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Press release by the Foundation for Social Justice (Manila) Manila, 25 June 2004/P/RE/18752c-is The Foundation for Social Justice (1988) announced the recent visit of Prof. Dr. Hans Koechler this June, 2004, for a series of speaking engagements and meetings with national and university officials, NDCP (National Defence College of the Philippines) study groups of military officers, and with inter-religious church groups in Metro Manila. Dr. Koechler, the president of the International Progress Organization and head of the Department of Philosophy, University of Innsbruck (Austria), was appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations as international observer at the Lockerbie trial in Camp Zeist, The Netherlands, on the ill-fated Pan Am Flight 103, where a Libyan was declared responsible for the explosion of the aircraft while in flight in 1988. Dr. Koechler was the 14th Centenary Lecturer at the Supreme Court of the Philippines in 2002, and is the author of the recently released book "Global Justice or Global Revenge? International Criminal Justice at the Crossroads." In this latest work, Dr. Koechler focuses on the concept of universal jurisdiction, the modern doctrine of humanitarian intervention, and the challenges faced by legal theory in addressing issues of international terrorism. He has expressed continuing concern over the double standards in the current practice of "humanitarian politics" and on the pervasive role of "power politics" in international relations. He was specially invited by the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) which celebrates its 100th Foundation Anniversary this year, as its guest speaker at the PUP College of Law, whose anniversary theme is "Quo Vadis, United Nations?" At the University of the Philippines, the Asian Center together with its Alumni Association sponsored the start of the Asian leg of the book launching of "Global Justice or Global Revenge?" A number of jurists led by the Hon. Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide, Hon. Ameurfina Herrera, Chancellor of the Philippine Judicial Academy, members of the academe and government attended the activity. Author-lawyer Soliman Santos, and former Executive Director of the National Amnesty Commission, lawyer Neri Colmenares, among several other government officials, shared their views on the ideas and observations contained in the book. The members of the H. Koechler Political and Philosophical Society, composed of Philippine scholars and academics who share the views of Dr. Koechler on UN reform and are committed to promote the attainment of this objective, participated at the series of discussions.
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