The Bureau of the IADL met on May 7-8, 2008 after successfully participating in the Global Article 9 Conference in Tokyo planned by many organizations of civil society in Japan, and in which JALISA played a prominent role.

IADL Bureau members participated in the Conference in many capacities. President Sharma addressed the satellite conference in Osaka and many of the Bureau members participated in the International Lawyers Workshop during which all participants supported the need for pacifist constitutions in all countries to support an end to war.

Also, Secretary General Jeanne Mirer, and Mr. Minh Y of the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin participated in conference workshops on war and the environment and discussed the need to support the Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange.

The Bureau meeting was very productive. Some of the major decisions included:

1. Accepting the invitation of the Vietnamese Lawyers Association to hold our XVII Congress in Hanoi in June of 2009 and deciding the title and themes for the commissions.

2. Agreeing to put out an issue of the Review of Contemporary International Law highlighting the work of the lawyers movement in Pakistan and to emphasize the need to protect lawyers and judges and to explore more fully the activation of a center to protect lawyers and judges.. Lennox Hinds and Richard Harvey agreed to ensure articles were written for the review.

3. Agreeing to the format of the new website so that it could be activated to support the work of IADL.

4. Agreeing to host the upcoming celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Paris in December 2008.

5. Agreeing to hold a People’s Tribunal on the responsibility of the US chemical companies for the use of Agent Orange.

In addition to these major decision, we received reports from Mr. Hinds on UN activities and followed up on our international campaigns. Mr. Sharma reported on the status of Chin Peng’s petition to return to Malaysia. Secretary General Jeanne Mirer reported on the status of the Cuban 5 case; Deputy Secretary General Akhtar Hussain reported on the progress of the lawyers movement in Pakistan in its attempt to restore the judges removed by Musharraf; Deputy Secretary General Fabio Marcelli agreed to develop a working draft for a GA resolution on foreign debt, and Ashwini Sukthankar, executive director of the International Commission for Labor Rights reported on the progress of many of the ICLR campaigns. Micol Savia was appointed to be an alternative representative to the UN in Geneva.

 

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