“Stop fondling me, or else the airline will be liable!”

Once in a while I encounter cases in my studies that are so bizarre that they must be mentioned. If not to educate, then at least it will entertain.

Imagine the following situation. You are onboard a long trans-Pacific flight, and the cabin lights are dimmed, as most passengers are lying asleep. You are next to the window, which on most long-haul economy class planes effectively means you are ‘hemmed in’ by two other strangers. You doze off. Then, suddenly, you feel something wriggling in your pants. You open your eyes, and see that the passenger next to you has extended his (or her) naughty hand down to fondle you. You turn your body away, causing the unwelcome hand to withdraw, and continue to sleep, only to wake up moments later to see that the naughty passenger simply has not lost interest in your underpants. You leap across the two passengers to freedom, and inform the flight attendant. The dirty perv is apprehended upon arrival. You sue the airline for personal injury.

And you win. Big time.

As twisted as this may be, there is no need to imagine, because this is exactly what happened in Wallace v Korean Air (US Appeals 2^nd Circuit, 2000). The poor Ms. Wallace woke to find that dirty Mr Park had “unbuckled her belt, unzipped and unbuttoned her jean shorts, and placed his hands into her underpants to fondle her”. The most bizarre fact was perhaps not the sexual predation—however undesirable it is and may have been—but that Ms. Wallace brought the case not against the sex offender, but against the airline.

She did so under the Warsaw Convention—that long-winded text printed on the back of airline tickets—which limits liability for personal injury or death to US$75,000 in the event of an “accident”. But Ms. Wallace actually managed to make the Appeal Court in the US find that the airline is liable for the unsavoury actions of dirty Mr. Park, because “the lights were turned down and the sexual predator was left unsupervised in the dark”. The court called what happened “an unexpected or unusual event”, and therefore the law which normally deals with a serious air crash or aerial accident on an international flight would apply.

It is of course not wrong that Ms. Wallace should get her right, and that she is indeed entitled to compensation for the emotional discomfort she may have endured. But do use the Warsaw Convention, which was drafted to deal with more ‘serious’ aviation accidents undermines the law and opens it up to abuse. Luckily, it seems like this peculiar case and peculiar facts are one off, and probably will not be repeated.

But the consequences of Ms. Wallace’s victory are mind boggling. Basically the case implied that airlines has a duty to know who is a sexual predator, and that the inflight steward(ess) should regularly patrol the aisles with a flashlight to see if there are any unwanted hands extended down unwanted pants.

Besides the regular security questions on whether anyone has tampered with your luggage, perhaps the next time you board the plane,the checkin people will ask you if you are a sexual predator, or whether you would mind sitting next to one.

I will be looking forward to my next flight…

Space camp

I've been many places, but nothing will compare to the journey I'm about to embark on. Sometime ago, when I was still wondering what to do with my life, a friend suggested I attend a summer course. She said it would take me to places "beyond this world", literally.

So I signed up for Space Camp. It's a two week course organised in Noorwijk, which is a sea-side town containing the site of the European Space Agency's research and technology centre. I only have to pay a bit of registration fee, and the rest of the two weeks is expenses paid, including accommodation. It'll be two weeks of compact lectures and seminars, focusing on space law and space policy. I guess with my background in international law, it helps to be already a little prepared, even though I don't really know anything about what kind of laws and regulations govern space. It'll also be a chance to see so of the technology and things they use in space. Maybe even meet an astronaut or two.

I grew up watching Star Trek, and have always been fascinated by the big, big world beyond this one whenever I look up at the skies. And this will really be a great opportunity.


I really haven't been giving this camp much thought recently, until today or so, because I've just been too busy sorting out my life and future out. I wanted to prepare a bit, and do some background reading, but I guess I'll just have to attend without knowing anything. Which could be a good thing... or terrible!

Funny thing is, I was dreaming last night about camp! I have to share this room with this other guy I never met before. I only know his name and that he is from Austria... and the rest I don't know anything about. In my dream, we were somehow really intimate.... if you know what I mean. That's what happens when you've been single and had no sex for a long, long while~

Onto space camp! To boldly go, where no one in my class has ever gone before!

A moot week

(Peace Palace)

It was a week I was at first somewhat dreading, but at the same time excited to face. But it went by, despite the exhaustion, meagres hours of sleep, and running around--at times like headless chickens from place to place-- amazingly quickly.

The big moot court competition my colleagues and I have been planning and organising finally came, and went. Quite smoothly, besides the occasionally glitches and mishaps here and there, on the whole. It was not easy taking care of 25 teams from 25 different European countries, with around 200 attendants, assistants and staff members. Getting the whole moot court competition running and according to our tight schedule of court sessions, dinner and fun activities was a headache, but in the end we managed to pull it off.


The students who came were impressed, and delighted at how great an experience it was for them all. From the accomodation to the travel arrangements, from the catering to the closing party, from our carefully selected judges to the carefully chosen teams from many of the top universities of Europe. Everything and everyone came together like they were supposed to, and for close to four days, we roamed the hallways and court rooms of the Peace Palace, deliberating, engaging in deep discussions about this hypothetical case of HIV/AIDS, and becoming more enriched by the experience of it all.

It isn't anyone who can wander the Peace Palace freely like we could. But for the thirtieth year running since the start of this Competition, the building that houses the International Court of Justice itself was our home and office. Aspiring international lawyers, both organisers and attendees, in smart suits and in the companies of some of 'the best of the best' legal scholars and experts in the field... I've not felt some 'powerful' and proud of myself in a long, long time.

(The bench of the International Court of Justice)

Being international law students, it was being inside the 'mecca' of our studies, and we could not resist the temptation of posing next to those 'sacred' seats of the great judges inside the Great Hall of Justice, from where all these cases have been pronounced. We walked around, snapping pictures of this room and this ornament-- all donations from one country or another-- all arranged in such grandeur and style remiscent of a medieval castle.

Of course it wasn't just sightseeing, despite the fact that each time I walked down those grand staircases and corridors my breath was held in awe. There was a lot of running around to be done, making sure that students and special guests knew where they are supposed to be, and behind-the-scenes work that needed to be done so that everything clicked together like clockwork. I also managed to 'network' a little, and acquaint myself with some professors and students, and finalise a number of places to visit for my next holiday.



At the end of four days, I was exhausted... it didn't help that the night before we partied into the early hours at a beach club , and had a bit too much to drink that a number of people kept on buying to show their appreciation of my hardwork.

I went home, sat down and soon enough plopped myself into bed and lay there sleeping for the next day or so.




For rare pictures from inside the Peace Palace, go to:

• Peace Palace- New Academic Building
• Peace Palace VI
• Peace Palace IV
• Peace Palace III
• Peace Palace II
• Peace Palace

Disclaimer: All views expressed are personal, and do not reflect the actual position of the Competition or of its official organisers.

Wild conference

I've never been to a more lively conference in my life before.

Didn't go to bed until after 2am last night, working on the next chapter of LYLM. So imagine how sleepy I was waking up at 7ish to get showered and dressed up for this conference entitled "International Law and the Question of Western Sahara". It was one of these events that our lecturer "strongly encouraged" us to attend. But only one other person in my class was there.

I guess a bit of 'background' is necessary to explain what this is all about.
Western Sahara is a piece of terrirtory on the Northeast African coast, currently under Morrocan occupation. The Saharawi (people of the territory) have been claiming their right to self-determination since the seventies, when the colonial power Spain basically (like in many decolonialisation contexts) simply abandoned the territory. Morroco invaded, and has been occupying it since. In 1976, the International Court of Justice gave an advisory opinion which decided that Morroco and Mauritania have no legal ties to the territory, and that the people of Western Sahara must still realise their right to self-determination. Deportations, grave human rights abuses, intimidation, construction of (Morrocan) settlements and a wall...the situation is somewhat akin to the Palestinian Occupied Territories, with the occupying power illegally annexing territory rightfully belonging to the indigenous people, in contravention to international law.

Well, I turned up and sat down... the first presentations were somewhat slow and made me doze off... then things took a turn. Unsolved issues are often unsolved because they're controversial, and certainly when law and politics are often so closely intertwined, people are going to be personally interested and affected in what is said. A number of people were all too eager to take the microphone and contradict what the speakers said. 'Contradict' is perhaps mild...more like attack, deface, and accuse speakers of lying and spreading propoganda. English, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, French all mingled together like scene from 'Lost in Translation'. Throwing fits, raising their voices and hands. It was an academic exchange out of hand, at some points, with people interrupting and shouting across the room, accusing the organisers of being impartial and biased. Swear words were used... 'f*ck off', said a speaker to an unruly person from the audience. On two other occassions, someone said that the UN "had f*cked my country over". My friends and I sat there astounded, and were actually getting very afraid someone might just pull out a machine gun and go on a shooting spree. Security guards and police came and stayed around for the rest of the day.

At the end we were all exhausted... not once did I doze off again, and sat in my seat, transfixed to the heated exchanges and remarks. To be fair, the conference overall was delightfully educational, especially presentations by many leading scholars in the field. Of course we're no more closer to a solution, and the people of Western Sahara are probably no more closer to reaching complete independence, but at least it was (for the most bit) constructive dialogue. And it's these kind of dialogue, communcation, mutual understanding that are necessary to avoid misunderstanding and eventually work toward an acceptable, peaceful, and democratic solution acceptable to all. Given that my alma mater, SOAS, is the specialist in Asian/African affairs, no less than three scholars were present there, which made me somewhat proud.

I guess the problem with places like Western Sahara, Palestine, West Papua, or some might even argue Tibet and Chechnya (for a whole list, see Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation), is that we all know and recognise the inherent rights of the people living there to self-determination, and eventual independence. But really, politics, and more specifically real politics and superpower politics trump over people's rights. Blatant violations of international law, horrendous abuses of human rights and absolutely indisputed illegal acts of occupation are viewed with such complacency and indifference, because the interested parties are unwilling to surrender their self-interests. And who suffers most of all, as in all games of power play? It is the people. The millions of men, women and children subjected to incessant violence, grievous violations and brutal deaths, while a select few bicker, confer and argue.

( Disclaimer:
Opinions expressed are entirely my own and are partial and may have been dramatised. In no way should it be taken as an accurate account of the events that occurred and/or opinions expressed at the conference.)