Open Forum: Our Interest Group is sponsoring an Open Forum at the 1994 Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. The Open Forum will occur on Friday, April 8, 1994. The tentative time is 8:45 PM (evening) - 10:15 PM. The goal is to provide a unique opportunity for ASIL members to share their research interests. The guidelines were announced on Page 16 of the September/October issue of the ASIL Newsletter.

The Forum will be conducted in a "Meet the Author" format, where the ten most prominent entrants will be featured presenters. Invitations will be mailed in early March, 1994 to ten presenters - although this number may expand if there are more qualifying papers. The authors' one-page summaries will be included in the 1994 Proceedings of the Annual Meeting.

The guidelines are reprinted here for your convenience:

• This invitation is open only to those members who have not made any substantive presentation at the ASIL (including the 1994 and prior meeting).
  
• Interested ASIL members must mail their papers to Judge Macdonald at Tillar House (ASIL Headquarters in Washington), marked "For Open Forum."
  
• The paper may not exceed ten (10) double-spaced typewritten pages, with a separate (i.e., an eleventh possible) page summarizing the content.
  
• The paper must be postmarked no later than February 28, 1994 and must be properly addressed to the ASIL in Washington, D.C.

Should you have additional questions, please contact Dr. Charlotte Ku at the Tiller House Headquarters of the ASIL in Washington (see complete mailing address on front page of this Newsletter).

Beginning with this issue, UN Decade Interest Group (UNDIG) Members are requested to forward news of relevant speaking engagements and publications to the Editor at the address/fax specified at the beginning of this Newsletter. This feature will help us keep track of developments related to the objectives of the UN Decade. Please advise if you prefer a different acronym for our Interest Group - UNDIG was the best that I could contrive prior to receiving your input for future issues. Please assist me in developing this exchange by forwarding news of your relevant activities directly to me.

UNDIG Members Speak at UN: Interest Group members John Gamble (Penn State University), Bill Slomanson (Western State University), and ASIL Society member Roy Lee (UN Legal Office) spoke at the Mexican Mission to the UN at UN Plaza on July 1, 1993.

Members of the Sixth Committee from Costa Rica, Guatemala, Peru and Mexico hosted this roundtable entitled "Approaches to the Teaching of International Law." This event was co-hosted by the ASIL, Penn State, and Western State University.

The audience consisted of approximately two-dozen lawyers and national representatives who currently serve on the Advisory Group of the UN Programme of Assistance in the Teaching, Study, Dissemination and Wider Appreciation of International Law.

Professor Gamble discussed the work which culminated in his recently published ASIL publication "Teaching International Law in the 1990s" (reviewed below in Readers' Corner). Attorney Lee addressed the imminent need to further disseminate information on the teaching of International Law, as well as teaching related courses at all levels of education. Professor Slomanson discussed the problem method of teaching International Law, particularly at the undergraduate level where it is offered in most countries.

UNDIG Member Speaks in Mexico City: The Editor presented a series of lectures at the Universidad Anahuac del Sur in Mexico City on various matters relating to International Law. This lecture series was designated a Regional Meeting of the ASIL.

As a member of the Regional Outreach Committee, I discussed the work of the ASIL and the desire of its membership to facilitate the teaching of International Law at the undergraduate and other levels in more universities throughout the world. As a member of the UNDIG, I discussed the UN program and what the ASIL is doing to assist in its realization. ASIL membership brochures were distributed to faculty and students with an invitation to attend the Society's future Annual Meetings. (The Director of International Programs and Dean of the International Relations School will be helping on this.)

NATIONAL & ORGANIZATIONAL RESPONSES TO THE UN DECADE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW: Once again, Richard Hartzman, an ASIL representative at the UN -has provided useful information to the UNDIG membership. In the following column, he will begin to report on the national and organizational responses to the UN Decade:

The second issue of this Newsletter (Feb. 1993) summarized the 1992 Report of the Secretary-General on the UN Decade (26 Aug. 1992- UN Doc. A/47/384). The report reviewed national and organizational responses to the UN Decade. A similar report covering 1992-93 activities was released by the Office of the Secretary-General on 25 Aug. 1993 (UN Doc. 48/312).

During the first part of the 1993, the Secretary-General invited national governments and other entities working in the field of international law to submit additional information on the implementation of the UN Decade activities. As of 12 August 1993, the governments of Australia, Austria, Finland (on behalf of the Nordic countries), Guyana and Namibia replied. In addition, numerous UN organs and international bodies responded.

The responses to Secretary-General's invitation form the basis for the Report. It is organized into the five main areas into which the UN Decade program is divided. The Report also contains a section reviewing activities of the UN relevant to the progressive development of International Law and its codification.

A future issue of this Newsletter will provide a summary of this Report.