Researchers' Activities

Professor Joseph Weiler, Director of the CIL ASEAN Integration Through Law Project (President of the European University Institute; NUS Law School; and University Professor at the NYU School of Law (on-leave)) convened and chaired the discussions on the ASEAN Economic Community at Plenary 4 of the ASEAN Integration Through Law Project: The ASEAN Economic Community at the Sofitel Plaza Hotel, Hanoi, Vietnam. CIL senior expert, Professor Michael-Ewing-Chow, shared his work on the ASEAN economic integration and investment regime. He also co-taught the Course Development Workshop on Investment during the event. This Plenary was hosted jointly with the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam. For more information, please click here.

CIL Director Robert Beckman made a presentation titled “Role of ASEAN and the Philippines v China Case” on 4 April 2013 at the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law in Washington DC. Prof Beckman served on a Panel on Legal Solutions to Maritime Disputes in Asia, and he spoke about the South China Sea Disputes. The other members of the panel were Rosalyn Higgins, past President of the International Court of Justice; Loretta Malintoppi, Eversheds LLP Paris; and Galo Carrera Hurtado, Member of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. The Panel was chaired by Prof Nilufer Oral of the Faculty of Law of Istanbul Bilgi University. For a copy of Prof Beckman’s PowerPoint slides in PDF format, click here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr Tan Hsien-Li presented her paper on “International Human Rights Law, Regional Mechanisms and ASEAN: Disconnected Paradigms” at the European University Institute’s Human Rights Day Colloquium held in Florence, Italy.

CIL researchers participated in the 4th Biennial Conference of the Asian Society of International Law in New Delhi, India on 14-16 November 2013. They presented their papers in a panel titled “ASEAN: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly”. CIL Research Fellow Dr Hao Duy PHAN opened the Panel with a discussion on ASEAN’s role on intra-regional security (download in PDF format) followed by a presentation from CIL Research Fellow Mr Leonardo BERNARD on the use of extra-ASEAN dispute settlement mechanisms for ASEAN disputes (download in PDF format). The third presentation was delivered by CIL Research Associate Ms Ranyta YUSRAN on ASEAN and human rights (download in PDF format). Finally, Professor Michael Ewing Chow, Head of Trade and Investment Law and Policy of CIL, concluded the panel with a presentation on the purpose-driven architecture of dispute settlement and suggestions to strengthen the architecture of ASEAN (download in PDF format). The Panel was chaired by Professor Simon Chesterman, Dean of NUS Law Faculty. [View photo from event.]

On 22 – 25 October 2013, CIL Research Associates Mr. Junianto James LOSARI and Ms. Ranyta YUSRAN attended the 2013 Padjdjaran International Legal Conference Series, “Regional Perspectives on Law and Human Rights: Where are we not and where are we heading?” in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. The Conference was organised by the Law Faculty of Padjadjaran University and opened by the Dean of Universitas Padjadjaran. Mr. LOSARI presented his paper on “ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement: Will Indonesia’s BITs Obligations be Irrelevant?” and Ms. YUSRAN presented her paper on “Combating Trafficking in Women and Children in Southeast Asia: the ASEAN Framework”. The Conference was attended by participants coming from, among others, Japan, Australia, the United States, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Taiwan. To download Mr LOSARI’s paper, click here. To download his Power Point Slides in PDF format, click here. To download Ms YUSRAN’s Power Point Slides in PDF format, click here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr Tan Hsien-Li was invited to share her expertise on ASEAN regional integration as part of the Singapore contingent led by Professor Tommy Koh at the 8th China-Singapore Forum held in Beijing, China. The meeting was comprised of senior officials and representatives from both countries at which they shared their nation-building experiences on such topics as urban growth, housing, income gaps, economic cooperation and wider regional cooperation initiatives.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr Tan Hsien-Li participated in the CIL Fireside Chat on ASEAN and Human Rights, chaired by Professor S Jayakumar and Professor Tommy Koh. She discussed the impact of the rule of law in ASEAN and Human Rights on regional and national levels. For more information, click here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr Tan Hsien-Li was invited to share her work on human rights in ASEAN at the Human Rights Colloquium held at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. In particular, she was tasked to discuss the vulnerabilities of the protection mechanisms in the Human Rights Commissions of the League of Arab States, Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr Tan Hsien-Li presented her study, co-authored with Professor Alison Duxbury of the Melbourne Law School at the University of Melbourne, on “Can ASEAN Take Human Rights Seriously?” at the Public Plenary on the Rule of Law in the ASEAN Community held in Singapore. For more information, click here.

Professor Joseph Weiler, Director of the CIL ASEAN Integration Through Law Project (NUS Law School and University Professor at the NYU School of Law) convened and chaired the discussions on International and ASEAN Law in the ASEAN 10 National Jurisdictions, Dispute Settlement Mechanisms and Human Rights at Plenary 3 of the ASEAN Integration Through Law Project: The Rule of Law in the ASEAN Community at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Singapore. CIL Director Professor Robert Beckman and Research Fellows Dr Tan Hsien-Li, Mr Leonardo Bernard and Ms Ranyta Yusran shared their work on ASEAN dispute settlement mechanisms, international and ASEAN law in the domestic jurisdictions of ASEAN states and human rights. For more information, please click here.

Professor Joseph Weiler, Director of the CIL ASEAN Integration Through Law Project (NUS Law School and University Professor at the NYU School of Law) convened and chaired the discussions on ASEAN External Agreements, ASEAN as a Negotiator in International Fora, ASEAN Instruments of Governance and Models of Supranational Legal Integration, ASEAN Dispute Settlement and the ASEAN Legal Service at Plenary 2 of the ASEAN Integration Through Law Project: ASEAN Governance, Management and External Relations at the Hotel Aryaduta, Jakarta, Indonesia. CIL senior experts, CIL Director Professor Robert Beckman and Professor Walter Woon, shared their work on the ASEAN dispute settlement mechanisms and ASEAN Legal Service. This Plenary was hosted jointly with the Universitas Pelita Harapan. For more information, please click here.

Professor Joseph Weiler, Director of the CIL ASEAN Integration Through Law Project (NUS Law School and University Professor at the NYU School of Law) convened and chaired the discussions on the Legal Service, Secretariat and Civil Service in ASEAN, ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN Regional Integration at Plenary 1 of the ASEAN Integration Through Law Project: General Architecture of ASEAN at the Mandarin Orchard Hotel, Singapore. For more information, please click here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr Tan Hsien-Li was invited to share her expertise at the Regional Track Two Meeting “ASEAN Human Rights Mechanisms: Challenges and Ways Forward” and engage with officials from the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), ASEAN Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) and ASEAN Committee on the Implementation of the ASEAN Declaration on the Promotion and Protection of Migrant Workers (ACMW). This meeting was hosted by the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism and was held in Bangkok, Thailand.

CIL Research Fellow Dr Hao Duy Phan and CIL Research Associate Junianto James Losari participated at the 10th Annual Asian Law Institute Conference – “Celebrating Diversity: 10 Years of ASLI” on 23-24 May 2013 in Bangalore, India. The Conference was jointly organized by the Asian Law Institute and the National Law School of India University. Dr Hao Duy Phan opened the first panel on International and Transnational Regulation by discussing the Protocol to the ASEAN Charter on Dispute Settlement Mechanisms and its significance in further institutionalizing ASEAN into a rules-based regional organization. Junianto James Losari presented a paper by Dr. Lin Lin and Prof. Michael Ewing-Chow on “The Doing Business Indicators in Singapore: Only that Which is Measured is Measured” at the Panel on Business Law which discussed about the significance of the Doing Business Project of the World Bank in influencing the Company Law reforms in Singapore. To download Dr Hao Duy Phan’s PowerPoint Presentation, click here. To download Junianto James Losari’s PowerPoint Presentation in PDF format, click here.

In April 2013, the Human Rights Resource Centre (HRRC), an Indonesian-based research institution, published two baseline studies to which CIL Research Fellow and Associate contributed as Country Rapporteurs. Dr. Hao Duy PHAN is the Country Rapporteur for Viet Nam in HRRC’s Baseline Study on “Business and Human Rights in ASEAN”; the Baseline Study was recently launched in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 9 April 2013. Ms. Ranyta YUSRAN contributed to HRRC’s Baseline Study on “Violence, Exploitation, and Abuse and Discrimination in Migration Affecting Women and Children in ASEAN” as the Country Rapporteur for Indonesia; due to the wide scope of the Study, the Baseline Study is only published a year after its launch on 30 May 2012. CIL Fellows and Research Associate have been involved constantly as Country Rapporteurs in HRRC’s Baseline Study series since 2011. For more information and to download both above-mentioned Baseline Studies, click here.

CIL Research Fellow Hao Duy Phan was a presenter at the Conference on Business and Human Rights in ASEAN in Jakarta, Indonesia on April 9, 2013. The Conference was a major event organized by the Human Rights Resource Centre for ASEAN to launch a baseline study that examines the legal framework of ASEAN member states in response to business and human rights issues. The outcome of the study is a book published and distributed on the occasion of the Conference. Dr. Phan participated as a rapporteur of the Vietnam Country Report chapter. At the Conference, he delivered a presentation entitled “Business and Human Rights: Vietnam’s Legal Framework”. To download the presentation in PDF format, click here.

CIL sponsored a Panel at the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) in Washington DC on 5 April 2013, titled “Challenges for ASEAN: The South China Sea, Investment Protection and Myanmar”. Prof Michael Ewing-Chow opened the Panel with discussion on ASEAN legalization, institutionalization and economic law issues facing ASEAN, followed by Ambassador Arif Havas Oegroseno who talked about ASEAN and the South China Sea disputes. CIL’s Research Fellow Tara Davenport then talked about the approach of ASEAN Member States in negotiating and settling maritime boundaries (download her presentation in PDF format). Finally, CIL’s Senior Research Fellow Dr Tan Hsien-Li closed the Panel with a discussion of ASEAN’s approach to the human rights situation in Myanmar. The Panel was chaired by Edmund Sim of Appleton & Luff, and co-sponsored by the ASIL Law in Pacific Rim Interest Group and the ASIL International Economic Law Interest Group.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr Tan Hsien-Li presented her paper on ‘From “pariah state” to “civilised nation”? A gradual relinquishing of Westphalian sovereignty in Myanmar’ at the American Society of International Law Meeting 2013, Washington DC. She was part of the CIL-sponsored panel entitled, “Challenges for ASEAN: The South China Sea, Investment Protection and Myanmar” at which Professor Michael Ewing-Chow, Ambassador Arif Havas, Mr Edmund Sim and Ms Tara Davenport also presented. For more information, click here.

A/P Michael Ewing-Chow, Head of CIL’s Trade and Investment Law and Policy Programme and WTO Chair, NUS was invited to teach at the University of Barcelona’s IELPO LLM Programme. He taught “Asian Regionalism” and suggested that the production network, the ASEAN hub and legalization were essential elements of the development of Asian Regionalism.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr Tan Hsien-Li presented her paper on “Legal Integration in the ASEAN Community” at the Congreso Internacional Sobre Globalizacion Juridica, Derecho Supranacional E Integracion Americana (International Conference on Globalization, Supranational Law and Legal Integration of the Americas) at the Escuela Libre de Derecho in Mexico City, Mexico.

CIL Director Robert Beckman made a presentation on 24 October 2012 at the Workshop on ASEAN Enhanced Dispute Settlement Mechanisms at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta. Prof Beckman’s presentation was on “Dispute Settlement Mechanisms and Compliance with ASEAN Agreements”. Prof Beckman also participated in a panel discussion at the Workshop on the ASEAN Dispute Settlement Mechanisms. For the PowerPoint Presentation, click here.

CIL Chairman Prof Tommy Koh delivered a speech on “ASEAN-Japan Relations: A Singapore Perspective” at the GRIPS-ISEAS Joint Workshop 2012 at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, Japan. To download the speech in PDF format, click here.

A/P Michael Ewing-Chow, WTO Chair and Head of CIL’s Trade and Investment Programme, and CIL Research Fellow Dr Tan Hsien-Li led a seminar on “The Role of the Rule of Law in ASEAN Integration” at the Academy of Global Governance, Executive Training Seminar Series on “Regional Integration Beyond the European Experience: Latin America and Asia”, European University Institute, Florence, Italy. For more information, click here.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr Tan Hsien-Li presented her study, co-authored with Professor Alison Duxbury of the Melbourne Law School at the University of Melbourne, on “ASEAN and Human Rights” for the ASEAN Integration Through Law Project, August Internal Workshop.

CIL Senior Research Fellow Dr Tan Hsien-Li presented her study, co-authored with CIL Research Associate Chan Sze Wei, on “Documentary Dynamic Analysis of the Evolution of the Objectives of ASEAN and the Means for Their Achievement” for the ASEAN Integration Through Law Project, August Internal Workshop.