployed last Sunday after more than a year of non-operation.
Environment - China, India Seek to Limit Climate Plan, US Negotiator Todd Stern Says (Business Week, 9 February 2010)
In his speech at the annual National People's Congress on 5 March, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao emphasized that reaching agreements on climate change would continue to be a key part of China's diplomatic work in 2010. Other related areas China would work on were energy and resource cooperation, as well as playing "a constructive role in finding proper solutions to hot issues and global problems".
Human rights and development - Asia-Pacific has one of world’s largest gender gaps, UN report finds (UN News Centre, 8 March 2010)
The launch of the 2010 Asia-Pacific Human Development Report – Power, Voice and Rights: A Turning Point for Gender Equality in Asia and the Pacific – by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on 8 March, International Women’s Day, has highlighted the stark gender inequalities existing in the Asia-Pacific. The region’s women suffer from some of the lowest rates of political representation, employment and property ownership in the world. Their lack of participation, the found, is also retarding economic growth. Moreover, while agricultural jobs account for more than 40 per cent of women’s jobs in East Asia and 65 per cent in South Asia, only 7 per cent of farms in these areas are controlled by women.
U.N. Rights Chief Slams Abuses In Sri Lanka, Iran (NYT, 4 March 2010)
In her annual report to the United Nations Human Rights Council, High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay singled out certain countries with dismal human rights records. Criticising Sri Lanka, Pillay stated that while she welcomed the progress made in returning displaced persons, and hoped the review and release of security detainees could similarly be expedited, she felt that the opportunity for peace and reconciliation continues to be marred by the treatment of journalists, human rights defenders and other critics of the Government. She stressed that she was "convinced that Sri Lanka should undertake a full reckoning of the grave violations committed by all sides during the war, and that the international community can be helpful in this regard".
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan President President Mahinda Rajapaksa has rejected United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s plan to appoint a panel of experts to look into allegations of human rights abuses in the nation’s civil war.
Please click here for Navi Pillay’s presentation of the OHCHR report to the Human Rights Council, 4 March 2010.
Trade and investment - EU seeks closer trade ties with ASEAN (Channel News Asia, 3 March 2010)
Trade between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) states and the European Union (EU) is worth about 175 billion Euros (almost US$240 billion) annually. Now, the EU is looking to augment this by seeking free trade agreements with economies such as Singapore and Vietnam. The EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht is on a five-day visit to Asia, which also includes a stop in India, where he hopes to advance ongoing talks to improve market access, especially on difficult areas like agriculture, industrial products, and financial services. He hopes that successful negotiations with economies such as Singapore, Vietnam and India will encourage other Asian states to open up trade discussions with the EU.
China, Myanmar to enhance bilateral trade and cooperation through CAFTA (People’s Daily Online, 8 March 2010)
China’s economic counselor to Myanmar Jin Honggeng has recently announced to the media that China and Myanmar will enhance bilateral trade and cooperation through the China-ASEAN free trade area (CAFTA) which became operational this year. According to the Chinese official statistics, bilateral trade increased by 10 percent from 2008 to US$2.907 billion in 2009, with Chinese exports to Myanmar valued at US$2.26 billion. China is Myanmar’s third biggest trading partner and fourth largest foreign investor. China invests main in the mining, electric power, and oil and gas sectors in Myanmar.
International organizations - Whaling case hangs on International Whaling Commission’s ruling (The Australian, 20 February 2010)
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) continues to be deadlocked over whether to permit whaling in the Antarctic for 10 years, bringing the controversial issue forward to the annual IWC meeting in June for resolution. The February IWC meeting showed that Australia's position – calling Antarctic whaling to be phased out over five years - is becoming isolated. However, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is adamant about bringing Japan before the International Court of Justice if it does not cease whaling. New Zealand, Australia's longtime anti-whaling ally, now backs a compromise that permits whaling within limits. The United States (US) commissioner Monica Medina has also indicated that the US might support the plan, depending upon the yet-unspecified numbers of whales Japan, Norway and Iceland would be permitted to kill.
If this goes before the ICJ, it would not be the first time Australia has initiated legal proceedings against Japan with regard to the marine environment. In 1998, Australia and New Zealand brought a dispute over the conservation and management of Southern Bluefin Tuna against Japan before the Arbitral Tribunal formed under Annex VII of the UNCLOS (Southern Bluefin Tuna case). The Tribunal eventually declined jurisdiction over the merits of the case.
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