Experts from Asian, African nations to talk terror

New Delhi, Apr 1: Legal eagles and top officials from about 40 Asian and African countries will meet here for a six-day conference from Monday to deliberate on some of the most crucial issues facing the world including terrorism, human trafficking and international corruption.

The conference--45th Golden Jubilee, Headquarters Session of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO)-- will be inaugurated by Law Minister H R Bhardwaj and delegations from more than 40 AALCO Member States, several of them led by Senior Ministers, Attorneys-General and high-ranking government officials, will attend.

Another important event during this Session will be the inauguration of the Permanent Headquarters Building of AALCO by Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma on April six in the prestigious Chanakyapuri Diplomatic Enclave, a spokesman of the External Affairs Ministry said today.

India is bearing full expenditure involved in the construction of the building which includes the office premises as well as the residence of the Secretary General.

Presently, AALCO has 16 items on its agenda and the items deliberated during this Session include, the Work of the International Law Commission, Law of the Sea, International Terrorism, Combating International Corruption, World Trade Organization, Human Rights in Islam, Deportation of Palestinians, Establishing Cooperation against Trafficking in Women and Children and International Protection of Folklore.

Also, three half-day special meetings will be held on 'Statelessness : An Overview From the Asian and African and Middle Eastern Perspective', 'Universal Jurisdiction and its role in the Enforcement of International Humanitarian Law', and 'International Migration Law' which is organized jointly with the UNHCR, International Committee for Red Cross and the International Organization for Migration respectively (April 5-6.) During the Session four publications would be released.

These are the AALCO Yearbook Vol. III (2005), two Special Studies--'A Study on International Terrorism' and 'Rights and Obligations under the United Nations Convention against Corruption', and AALCO Quarterly Bulletin Vol. 1, No. 4 (2005).

AALCO was established on November 15, 1956, with the objective of serving as an advisory body to its Member States in the field of international law and as a forum for Asian-African cooperation in legal matters of common concern.

In fifty years, AALCO has blossomed into a major Inter-Governmental Organization with 47 States from the Asian and African regions.

The Organisation has established close relations with the United Nations, its Specialized Agencies and several Inter-governmental Organizations and concluded formal Cooperation Agreements with 17 of them.

In 1980, the UN General Assembly accorded AALCO the Permanent Observer Status.

AALCO has contributed immensely on many international law topics and has achieved historical contribution towards codification of various international legal instruments.

UNI