USALI is pleased to report the recent developments from Innocence Project Japan and their work to overturn a shaken-baby-syndrome case. Below is an English summary taken from the Shaken Baby Review website, written by IPJ partner Kana Sasakura of Konan University.
South China Morning Post: An independent inquiry is still the only way to end the protests and keep Hong Kong’s story from ending tragically
ASEAN and the South China Sea: Vietnam's Role as Chair
On November 4, the ASEAN chair’s gavel was passed to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc of Vietnam at the closing ceremony of the grouping’s annual summit in Bangkok. Vietnam will serve as the chair of ASEAN, the most important international organization in Southeast Asia, through 2020.
Announcing the Innocence Film Festival from Taiwan Innocence Project
To spread awareness of the problem of wrongful convictions, the Taiwan Innocence Project will be hosting its first “Innocence Film Festival” from December 11 through December 15, 2019 in Taipei, Taiwan, featuring 18 domestic and foreign documentary and fact-based dramas that depict miscarriages of justice in Taiwan, the United States, Japan, Iceland, the Philippines and other countries. See the trailer and poster below. More details will be made public soon.
Judicial Activism in Taiwan
USALI’s guest speakers from East Asia often inspire reflection on our own legal and judicial debates from new angles. At a special seminar at USALI on November 1, Chief Justice Tzong-Li Hsu and Justice Jau-Yuan Hwang of Taiwan’s Constitutional Court made a case for judicial activism, which has become a mostly pejorative term in the United States. Chief Justice Hsu argued that Taiwan’s Constitutional Court should “serve as mediator for opposing political forces in the process of transition.”
A Canary in a Coal Mine｜礦井中的金絲雀——記紐約大學冤案實習計畫
China's Challenge to the International Human Rights Regime
Human rights in China is an important research field that the USALI is actively engaged in. Dr. Yu-Jie Chen, our affiliate scholar and a Global Academic Fellow at Hong Kong University Faculty of Law, has just published an article on “China’s Challenge to the International Human Rights Regime” (NYU Journal of International Law and Politics, vol. 51, no. 4, 2019).
Human Rights in the Chinese Administration of Justice
This paper, published by USALI Affiliated Scholar Yu-Jie Chen, is part of the annual report published by Taiwan’s Foundation for Democracy on human rights in China. It gives an overview of the recent trends, particularly in 2018, regarding human rights issues in the contexts of the Chinese police law enforcement, the National Supervisory Commission, the court and lawyers.
Harvard Book Event: Taiwan and International Human Rights
From Professor Jerome A. Cohen’s Blog:
I'm delighted to announce the publication of a new edited volume, Taiwan and International Human Rights: A Story of Transformation. I admire the hard work of my co-editors and dear friends, Professors Bill Alford of Harvard and LO Chang-fa, former Taiwan Constitutional Court Justice and National Taiwan University Law Dean, that made this book possible.
CFR: Communist China’s Painful Human Rights Story
Student Scholars Program Accepting Applications for 2019 - 2020 Year
The U.S-Asia Law Institute (USALI) is currently accepting applications for its annual Student Scholars program, an exciting year-long opportunity to produce independent research related to the Institute’s ongoing projects.
The selection process is competitive, and successful student scholars will meet regularly as a group to discuss important legal issues facing the region, meet with the Institute’s world-renowned visiting scholars and receive guidance and support from USALI staff. Students are expected to commit time to the Institute each week and contribute to the work of the Institute.
Katherine Wilhelm: USALI's New Executive Director
Implications of the Hong Kong Extradition Bill with Affiliated Scholar Alvin Cheung
Hong Kong has been in the news over the controversy and protests surrounding the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation Bill proposed by the Hong Kong government. Our very own Alvin Cheung has been analyzing the situation across a number of platforms.
Redress through Science: "Innocence Movement" symposium held in Kyoto
China Law & Policy Podcast: Frank Upham - Our Man in Wuhan
On May 29, 2019 Elizabeth Lynch interviewed NYU Law Professor Frank Upham in observance of the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre. The interview details how in 1989 Professor Upham was a researcher at Wuhan University faculty of law and as a result witnessed the pro-democracy protests that were also occurring in Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei Province. Listen / Read Transcript of the Podcast here.
USALI Welcomes Summer 2019 Interns
This week USALI is delighted to welcome our interns for the summer! This internship provides an excellent opportunity for practical and hands-on legal research experience, close mentorship and career advice, the opportunity to development independent research with guidance from USALI staff, and a connection with a community of legal scholars, academics, and professionals committed to understanding the Rule of Law in Asia.
Workshop in China: International Approaches to Sexual Harassment Law
From June 1 – 2, 2019 the U.S.-Asia Law Institute held “International Approaches to Sexual Harassment Law” in partnership with Sichuan University Law School, Chengdu, China. The workshop was structured to explore comparative means of addressing anti-discrimination cases, litigation, mechanisms and standards throughout the world for the purpose of strengthening understanding of international approaches.
Affiliated Scholar Aaron Halegua speaks at US Embassy in Beijing
"An American Perspective on Capital Punishment in Japan"
In May 2019 “An American Perspective on Capital Punishment in Japan” written by David T. Johnson, Professor of University of Hawaii at Mano’a was published. This volume was edited by Kana Sasakura Professor of Law at Konan University and Wrongful Convictions Program participant.
About the publication:
The death penalty of Aum Shinrinkyo’s Shoko Asahara is one of the most notable instances of capital punishment in Japan. Among modernized countries, Japan and the United States are exceptions for exception amoungst developed countries. This publication provides detailed analysis of the secret execution, the culture of denial in Japanese criminal justice, and the Japanese political society surrounding the death penalty system.
Introduction
Japanese-language reviews and articles:
NPR: Professor Jerome Cohen Featured in Discussion about US/China Visas
Academic exchanges between the U.S. and China have blossomed in frequency and scope since relations were normalized in 1978. Now, as relations sour, Chinese scholars and students face suspicions of espionage and spreading propaganda. The U.S. scrutiny is especially intense for Chinese scholars affiliated with state-linked think tanks and research institutions…