The Asian Law Students Association (ALSA), together with DLSU College of Law (CoL), sponsored a two-day conference on the Teresa Yuchengco Auditorium starting August 28, with the conference involving delegates from 15 countries in Asia.
Among the distinguished speakers who participated in the conference include Chief Justice of the Republic of the Philippines Ma. Lourdes Sereno, CoL Dean Atty. Jose Manuel Diokno, ALSA President Melinda Lapus, and other prominent figures from DLSU and the Philippine government’s Judiciary.
Human rights and the internet
The theme of the conference focused on utilizing Media Law, specifically on the positive and negative uses of the internet so as to uphold and defend human rights across Asia. The topic of Media Law, which was proposed by the delegates, was praised by the Chief Justice Sereno who stated that in times especially today, the internet has grown to become a major source of various information and news across the globe.
The first session of the conference revolved around topics and current global events: on the dual-faced nature of the internet and how it provides people with the means of acquiring relevant information through social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, even Youtube and many others while making references to the many offenses perpetrated online such as cyber bullying, child pornography, piracy and hacking, censorship and freedom of expression and speech among those discussed. The previous issue on the Cybercrime Law recently passed was also tackled.
With the issues discussed, the conference, as stated by Lapus, was one of many fora that would further develop and maximize the ALSA members’ potentials so as to prepare themselves for their future careers as upholders of the law and defenders of human rights.
