RegNet Network Newsletter

August 2005

Parliamentary Oversight of Treaty Making

On 15-16 July 2005, the Centre for Democratic Institutions (CDI) – a REGNET Centre - contributed to the strengthening of person to person and institution to institution relations between Australia and Indonesia with a one and a half day seminar on the Parliamentary Oversight of Treaty Making, organised in collaboration with the Indonesian parliament, the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR). While high level exchanges between Indonesian and Australian lawmakers are increasingly commonplace, few such meetings have offered comparable depth and intensity of discussion. Bringing together Australian and Indonesian legislators involved in treaty making, and foreign affairs and defence policy, the meeting was the first of its kind, providing participants with one and a half days of in-depth discussions on the technical and political implications of parliamentary involvement in treaty-making, often considered in Australia the preserve of the Executive. Simultaneously, the dialogue offered participants an opp ortunity to address issues of fundamental importance to democratic functioning – namely, lawmaking and executive power. That the meeting was organised at the invitation of Drs Theo Sambuaga, the Chair of Commission I, the meeting constituted another major step in the thawing of relations between Australian and Indonesian foreign policy leaders. Events such as these highlight the importance of person to person contact among senior Australian and Indonesian legislators and participants agreed unanimously to deepen ties between the Indonesian and Australian parliaments with a follow-up event in 2006. To this end, CDI will organise for a delegation of Indonesian legislators to visit Canberra early next year. Photo caption Seminar participants Maria Vamvakinou MP for Calwell (Vic, Labor) and Marissa Haque Fawzi (Sh, Mhum, Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Committee [BKSAP])  

The Fellowships are the most important Commonwealth-funded grants for carrying out specific research projects and go to researchers recognized as being at the very top of their respective fields. Professor Charlesworth will investigate how war weakens democratic governance and the capacity to deal with crimes committed during the conflict. Her project will advance new ways of thinking about building the structures for democracy and justice after conflict. The focus will be the potential contribution of international law to this enterprise. Through national and international collaboration, she will develop innovative theoretical models to ground international norms about governance and justice after conflict, but also practical proposals to implement them. This project is highly significant to engagement by Australia in nation-building projects, both in its region and further afield. It will build Australia's expertise in the ways that international law can promote democracy and justice, and develop guidelines for states and organisations involved in peace and nation-building. It will thus contribute to safeguarding Australia by increasing Australia's capacity to engage with, and interpret itself to, its neighbours and the broader international community.