The Asia Pacific Military Justice Workshop 2016

NUS Law and the Melbourne Law School set up a joint research grant to facilitate research cooperation between the two law schools. This research grant is an opportunity to build on existing research collaborations by setting up stronger ties between the institutions – thus furthering high-quality research cooperation in the region.

This year, the collaboration led to the inaugural Asia Pacific Military Justice Workshop that was held on 20 and 21 September 2016 at the NUS Bukit Timah Campus. The aim of the workshop is to explore developments in military justice systems in the Asia Pacific region from a comparative perspective. In particular, the workshop aimed to identify and analyse the domestic and international law factors that have driven change in the region.

A keynote address was also delivered by Justice Choo Han Teck during the Welcome Dinner on 19 September at the Bukit Timah Guild House.

The following papers were presented:

Development of Singapore’s Military Justice System
Mr Joshua Goh (National University of Singapore)

National Security Litigation
Colonel Daniel Lecce (US Marine Corps)

Brazilian Federal Military Justice’s Jurisdiction to Prosecute Civilians
Justice Carlos Augusto de Sousa (Superior Military Court, Brazil)

Establishing Judicial Professionalism and Independence in the Singapore Military Courts System – A
Practitioner’s Perspective
Mr Jon Ong (Ministry of Defence, Singapore)

A Question of Jurisdiction: The Status of Forces
Colonel Julie Huygen (US Air Force)

Military Justice without Military Justice System? The Uniqueness of Japan’s Criminal Procedures for
Crimes Committed Overseas in Peacekeeping Missions
Lieutenant Commander Takashi Kawashima (Ministry of Defence, Japan)
Associate Professor Hitoshi Nasu (Australian National University)

UN Peace Operations and the Accountability of Military Peacekeepers
Associate Professor Bruce Oswald (University of Melbourne, Australia)

Lost at SEA: Deployable Military Justice as a Beacon in a Fog of Impunity
Major Patricia Beh (Canadian Forces)

Civilian Sentencing Principles in Summary Disciplinary Proceedings: An Impractical and Inappropriate
Interference with the Maintenance of Service Discipline in the Australian Defence Force
Major Tennille Marsh (Australian Defence Force)

Aussie Mateship and Regimental Amnesia: Misplaced Loyalty and Obstacles to Getting the Truth in
the Australian Military Discipline System
Colonel Bronwyn Worswick (Australian Defence Force)

Military Justice and Human Rights: The Search for Balance atop the Constitution’s ‘Living Tree’
Colonel Rob Holman (Canadian Forces)

Service Values and Military Justice Process
Captain Peter Bowers RAN (Australian Defence Force)

The Value of Commanders in the Military Justice System
Colonel Walter M. Hudson (US Army)

Combatant Immunity to Criminal Liability
Colonel Lisa Ferris (New Zealand Defence Force)

Military Prosecutions of the Force and the Enemy for International Humanitarian Law Violations
Assistant Professor Chris Jenks (Southern Methodist University, US)

‘Unlawful Influence’ and the al-Nashiri Military Commission at Guantánamo Bay
Professor Jeffrey Kahn (Southern Methodist University, US)

Implications of Children’s Rights for the Prosecution of Members of the Armed Forces Younger than
the Age of Eighteen in the Asia Pacific Region
Associate Professor Gus Waschefort (University of Essex, UK)