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For more information about this program, contact Sherry P. Broder at (808) 531-1411 or by email.
Jon Van Dyke Institute for International Law & Justice
Overview
The Jon Van Dyke Institute for International Law & Justice has created a lasting institutional tribute to Professor Jon Van Dyke and has done so in a manner that reflects, captures, and builds upon his remarkable contributions to scholarship, teaching, advocacy, writing and cooperative relationships. It is devoted to the research, education and the development of international law and justice with an emphasis on the Asia Pacific region, ocean law, human rights and the rights of Indigenous peoples.
Research and Education
Bringing together scholars, practitioners and students from around the world, the Jon Van Dyke Institute for International Law & Justice supports the pursuit of research, education and debate on these issues by faculty members and students, and has produced policy-relevant scholarship on cutting-edge issues. The Jon Van Dyke Institute is developing and promulgating legal techniques to address these issues, and is training the next generation of lawyers who will be leaders in the field. The Jon Van Dyke Institute is both a partner to—and resource for—governments and lawyers in the public, private, and non-governmental organization (NGO) sectors.
Continuing the Legacy of Jon Van Dyke
The Jon Van Dyke Institute for International Law & Justice supports:
- Periodic conference and other speaker series each year.
- Long-term research projects, including collaborative research with professional disciplines other than law, such as the East-West Center and the University of Hawai‘i School of Pacific and Asian Studies.
- Associations and public policy oriented projects with institutions, centers and programs from other countries.
- Joint programs with international organizations and NGOs such as the Law of the Sea Institute, International Law of the Sea Tribunal, United Nations, and others.
The Jon Van Dyke Institute also facilitates student and faculty exchanges; already numerous Law School faculty members and students have conducted research and lectured at sister institutions in other countries, including in recent years the Universities of Inha, Seoul National, Hiroshima, Hokkaido, Meiji, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tsinghua, Peking, and Tasmania. Other noteworthy programs offered through the Institute including a Visiting Scholars program and an International Jurist-in-Residence position.
About Jon Van Dyke
Jon Van Dyke pushed into new frontiers in his numerous writings, his teachings and his legal practice, focusing on international ocean law, human rights, environmental law, and the rights of Native Hawaiians. He was particularly concerned about peace and reconciliation in Northeast Asia, human rights, the dangers of nuclear energy and its waste, social justice for the disenfranchised, the rights of Indigenous peoples, the status of Pacific Islanders, the health and continued viability of the oceans, and protection of the environment.
He worked tirelessly on issues of peace and reconciliation in Northeast Asia, traveling to the Republic of Korea more than 40 times. He wrote extensively about the San Francisco Peace Treaty, Dokdo, maritime delimitations in the East Sea, Yellow Sea and South China Sea, and disputes with North Korea. He published a book with President Seoung-Yong Hong and co-authored articles with Professor Seokwoo Lee. He was an editor for the Korean Journal of International Law and its last issue was dedicated to him as a “true friend of Korea.” His articles have been included in numerous Korean publications.
He also worked on numerous humanitarian causes, including: seeking reconciliation for Native Hawaiians with the United States government; serving with the Law Association for Asia and the Pacific to develop and disseminate a Model Human Rights Charter for the Pacific Island Region; teaching judicial training seminars in Micronesia, Pohnpei, and Chuuk; working to prohibit the dumping of radioactive waste in the South Pacific; representing Micronesians exposed to nuclear atmospheric testing in the United States Court of Claims; and litigating human rights cases on behalf of the victims of human rights abuses.
As a trial and appellate attorney, he represented Native Hawaiians and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs in cases involving rights and entitlements and constitutional issues. He represented the people of the Marshall Islands for exposure to atmospheric nuclear testing in the Court of Claims, and served as counsel for the World Wildlife Fund before the Deep Seabed Authority, International Law of the Sea Tribunal.
A cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and a tenured member of the Hastings School of Law faculty, he came to the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s School of Law in 1976. As an educator, Jon had a fierce passion for teaching and an unwavering commitment to the thousands of students whom he taught, challenged, supported and mentored.
“Jon Van Dyke was a legal scholar of the first order and a tireless advocate for Native Hawaiian and civil rights. He believed in the preservation and protection of history and culture, and his research and writings have expanded our understanding of the Constitution and helped change, for the better, the laws that govern our land and sea.”
U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye
Jon Van Dyke Institute for International Law & Justice
Symposia and Conferences
A three-day Conference honoring the scholarship and legacy of Professor Van Dyke was held in 2013 (January14, January 31 – February 1, 2013). The Chief Justice of the Hawai‘i Supreme Court and the Governor of the State of Hawaii provided the welcoming addresses. The Governor of the State and the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu issued proclamations declaring February 1, 2013 to be Jon Markham Van Dyke Day in the State of Hawaii and the City and County of Honolulu.
The program and panels reflected the issues that Professor Van Dyke felt deeply about. Some of the distinguished scholars who made presentations at the conference are as follows below. Papers from the conference were published by the University of Hawai`i Law Review. 35 U. Haw. L. Rev. 1 (2013).
Professor Jerome Cohen of the New York University School of Law and Director of the US – Asia Law Institute, one of Professor Van Dyke’s professors at Harvard Law School, opened the conference with the first lecture on “A New Era for Chinese Justice, Reflections on the Bo Xilai and Chen Guangcheng Cases.” Professor Harry Scheiber, University of California at Berkeley Law School, Director of the Institute for Legal Research, Stefan Riesenfeld Chair Professor of Law and History, Director Sho Sato Program in Japanese and U.S. Law, and Co-Director of the Law of the Sea Institute, and Jane Scheiber, research associate in the Center for the Study of Law and Society, School of Law, University of California, Berkeley, Special Assistant to the Dean, College of Chemistry, UC Berkeley, where she recently retired as Assistant Dean, spoke at the historic Ali`iolani Hale Hawaii Supreme Court Building about Martial Law in Hawaii during World War II.
Judge Jin-Hyun Paik, Judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and Professor of International Law at Seoul National University and formerly Dean of its School of International Studies, moderated the first panel on Northeast Asian Seas – Conflicts, Strategies for Peaceful Resolution and Accomplishments. Professor Joon-Soo Jon, Vice President Sogang University, former Dean of Sogang Business School and Professor at Sogang Business School moderated the second panel on International Environmental and Nuclear Law. Naoki Idei, Attorney and Professor of Law, Daito Bunka University Law School, Tokyo presented on Facing Mass Nuclear Damage Claims, Challenge of Japanese Judicial System facing Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident. Professor Sherry Broder spoke on Updating Nuclear Law.
Professor Scheiber gave a keynote address on the Legacy of Jon Van Dyke in Legal Scholarship which was published as, A JURISPRUDENCE OF “PRAGMATIC ALTRUISM”: JON VAN DYKE’S LEGACY TO LEGAL SCHOLARSHIP, Id. at 385.
Professor David Caron, Dean of Kings College of Law, London, former President of the American Society of International Law, former Co-Director of the Miller Institute on Global Challenges and the Law, former Co-Director of the Law of the Sea Institute and Professor of Law at Berkeley Law School, University of California chaired the third panel on Climate Change and Sea Level Rise. Professor David Freestone, Professor George Washington School of Law, former chief counsel and head of the Environment and International Law Group, senior adviser to the USA Multilateral Office of the International Union of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), presented and published a paper CAN THE UN CLIMATE REGIME RESPOND TO THE CHALLENGES OF SEA LEVEL RISE?, Id. at 671. Professor Richard Wallsgrove, Professor working with the Environmental Law Program at the WSRS. Prior to joining the WSRSL, he served as the Policy Director for the Blue Planet Foundation. His talk was published, WHAT CAN THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY TEACH US ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE? LOCAL ACTION IN THE LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS CONTROVERSY, Id. at 687.
Professor and Jon Van Dyke Institute for International Law & Justice Director Sherry Broder chaired panel five on Protecting the Ocean and Its Resources. Professor Nilufer Oral, Bilgi University, Istanbul, Turkey presented on A Particularly Sensitive Sea Are for the Black Sea; Elias Blood-Patterson, first NYU Jon Van Dyke Fellow, presented on US Ratification fo the Law of the Sea Treaty; and Duncan Currie, Director, Globalaw and former Pew Environment Group Consultant, presented on The State of the Oceans: Ways Forward How to Secure Professor Jon Van Dyke’s Legacy and Vision for the Oceans. Panel six included presentations by Professor Yoonkyeong Nah, Yonsei University, on Historical Issues Between Korea and Japan, Professor Tae-Ung Baik, WSRSL, on Stabilizing Democracy and Human Rights Systems in South Korea, and Professor Alison Conner, WSRSL, on Images of Justice (and Injustice) in China.
Dean David Caron delivered a keynote address on Anticipatory Public Trust Doctrine: A Means for Climate Change Adaptation.
The seventh panel on Utilizing Indigenous Tradition and Custom in Decision Making was chaired by Justice Richard Pollack of the Hawaii Supreme Court and a former student of Professor Van Dyke. Chief Justice Arthur Ngiraklsong of the Supreme Court of Palau and Justice Richard Torres of the Supreme Court of Guam spoke about the practices and decisions of their courts. Judge Richard Clifton of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals chaired the eighth panel on International Law and the Development of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Professor Dinah Shelton, Manatt/Ahn Professor of International Law, George Washington University and Chairperson, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and Professor James Anaya, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous People and American James J. Lenoir Professor OF Human Rights Law and Policy, University of Arizona School of Law spoke on recent developments.
Attendees included the conference participants, William S. Richardson School of Law students, faculty and alumni, lawyers, government officials and judges.