The symposium will be a diverse gathering of scholars, attorneys, journalists, and representatives from government and non-governmental organizations (NGO's) from throughout the nation. Ms. Teresa Watanabe, Times Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times will moderate the event. The conference proceedings will be published in a special issue of the Whittier Law Review.
Topics to be covered during this half-day program are:
Global Alliance spokesperson, Ignatius Y. Ding, will represent the organization to attend the international symposium as a speaker focusing on legislation and litigation in pursuit of justice on behalf of victims of wartime atrocities committed by the Japanese militarist government in 1930's and 1940's.
Other speakers include California Assemblyman Mike Honda (D-San Jose), attorneys Barry Fisher, Esq. of Fleishman & Fisher and David S. Casey, Esq. of Casey, Gerry, Reed & Schenk, historian Sheldon Harris, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, California State University, Northridge, and Paul Hoffman, Co-Chair of the International Human Rights Committee of the ABA International Law and Practice Section.
Whittier Law School is the only law school in California to host regular international law symposia. Past speakers, including U.S. and foreign government officials, state Supreme Court justices, United Nations officials, and representatives from NGO's, have used the conferences as a forum to discuss human rights, the plight of children and other timely topics.
Whittier's most recent symposium, in April 1999, focused on children's rights. In March 1998, an international audience gathered at Whittier Law School to discuss Nazi Gold and Holocaust-era assets. The events drew participants and media from around the world, and resulted in a feature story in TIME Magazine. As a postscript to the past conference on World War II claims in Europe, the upcoming forum will offer a chance to explore litigation issues connected to the War in the Pacific.
Previous Whittier conferences have been sponsored by the American Society of International Law, Amnesty International USA, Human Rights Watch, and the California and Los Angeles Bar Associations.
For information on previous Whittier Law School symposia, please consult its website: http://www.law.whittier.edu Note that the admission to the symposium is free.
Registration- 11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Welcome and Introductions - 12:00 p.m. - 12:10 p.m.
Screening of Japanese War Crimes: Murder Under the Sun - 12:10 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.