The 9th Biennial Conference of the Asian Society of International Law (2023)

AGENDA “CLICK HERE”

BACKGROUND

The Bandung Conference (1955) marked a significant progress in the development of international law in Asia, and indeed globally. Under the leadership of the then Indonesian President Soekarno, the Bandung Conference represented a major leap in the history of international law and later shaped the new international legal order.

The legacy of Western nations most often dominates the history of international law, which for a time involved only the so-called “civilized” nations or Western countries. The Bandung Conference was tremendously important in changing this status quo by supporting Asian and African countries in their anti-colonial campaign to push for independence and gain recognition under international law and membership at the United Nations (UN). The Conference also left an economic legacy, as it led to the UN Declaration on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order, which is part of a set of proposals by the Non-Aligned Movement.

The Bandung Conference also helped newly independent nations to gain ground in negotiations of international treaties. For instance, in negotiating the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, many Asian and African states struggled to protect their jurisdictions at sea, in terms of exclusive economic zones, and the maritime territory attached to archipelagic states. The Convention not only successfully promoted decolonization, but also accommodated the economic interests of many newly independent and developing states.

Today, the spirit of the Bandung Conference is still very relevant for many reasons. For instance, the current geopolitical rivalry between major powers creates fear of foreign state intervention and global disruption. In this regard, the spirit of non-alignment of the Bandung Conference, which sought to mediate these tensions, and its commitment to world peace are very crucial.

Furthermore, today the international order has changed dramatically. There are now 193 countries in the UN, all with equal status under international law. International law is no longer monopolized by Western countries. Despite this ostensibly equal footing, Asian and African states still do not play a large role in the development of international law. Most international institutions are still located in the Global North and serve the interests of Western countries.

Therefore, the 9th Biennial Conference of Asian Society of International Law aims to revisit the historical Bandung Conference and provide momentum for Asia to reflect on its current and future involvement in the international legal order.

The Conference will be composed of two events:

1. The Junior Scholar Workshop, a half-day workshop to be held at Universitas Indonesia, Faculty of Law, in Depok, Indonesia, on 7 August 2023, and
2. The Biennial Conference of the Asian Society of International Law to be held in Bandung, Indonesia, on 8 and 9 August 2023.

Details on how to apply to participate in each of these events are provided below.

OBJECTIVE

The 9th Biennial Conference of the Asian Society of International Law (Asian SIL) aims to be a forum to enable the exchange of ideas between academics, practitioners, and persons interested in international law. The Conference welcomes not only Asian scholars but also international legal scholars who are interested in issues pertaining to Asia. In this sense, it hopes to continue the spirit and the legacy of the previous successful biennial conferences held by the Asian SIL. The Conference also aims to concretely contribute to the emerging scholarship in international law through the publication of presented papers in partnerships with prominent publishers.

COVERED THEMES

The 9th AsianSIL Biennial Conference welcomes submissions on all topics of international law including:

1. Rethinking multilateral cooperation in the post-pandemic era
2. The environmental crisis and international law
3. Human rights in a changing world
4. The law of the sea: challenges and prospects
5. Regional tensions and the tools of international law
6. International law and the configuration of interests in the South China Sea
7. The relevance of the Bandung Conference and its legacies in international legal history and theories
8. Asian values and approaches to the reconfiguration of trade and investment regimes
9. The place of regional organizations in Asia
10. Non-Western traditions and international law
11. Incorporating Asian values in international dispute settlement
12. Framing Asian sovereign wealth funds in international law
13. The rise of China and the reshaping of international law
14. International legal aspect of the Belt and Road Initiative
15. Asia and international human rights norms
16. The common heritage and the future of resources
17. Third world solidarity and non-alignment
18. International commercial arbitration
19. International Investment Law
20. International Trade Law
21. Private International Law
22. International Humanitarian Law
23. Intellectual Property Law
24. Third World Approaches to International Law
25. Global health law and governance, and
26. Artificial intelligence, cyberspace, and international law

The topics listed above are not exhaustive.

PANELS AND SESSIONS

Plenary Sessions

There will be two plenary sessions devoted to the themes of “Revisiting the Bandung Spirit and the Outlook of International Law”, and “(Re)Configuring the new Multilateralism through Asian-African Perspectives”.

Parallel Panel Discussions

There will be up to four papers per panel to give presenters and discussants adequate time for a fruitful engagement. We encourage participants to focus their papers on the conference theme and sub-themes. In addition to the general call for individual papers, we would also like to encourage individuals to organize their own panels by coordinating with colleagues. This will make the panels more cohesive and as such, will foster greater collaboration between international law stakeholders.

1. Individual Paper

Participants should provide the following information:

1. Name of presenter: For example, Mr. A
2. Title of paper: For example, “The Politics Behind the Comprehensive Economy Partnership”.
3. Subtheme: For example, Mega/Regional Economic Agreement.
4. Abstract: not more than 300 words.
5. Email and contact details of author.
6. Title and affiliation of the author.
7. Brief biographical details of the presenter. This includes professional status, educational background, institutional affiliation, contact number and e-mail address. Please also provide any information about your publications and other relevant information on your research or experience

2. Proposal for Special Panels

Any interested group of presenters may jointly propose a thematic panel to the organizing committee. The panel organizer should coordinate with the other speakers, take responsibility for that panel, and ensure that the required details below are provided with the consent of the other speakers:

For example –

1. Name of panel coordinator: Ms. B
2. Title of panel: “Business Model Policy to Respect Human Rights”
3. Subtheme: “Incorporating Asian Value in International Dispute Settlement”
4. Title of paper I: “Indonesia’s New Human Rights Certification on Maritime Activities”
5. Title of paper II: “The Implementation of Indonesia’s National Action Plan of Business and Human Rights”
6. Title of paper III: “Indonesia and Multinational Companies: The Battle for Human Rights”
7. Abstract: Description of panel in not more than 500 words, and description of individual papers in not more than 300 words each.

The proposed panel should consist of a maximum of five (5) presenters, including the panel convener.

 

ABSTRACTS & PAPERS

Submission of Abstracts

• Abstracts must be submitted via email to asiansil2023@ui.ac.id with the subject: “Abstract Title: [title], and Presenter’s Name”.
• All abstracts must be submitted by 30 April 2023.
• Presenters will receive a notification of the decision as to whether their abstracts have been accepted by 31 May 2023.
• The papers accepted for presentation at the conference will be based on a competitive selection process. The selection criteria will be as follows:
  • Relevance to the broad theme and sub-theme
  • Quality of the abstract
  • Geographical diversity of presenters
  • Balance between senior and junior presenters

• The organizers reserve the right to make changes to panel allocations.

 

Guidelines for Paper Submission

(Applicable to presenters whose abstracts have been accepted for the parallel sessions)

• Author’s title, name, university/organization, title of paper, and e-mail address must be stated clearly on the cover page of the paper.
• Length – 5,000 to 10,000 words, inclusive of footnotes. Please adhere strictly to this requirement.
• Font – Size 12, Times New Roman
• Single spacing of text throughout
• Microsoft Word Document Format
• Chicago Turabian 17^th Edition Citation Style
• Papers to be sent to asiansil2023@ui.ac.id by 15 July 2023 with the subject: “Completed Paper_Author’s Name”.

We urge that you adhere to the submission deadline to ensure that your presentation will be included in the conference.

PUBLICATION OUTPUT

Selected papers will be invited to submit to the Indonesian Journal of International Law (IJIL). IJIL reserves the right to further select which papers are acceptable for publication. The papers will be published in the edition of October 2023 and January 2024. IJIL is Scopus-indexed journal. More information about the journal can be found on https://scholarhub.ui.ac.id/ijil/.

TIMELINE

1 March – 3 May 2023	Call for Abstracts
8 May – 31 May 2023	Selection Process (Review Abstract)
31 May 2023	Announcement of Selected Abstract
15 July 2023	Full Conference Paper Submission
7 August 2023	Junior Workshop (junior scholars or Ph.D students)
8-9 August 2023	Main Conference
10 August 2023	City Tour to Bandung

 

REGISTRATION

 

	Rate
Junior Workshop Fees (include workshop package, coffee break, lunch, transportation to Bandung, and conference participant fee)	USD 150	Per person
Conference Fees (include conference package, tea breaks, lunches, and a welcome dinner on Tuesday, 8th August 2023)	USD 350	per person (Non-OECD Residents)
	USD 400	per person (OECD Residents)*
Additional Welcome Dinner Ticket for Accompanying persons	USD 20	per person
Optional side event: Bandung’s City Tour (include transportations and entry tickets) Minimum of 25 participants. Thursday, 10th August 2023	USD 25	per person

(Please note that NO refunds of full / partial conference fees and optional dinner will be entertained if requests are made after 21 June 2023)

*Country list of OECD Member

Member Countries of Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD):
Australia	France	Luxembourg	Spain
Austria	Germany	Mexico	Sweden
Belgium	Greece	Netherlands	Switzerland
Canada	Hungary	New Zealand	Turkey
Chile	Israel	Norway	United Kingdom
Czech Republic	Ireland	Poland	United States
Denmark	Italy	Portugal
Estonia	Japan	Slovak Republic
Finland	Korea	Slovenia

VISA REQUIREMENTS

Indonesian Immigration Regulations requires visa to be obtained for visiting Indonesia. Limited visa exemption is only granted for ASEAN Member States.

Visa on arrival	There are 89 countries eligible for this scheme, including the US, EU Member States, and Australia.   Please visit https://www.imigrasi.go.id/en/visa-kunjungan-saat-kedatangan/ https://www.imigrasi.go.id/en/e-voa/
Visa exemption for 30 days visit	Only applicable for the passport holders of ASEAN Countries: Brunei Darussalam, The Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Timor Leste

For visa application purpose, please use our previously sent invitation letter.

Covid-19 Policy

Since 2023 Indonesia has relaxed its Covid-19 policies:

• Mandatory mask use is no longer enforced;
• Visiting public places using PeduliLindungi app is no longer required.

However, given the changing situations and still existing positive rate at manageable level, it is advisable for the invited speakers to apply individual precaution in certain places.

Other information about visa requirement to visit Indonesia can be found in these links below:

1. https://kemlu.go.id/bern/en/news/17810/entering-indonesia-updated-on-2-august-2022
2. https://visaguide-world.translate.goog/asia/indonesia-visa/tourist/?_x_tr_sl=en&_x_tr_tl=id&_x_tr_hl=id&_x_tr_pto=tc

Temporary Suspension of Visa Exemption Arrangement

Indonesian immigration authority starting from 7 June 2023 effectively suspended Visa Exemption (Free Visa) arrangement provided to 159 countries on temporary basis. This decision is based on Ministry of Justice Decision No. M.HH-01.GR.01.07 year 2023. Conference participants who are coming from the eligible countries can apply for Visa on Arrival at the Immigration Gate upon his/her arrival in Indonesia. Please make sure that you provide valid passports, return air tickets, invitation letter of the conference, and “guarantee letter”. The latter document is provided by the organising committee. The participants are strongly to advise in making sure getting this “guarantee letter” from the organising committee prior to his/her departure to Indonesia. Those who need this letter, please make sure to fill this form: https://tinyurl.com/2023AsianSIL.

TRANSPORTATION AND ACCOMMODATION

 Participants are responsible for their own accommodation and flight arrangements. Participants are advised to make these arrangements by before July 2023 to avoid any disappointment in hotel guestroom or air-ticket availability. The nearby-suggested hotels to the venue are:

Savoy Homann Hotel Bandung (https://savoyhomannbandung.com) – Transport to/from venue provided

Kimaya Hotel Bandung (https://kimayabraga.com-bandung.com/en/) – Transport to/from venue provided

HOW TO GET TO BANDUNG FROM JAKARTA

For Participants departing from Jakarta to Bandung, there are modes of transportation available and recommended are shuttles, trains, and Taxis.

Shuttles

Shuttles are available from All Terminals of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. The Provider and Fares are as follows:

1. The fare for Citi Trans Soekarno-Hatta Airport to Bandung via Pasteur, Cihampelas, and Dipati Ukur is Rp 200,000. Citi Trans operates from 06:45 – 23:15 WIB.
2. Jackal Holiday Soekarno-Hatta Airport to Bandung sets a tariff of IDR 160,000 with operating hours at 07.30 – 23.30 WIB.
3. Lintas Shuttle to Bandung has a fare of IDR 160,000. The operating hours for Lintas Shuttle to Bandung are 07:15 – 23:00 WIB.
4. The Sinar Shuttle to Bandung operates at a rate of IDR 130,000. The operating hours are 07:30 – 23:00 WIB.
5. X-Trans Soekarno-Hatta Airport travel opens routes to Bandung, Bintaro and Puncak with operating hours at 07.00 – 22.00 WIB. The rates for X-Trans Soekarno-Hatta Airport travel are as follows: Bandung: Rp 140,000 (General); Rp 130,000 (Student)

You can also book a Jackal Holiday Shuttle from Soekarno-Hatta direct to Bandung online via Traveloka (www.traveloka.com), but you can also order a ticket on the spot at the airport

Trains
Trains are Available from Jakarta to Bandung, but there is no direct trains from Soekarno Hatta to Bandung. If you want to go to Bandung via Train then there are two options, first an airport Train Ride from Soekarno-Hatta to Manggarai then a Taxi to Gambir Station, or a direct Cab from Soekarno-Hatta to Gambir Station. It must be noted that the tickets from Gambir to Bandung must be bought in Advance using the Official Provider: Kereta API: www.kai.id or secondary providers such as Traveloka (www.traveloka.com) or Tiket.com (www.tiket.com).

Taxi
Taxis are available from every terminal in Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Participants can go to a counter and order a taxi directly to the Savoy Homann in Bandung, with an Estimated price of 95 USD (Rp 1,400,000), comprising of 80 USD for the Taxi and 15 USD for the Toll Road. Please do note that we only recommend the BlueBird Group as the most reliable taxi provider.

 

EVENT AGENDA

PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION POLICY

Email Addresses
Participants’ email address will be included in a list that will be disseminated during and/or after the workshop unless or otherwise instructed by you.

Photography & Videography
Participants should be aware that the organisers may be taking photographs and videos during all the sessions. The organisers may use such photos in marketing materials, publications, social media, and may identify participants by name. By participating in the workshop, it is accepted that all participants give their consent to the organisers to publish, republish or otherwise transmit the images in any medium for all purposes. Participants waive any right to inspect and approve a finished product or the copy that may be used in connection with an image that was taken, or the use to which it may be applied. The organisers will not be accountable for any claims for remuneration associated with any form of damage, foreseen or unforeseen associated with the use of the images.

If you prefer your email address and your photographs NOT to be used in this manner, please inform the 9^th Biennial AsianSIL Conference Organising Committee.

 Contacts

• http://asiansil.law.ui.ac.id
• asiansil2023@ui.ac.id

 

THE JUNIOR SCHOLAR WORKSHOP

(in collaboration with the TRILA Programme of Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore)

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP

 There will be a Junior Scholar Workshop that will be held on 7 August 2023, that is, a day before the 9^th Asian SIL Biennial Conference. The Workshop will be held in Depok campus of Universitas Indonesia, Faculty of Law.

This half-day Workshop is aimed at providing selected junior scholars a forum to present their current research projects (draft articles), and receive comments from a panel of senior scholars.

ELIGIBILITY AND QUALIFICATIONS

Interested junior scholar must be:

• Junior academic, i.e., untenured or within the first three (3) years of a tenure track appointment
• Academic Fellow, i.e., in pre-tenure track fellowship
• Postdoctoral Fellow
• Graduate student (LLM and PhD level)

TOPICS AND APPLICATION PROCEDURE

The organisers welcome research works relating to all listed topics for the 9^th Asian SIL Biennial Conference (see page 3 of Call for Papers), or any international law topic related to those in the list.

Interested junior scholar must submit to ciltrila@gmail.com to following information:

• Subject of e-mail: “Application for JSW_[name]”
• Abstract of not more 300 words, in MS Word format.
• CV or link to an online profile (for example, LinkedIn)
• In your message, please state your current affiliation and position.

Important note: To enhance participation, applicants will not be permitted to present in both the JSW (7 August) and the main conference (8-9 August). Hence, any interested applicant must choose either to apply for JSW or the main conference.

KEY DATES

•  30 April 2023 – deadline for the submission of SJW abstracts
• 31 May 2023 – successful applicants will be informed via e-mail
• On or before 30 June 2023 – successful applicants must submit their completed draft paper. The draft paper should be between 5000 to 8000 words, not including footnotes.

Submitted draft papers will be considered for publication at the Indonesian Journal of International Law (IJIL), subject to further review and selection process of IJIL Editorial Team.

Any enquiries about the JSW may be addressed to the TRILA Team at ciltrila@gmail.com