The Editors are very pleased to present volume 5 of the Asian Yearbook of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (AYBHRHL). Volume 1, 2, 3 and 4 of AYBHRHL were published in October 2017, August 2018, July 2019 and July 2020 respectively. As Editors we are extremely pleased to note that all of the previous volumes of the Yearbook have been embraced enthusiastically and wholeheartedly by practitioners of human rights and humanitarian law as well as by academics working in this field.
Volume 1 conducted an original, incisive and highly insightful examination of the many complex issues generated by the problematic ‘Islamic State’, ISIS or ‘Da‘esh’.1 A selection of papers presented at the first international conference of AYBHRHL held at Brunel University in September 2016 were published in Volume I of the Yearbook. The focused theme of volume 2 of AYBHRHL was ‘Islamic Law and its Implementation in Asia and the Middle East’. The focused theme represented articles, earlier versions of which were presented at the second annual conference for AYBHRHL.2 This conference took place on 6 October 2017 at the British Institute of International and Comparative law, London (BIICL). We were extremely honoured to have the participation of leading scholars and jurists from across the globe in the 2017 conference and indeed in the publication of the volume 2.
The publication of volume 2 in September 2018 was followed by the highly anticipated third annual AYBHRHL conference held at BIICL on 26 October 2018. Coventry Law School, in collaboration with the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL), and Brunel Law School organised this third annual international conference entitled: ‘Law, Gender and Sexuality: Challenging Traditional Perspectives’. 3 This annual conference and volume 3 of the AYBHRHL was dedicated to the late Ms. Asma Jahangir, one of the leading human rights lawyers and advocates of her generation. During the conference tributes were paid to Asma Jahangir by a number of delegates. These included Professor Martin Scheinin, (the former UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism and former member of the UN Human Rights Committee) and Professor Shaheen Sardar Ali (former Vice Chair of the Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions and Professor of Law, School of Law University of Warwick). The conference proceedings were included in Volume 3 of the Yearbook, which was published in September 2019.
There is no doubt that 2020 was one of the most challenging year in living memories because of the spread of COVID-19 and its implications across the globe. While we had concerns in the early part of 2020, we were pleased and indeed relieved that as Editors of Yearbook, we were able to complete a very successful international conference. The Committee of Editors would, in particular, like to thank Dr Ayesha Shahid, Editor-in-Chief of the AYBHRHL, for her excellent and exceptional work in the successful organisation of the conference entitled: ‘Law, Culture and Human Rights in Asia and the Middle East’ which was held at BIICL on 14 February, 2020. Dr Ayesha Shahid ensured that this conference, the fourth annual conference of the Yearbook, was a major success. In celebrating this success, we are also most grateful to BIICL. In particular, we would like to thank Kristin Hausler (Dorset Senior Research Fellow in Public International Law, BIICL) for her generous support in the organisation of this event which was highly successful and attracted delegates from all over the world. The Editors are absolutely delighted to confirm that notwithstanding the challenges posed by COVID-19, Volume 4 of AYBHRHL was published in July 2020.4
As always, we are enormously thankful to Brill Nijhoff, publishers of the AYBHRHL for the continuous support, notwithstanding challenging circumstances. In particular, we owe a special debt of gratitude to our friend and publisher, Lindy Melman as she has supported the Yearbook from its inception and has been a consistent source of strength. She has enthusiastically participated in all of the Yearbook’s conferences and has always responded to all of the publisher’s enquiries and questions with care and great detail. We would also like to thank our sponsors for the fourth annual Conference. We are grateful to Professor Nigel Berkeley, Associate Dean Research, Faculty of Business and Law, Coventry University and to Professor Stephen Hardy, formerly Head of Law School, Coventry University and now Dean of Faculty of Business, Law & Politics at the University of Hull who have been most generous in supporting AYBHRHL. Without the financial support from Coventry University it would have been impossible to organise various annual conferences for the Yearbook.
1 Volume 5: AYBHRHL
As indicated in the previous Volume, Volume 5 of AYBHRHL reflects the analysis and discussion that was the focus of the fourth annual conference; it concentrates on thematic issues relating to ‘Law, Culture and Human Rights in Asia and the Middle East’. A majority of articles represent, revised and updated versions of papers that were presented at the conference of 14 February, 2020. Volume 5 is divided into four sections: the next section (Part 1: Focused Theme) examines and evaluates the various aspects relating to cultural rights and human rights law. Part 2: General Articles considers a number of issues including those pertaining to the right of self-determination, rights of indigenous peoples and women’s rights. Part 3 examines the developments in State practice, assessing and critically evaluating the practice of a number of States including India, Iran, Pakistan and Japan. The final section consists of Part 4 and contains Summaries of Proceedings of Human Rights Monitoring Bodies (Covering the Period October 2019–December 2020). This section has been written and completed by our colleagues Denise Venturi and Silvia Venier.
2 Editorial News and Updates
The editors are very happy to welcome Dr Zia Ullah Ranjah on the Editorial Committee of the Yearbook as Editor of National Instruments. In our capacity as Editors, we are most thankful to all members of our Editorial Committee as well as to Editorial Board and to the International Advisory Board for their generous and consistent support in producing volume 5 of AYHRHL. We also remain thankful to our associated faculty who were instrumental in organisational aspects of the International Conference at BIICL and also provided valuable editorial assistance to various sections of the Yearbook. The General Coordinating Editor, Professor Rehman welcomes Adrija Ghosh, as assistant to the General Coordinating Editor to the Yearbook. The Committee of Editors is also grateful to Dr Frederick Cowell who generously agreed to act as the Guest Editor for Vol. 5 of the Yearbook.
3 Acknowledgement of Student Participation and Support
The editors congratulate Muhammad Danyal Khan from Brunel University for the successful award of PhD in Law in 2020. Danyal has provided enormous administrative support to the work of the Yearbook and played a significant role in the organisation and successful completion of the fourth annual conference held on 14 February 2020. The editors would also like to express their gratitude and thanks to Ms Neelam Khan from Coventry University for her generous participation as part of the organising committee for the fourth annual conference (14 February 2020).
4 Website for AYBHRHL
Further information on the AYBHRHL can be found at:
Notes
Please See ‘Focused Theme: ISIS and the Implications for human rights and humanitarian law’ (2017) 1 AYBHRHL 3–136.
Please See ‘Focused Theme: Islamic Law and its Implementation in Asia and the Middle East’ (2017) 2 AYBHRHL 3–173.
Please See ‘Focused Theme: Law, Gender and Sexuality’ (2018) 3 AYBHRHL 3–302.
Please see The Asian Yearbook of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (brill.com) (2020) 4 AYBHRHL.