Every year, the Asian Yearbook of International Law invites the submission of original essays of excellent quality written by young scholars of Asian nationality residing anywhere in the world on a topic of public or private international law for consideration of the award of the Sata International Law Prize. The value of the Prize is US$2,000 and is named after Mr. Sata Yasuhiko of Tokibo Ltd., Japan, whose generous gift has made it possible to establish this annual Prize.

The winning essay is published in the Asian Yearbook of International Law. Participants must not be over the age of 40 years on the submission date. Each essay should be accompanied by a curriculum vitae of the author. Essays must be written in English, and the length should be between 8,000 and 14,000 words excluding footnotes.

The Editors of the Yearbook will determine the winning essay and notify the competitors of the results. The decision taken by the Editors is final. Essays for the 2010 Prize must be received by the Editors of the Yearbook not later than 1 October 2010 either e-mail. The result will be notified not later than 31 December 2009. Relevant information in this respect can be sought by email at the following address:

Professor Masahiro Miyoshi
General Editor, Asian Yearbook of International Law
Email: miyoshim37.19mm@gmail.com

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2009 SATA PRIZE

The 2007 Sata Prize was awarded to Mr Ghanbari Amirhandeh of Iran for his article, ‘An Examination of the Plea of Self-Defence vis-a-vis Non State Actors’. Congratulations

I am delighted and honoured by the trust and confidence placed in me by such a high level UN body in recognition of my work in the field of international and human rights law.

Congratulations, Surya!!!

The Governing Board of DILA congratulates Dr Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf on his election to the International Court of Justice earlier this month.

 Dr Yusuf is currently Chairman of the Executive Committee of the African Foundation for International Law and is a member of DILA’s Advisory Board.

Judge Yusuf was educated at the Somali National University where he obtained his Dr Juris. He subsequently obtained a PhD in international law from the Graduate Institute of International Studies at the University of Geneva. He taught at the Somali National University from 1974 to 1981, and then at the University of Geneva from 1981 to 1983. From 1975 to 1980. He served as Somalia’s delegate to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea.

From 1987 to 1992, Judge Yusuf was Chief of the Legal Policies Service of UNCTAD before becoming its representative and Head of its New York Office from 1992 to 1994. From 1994 to 2001, he served as Legal Advisor, then Assistant Director for African Affairs to UNIDO in Vienna. Judge Yusuf has also been guest Professor and Lecturer at a number of universities and institutes in Switzerland, Italy, Greece and France.

Judge Yusuf is Founder and General Editor of the African Yearbook of International Law and a member of the Institut de droit international (Geneva). He was also one of the founders of the African Foundation for International Law and Chairman of its Executive Committee. Dr.Yusuf is fluent in Somali, English, French, Arabic, and Italian.

 For background on the recent election of the judges to the ICJ, see:

http://internationallawobserver.eu/2008/11/10/election-of-judges-to-the-international-court-of-justice/

 Judge Yusuf’s Reply to DILA’s Congratulatory Message

I thank you for your very kind and warm words of congratulations as well as for your wishes of success on the occasion of my election to the International Court of Justice.

I am very proud of my association with the DILA and hope that we will be able to establish more effective working relations between DILA and AFIL (African Foundation for International Law) of which I am currently the Chairman of the Executive Committee.

Kindly convey my thanks to all the members of the Board and Advisory Council of DILA.

I hope we will keep in touch.

Yours sincerely

Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf 

DILA mourns the loss of Judge Park Choon Ho who passed away on Wednesday 12 November 2008 after a brief battle with cancer. Judge Park had been associated with DILA since its earliest days and was a member of its Advisory Board.

Judge Park was born in Namwon, Korea on 15 April 1930 and was educated at the Seoul National University where he obtained a BA in political science. He then obtained a graduate diploma in applied linguistics from the University of Edinburgh in 1965, and a PhD in international law from the Law Faculty of the same institution.

After graduation, Judge Park worked as a research associate, first at the Harvard Law School (1972–1978), and then at the East-West Center in Hawaii (1978–1982). In 1982, he returned to Korea where he became Professor of International Law at Korea University, a post he held till 1995 when he became Professor of International Law at the Seinan Gakuin University in Japan. He retired in 2001. From 1997 to 2001, Judge Park was concurrently Distinguished Professor of International Law at the Graduate School of International Studies at Korea University.

Judge Park became fascinated by international law after studying the fisheries disputes between Korea and Japan and was a member of the Korean delegation to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea as well as the Preparatory Commission for the International Seabed Authority and for the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (1974–1995). In 1996, Judge Park was elected a member of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). He was re-elected for a second term in 2005.

At the time of his death, Judge Park was a member of the Institut de droit international; the editorial board of Marine Policy, Ocean and Shore-Line Management, and The Asian Review, as well as a member of DILA’s Advisory Board. From 1977 to 2000, he was a member of the editorial board of Ocean Development and International Law.

In 1989, Judge Park was conferred the prestigious Distinguished Scholarship Award (Social Sciences) by the Academy of Sciences in Korea. In 1998, his alma mater, University of Edinburgh awarded him an honorary Doctor of Law degree.

Judge Park was laid to rest at the National Cemetery in Daejeon, 160km south of Seoul on 16 November 2008. The Governing Board of DILA sends its condolences and heartfelt sympathies to his family. 

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