UVic formalizes relations with Bhutan's first law school as part of CAPI-led "Regulating Globalisation in Asia" project

Jul 17, 2019

The University of Victoria (UVic), under the leadership of CAPI Director Victor V. Ramraj and UVic Law Dean Susan Breau, has formalized relations with Jigme Singye Wangchuck School of Law (JSW Law), the first law school in the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan. The school was inaugurated in 2017. Dean Breau and her JSW Law counterpart Dean Sangay Dorjee signed the memorandum of understanding at the launch of a three-day joint conference titled “Public Law, Legal Orders & Governance: Regulating Globalisation in Asia” at Terma Linca resort on the outskirts of the country’s capital, Thimphu, in July 2019. The opening ceremony was overseen by a number of Bhutanese dignitaries, including Her Royal Highness Princess Sonam Dechen Wangchuck, Prime Minister Lotay Tshering, the Leader of the Opposition Pema Gyamtsho, Chief Justice Dasho Tshering Wangchuk, and Chairperson of the National Council Tashi Dorji.

Photo gallery: opening ceremony

**Description:** The UVic and international participants arrive at the conference venue, greeted by JSW Law Senior Lecturer and UVic Phd Candidate Nima Dorji, who, along with CAPI Director Victor V. Ramraj, was the main event organizer.

**Description:** UVic Law Dean Susan Breau poses at the venue entrance with UVic Law PhD candidate Ratana Ly. Ratana, from Cambodia, has been undertaking her law studies at UVic as part of the conference umbrella project, "Regulating globalization in South & Southeast Asia" led by CAPI Director Victor V. Ramraj and funded by the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Advanced Scholars (QES-AS) Scholarships program.

**Description:** Victor adjusts his "kabney," the scarf warn over his traditional Bhutanese "gho," with the help of JSW Law Senior Lecturer Sonam Tshering, in anticipation of the arrival of the distinguished guests.

**Description:** JSW Law Dean Sangay Dorjee performs the opening prayer (Tashi Tsekpa) in front of the distinguished guests, from left to right: Her Royal Highness Princess Sonam Dechen Wangchuck is Honourary President of JSW Law and herself holds a masters of law degree from Harvard.

**Description:** CAPI Director Victor V. Ramraj delivers the welcoming remarks: "It is increasingly apparent that many modern states are unable or unwilling on their own to regulate and mitigate the harsher effects of economic globalization." He said that although hundreds of millions have been lifted out of poverty, with significant improvements to health, education, and gender equality, many states, particularly low- and middle- income countries, are finding it increasingly difficult to use tools of modern statecraft to control the latest wave of globalization, including its detrimental effects on public health, community cohesion, individual livelihoods, and the environment. He said that the conference will examine the challenges of globalization and a range of innovative solutions by exploring the multitude of actors that engage in inter-governmental networks, transnational regulation, and global governance through legal means, and the variety of non-statist normative constraints on governments and non-state actors.

**Description:** The Chief Guest, Her Royal Highness Princess Sonam Dechen Wangchuck delivers the opening keynote: "We live in a world of changes so profound and rapid that no one can stand alone. The web of economic, social, and natural threats that connect us all is pervasive and impossible to untangle. As such, everyone on earth shares equally the responsibility to support our continued survival and well-being. And we bear the equally important burden to pass down this awareness to our children. As this conference will demonstrate, regulating globalization through law is a necessary and achievable component of that responsibility."

**Description:** JSW Law Dean Sangay Dorjee and UVic Law Dean Susan Breau upon the signing of the memorandum of understanding between our respective institutions towards "enhancing relations between the two parties and seeking to develop academic and cultural interchange in the areas of legal education and research."

**Description:** JSW Law Senior Lecturer and UVic Law PhD candidate Nima Dorji delivers the vote of thanks.

**Description:** Conference attendees pose with the Chief Guest and dignitaries following the opening ceremony. In addition to the local, UVic, and international presenters, many JSW Law students took in the proceedings.

**Description:** CAPI Director Victor V. Ramraj with CAPI Associate Director Helen Lansdowne and JSW Law Vice Dean Michael Peil.

**Description:** UVic History professor Neilesh Bose was among the UVic contingent of conference presenters.

**Description:** UVic Law prof and Director of UVic's Environmental Law Centre Deborah Curran with Professor Arun Thiruvengadam of Azim Premji University, India

**Description:** CAPI Director Victor V. Ramraj and JSW Law Dean Michael Peil after seeing off the Chief Guest.

In her opening remarks, Her Royal Highness highlighted the common interests of JSW Law and UVic in building resilient human and natural environments through the pursuits of legal discourse, research, and education. Speaking to the significance of the conference theme, she noted some of the challenges that her once-reculsive country (the last to adopt television, in 1999) faces in modern times:

At home, we face unchecked rural-urban migration, a growing number of imported cars, rising demand for fuel wood, and increasing development . . . and problems such as climate change threaten our nation. Our economic development is highly dependent on climate-sensitive sectors, including agriculture, hydro-power, forestry, and tourism.

The conference proper featured a stable of speakers from both UVic and JSW Law, in addition to an international collection of experts hailing from countries across the globe, including New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and Europe, with research interests ranging from Bhuddist Law to environmental governance (view the conference program).

The group was assembled as part of a larger capacity-building project initiated by Ramraj with the aim of developing innovative governance and justice strategies to mitigate the darker side of economic globalization in South and Southeast Asia, such as detrimental effects on public health, community cohesion, individual livelihoods, and the environment. The project is supported by the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Advanced Scholars (QES-AS) Scholarships program. Additional conference funding came from the Royal Government of Bhutan and UVic's Offices of Research Services and Global Engagement.

A follow-up conference is planned for spring 2020 at UVic with publication of an edited volume of the conference papers to follow.