May 21, Opening Keynote Address – Soli Sorabjee, former Attorney General for India and Vice-President of the Human Rights Committee of the International Bar Association, will speak on “Press Freedom and Censorship.”
May 21-23, International and Regional Comparative Law sessions – Programme faculty will discuss regional comparisons of defamation and criminal liabilities for journalists, including litigation strategies, successful experiences and how these issues might be addressed by international law.
May 22, Case Studies Showcase Panel – a panel of key lawyers and players of two recent landmark criminal defamation cases in Asia will discuss specifics of these cases.
May 22, Keynote Addressby Justice Geoffrey Robertson QC, Doughty Street Chambers, London, and UN Appeal Judge, will deliver a keynote address - “Free Speech, Next Stop Asia? ” – from London via live-video-conferencing with a Q&A session. A reception by Professor Lap-chee Tsui, Vice Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong, will follow.
National Workshops will focus on the national media law of six southeast Asian countries, to be facilitated by top litigator/legal experts of the countries, including
Shafee Mohammed Abdullah, a Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia;
Somchai Homlaor, Executive Director of the Asian Institute for Human Rights in Thailand;
Todung Mulya Lubis, of Lubis, Santosa & Maulana of Indonesia;
Prof. Raul Pangalangan, dean of the University of the Philippines College of Law;
Dr Kevin Tan, , Director, Equilibrium Consulting, Singapore, and
Mao Somvutheary (Theary) of the Mekong Law Group, Cambodia.
