By Saiful Bahri Kamaruddin

BANGI, 12 July 2012 – The Law Faculty of The National University of Malaysia (UKM) is organising the 7th Southeast and East Asian Training Session on International Humanitarian Law (IHL) with the cooperation of the Regional Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Kuala Lumpur next week.

The six day training programme on International Humanitarian Law is designed for those who teach or work in the field of international law and policy, as well as those who deal with human rights violations or humanitarian issues including government officials, the police, the armed forces, media and Red Cross/Red Crescent societies.

A statement from the Faculty today said the training is aimed at improving and strengthening knowledge of the law related to armed conflicts and other acts of violence and to promote its understanding among academics, government officials and those involved in civil society in the region.

It consists of a series of presentations by scholars, military experts and the ICRC on IHL as well as case studies on legal challenges faced when addressing humanitarian issues.

The topics covered include armed conflicts and other acts of violence, the protection of people deprived of their liberties, assistance and humanitarian action that could be resorted to, the conduct of hostilities, international humanitarian law and the fight against terrorism and the enforcement of IHL.

About 30 participants from 14 countries including China, Indonesia, Japan, Myanmar, Brunei, Singapore, Thailand, Korea, the Philippines and Malaysia are expected to attend the six day course here which is the third in the series.

Similar week long seminars had been held in Kuala Lumpur since 2005.

This would be the third time it is jointly organised by UKM and the ICRC after two others held in 2010 and 2011.

Speakers at this year’s SEATS-IHL include the Director for Institute of International Legal Studies (IILS) and University of the Philippines Law Centre, Prof Harry Roque, the only person from Asia to be admitted to practice before the International Criminal Court since 2005.

He teaches Public International Law, International Humanitarian Law and Constitutional law at the University of the Philippines College of Law and is the Director of the University of the Philippines Law Centre’s Institute of International Legal Studies.

Prof Roque will also deliver a public lecture entitled “Current Issues and Challenges on Non-State Actors and IHL” on 17 July 2012 at UKM’s Faculty of Law.

Other speakers include: Prof Dr Rohimi Shapiee and Dr Salawati Basir from UKM; Prof Dr Ghafur Hami and Prof Dr Mohd Naqib from the International Islamic University of Malaysia; Colonel Zakaria from the Royal Military College Malaysia and Richard Desgagne from the ICRC Regional Delegation.