Asia-Pacific

[Shayna Bauchner is a researcher in the Asia Division at Human Rights Watch.] On August 1, Myanmar’s commander-in-chief, Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, dressed in civilian clothes, made a televised speech six months to the day after leading a coup that thrust the country back under brutal military rule. Amid claims of establishing a multiparty democracy, the junta leader announced that his manufactured state of emergency,...

It has now been over six months since the coup by the Myanmar military on 1 February 2021. There are multiple crises at the moment in Myanmar – mass atrocities being committed by the security forces on a daily basis, a devastating Covid-19 pandemic, ongoing armed conflicts in various parts of Myanmar, the continued marginalization of many minorities, and proceedings at international courts related to...

[Julia Emtseva is a Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law.] The recent developments in Afghanistan shocked the whole world. With the US withdrawal from the country, the Taliban rapidly swept across Afghanistan and took over Kabul. With no clear prospects of the country’s development, the issues of justice are acute as never before. After the failure of past...

[Mohammad Zayaan is an undergraduate law student at Gujarat National Law University. He can be reached at zayaan44@icloud.com.] Background The Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act (‘PSA’) came into force in 1978, and authorises preventive detention of individuals for up to two years without trial. It is applicable in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, a part of the disputed territory of Kashmir whose effective...

[Kobra Moradi is a contributor to the ICL Media Review and is currently completing her Master’s degree in International Law and Diplomacy at the Australian National University.] Afghanistan is currently at a critical political juncture as it attempts to transition from a state of war to a state of peace. As constituents most affected by the war, victims have a right to have their voices heard...

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[Azadah Raz Mohammad is a Ph.D. candidate at the Melbourne Law School investigating the case for inclusion of an independent “crime of terrorism” in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Felicity Gerry is an international QC largely defending in serious and complex criminal trials and appeals, often with an international element; a Professor of Legal Practice at Deakin University, where she teaches a unit...

[Harsh Mahaseth is an Assistant Lecturer at Jindal Global Law School, and a Research Analyst at the Nehginpao Kipgen Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Jindal School of International Affairs, O.P. Jindal Global University and Natalie Wong is currently a final year law student at Durham University in the United Kingdom. She is an editor of the Durham University Asian Law Journal,...

Manish Kumar Shrestha is an advocate and PhD candidate at the Nepal Law Campus in Nepal. This symposium consists of a series of blogs authored by the different panelists of a webinar hosted by the International Commission of Jurists titled “COVID-19 and Courts: A Global Trend of Judicial Deference?“ Responding to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nepal announced a nationwide lockdown from 24...

[Aldo Zammit Borda is Head of Research and Investigation at the Uyghur Tribunal; Stefan Mandelbaum is a Senior Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University and Marilena Stegbauer is Assistant to Counsel at the Uyghur Tribunal.] Wherever allegations of mass human rights violations emerge, like in the recent case of the Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in Xinjiang, the legitimate expectation is that the primary authority...

[Eva Buzo is an Australian lawyer, and the Executive Director of Victim Advocates International. She lived in Cox’s Bazar between November 2017 and September 2019.] There has been a flurry of discussion about the way in which the Rohingya community, particularly in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, is receiving information about the various accountability mechanisms. On 7 June 2020 the Registry of the International Criminal Court (“ICC”) reported...