EWCA Blog

On the day of President Obama’s inauguration, the East-West Center received several mentions in a front page story in The New York Times exploring the First Family’s diverse roots. The article mentioned the Center as a place where Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, spent time and also where the president’s half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, met her husband, Konrad Ng. (Click the link above to read the full NYT article.)

President Obama’s mother and stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, were both East-West Center grantees, although at different times. Konrad Ng worked from for several years as a graduate research intern in the International Cultural Studies Certificate Program, a joint program between the East-West Center and the University of Hawaii.

A talk was organized jointly for the first time by the Association of British Scholars (ABS) Chennai and the East-West Center Alumni Association (EWCA) Chennai Chapter. The subject of the talk was “Putting Children Back in School – Lessons from International and Local Experience.” The talk was given by Dr. S. Venkatraman of the UNESCO Bangkok. Continue Reading »

The post-conference information is now available on the alumni website. You can find the transcript of the speeches by EWC President Charles Morrison, EWC Chair Puongpun Sananikone, and EWCA President Larry Foster, links to photos, and much more! Click here to go the post-conference site.

Update: The correct dates for the Summer Institute is June 22 to July 3, 2009. It was listed incorrectly in the original post.

The Asian International Justice Initiative looks forward to hosting its second annual Summer Institute in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights (the Summer Institute) in Bali, Indonesia from June 22 through July 3, 2009. The two-week workshop is designed for participants working across a broad range of fields and disciplines related to international humanitarian law and human rights. The workshop is best suited to people working within the Asia Pacific region or with an Asia Pacific focus. Past workshop participants have included journalists, non-governmental organization workers, investigators, monitors, government agency workers, as well as lawyers and advanced law students from across Asia and other continents. The workshop is a joint effort between the East-West Center, the University of California Berkeley’s War Crimes Studies Center, and the National Human Rights Commission of Indonesia, Komnas HAM. Continue Reading »

By Toufiq Siddiqi, Adjunct Senior Fellow

I was in Islamabad, Pakistan, when the terrorist attacks at the two hotels and other sites in Mumbai took place a few weeks ago. The immediate reaction of the people there was that, irrespective of who the culprits were, this was a tragedy not only for India but for Pakistan as well, since it was likely to result in setting back the reconciliation process that had been going on for the past couple of years and had accelerated since a civilian government had been duly elected in Pakistan. The anticipation was that India would immediately blame the ISI, the Pakistani military intelligence service, for the attack, just as Pakistan frequently sees the hand of RAW, ISI’s Indian counterpart, behind terrorist incidents that often take place in many Pakistani cities.

I had gone to Islamabad for a meeting organized by the SAARC Energy Centre, which focused on the opportunities for cooperation between the countries of South Asia in the fields of energy, environment, and other related areas, and the benefits that could accrue to the region from such cooperation. The pace of high-level meetings between India and Pakistan had picked up considerably, since many of the senior policy-makers in both countries were aware of the enormous benefits that could accrue to the two countries and the whole of South Asia, from increased cooperation between India and Pakistan. Disrupting any blossoming rapprochement between the two countries may well have been one of the primary reasons for the Mumbai attack. Continue Reading »

EWCA Bangladesh Chapter Alumnus Abdul Mannan recently wrote a delightful article about his experience at the EWC/EWCA International Conference in Bali, Indonesia. To read the article published in The Daily Star Weekend Magazine, please click here.