Under the financial support of Kobe University Education and Research Funds, a new practical subject, “Multilateral Treaty Negotiations” was established with the aim to expand the present curriculum of the Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies (GSICS). The project is managed by professors from the International Cooperation Law Seminar with the support of Comparative International Law Seminar professors (Graduate School of Law). Built upon the experiences of last year’s “Law of International Institutions”, and including a more systematic approach under this year’s “International Environmental Law” and “International Cooperation Law” pilot program, the subject “Multilateral Treaty Negotiations” will be officially in the curriculum from 2007.

　The new subject is based on Professor Shibata’s experience as an official delegate for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) at several negotiations, but also included is the contribution of several other professors with similar experience in their respective fields of environment, human rights, the law of the sea, and economic law. As a result, students can gain an in-depth, practical knowledge on negotiation processes and techniques (drafting etc).

　Under the provided financial support, graduate school students travel to Geneva, Switzerland, to observe international environmental treaty negations held in October, 2006. These students will actively participate in the mock negotiations under the subjects “International Environmental Law” and “International Cooperation Law”, held in the fall semester. Evaluating the experiences from these classes will provide a theoretical framework for the new subject “Multilateral Treaty Negations” in 2007.

　Recruitment for the field work was held in the beginning of May by the message board in GSICS. After securing the above-mentioned funds, an additional recruitment period was held for one week. The selected participants are as follows:

　　Yusuke Araki (M1, supervising professor: Tosa)
　　Magdolna Csider (M2, supervising professor: Shibata)
　　Yuichi Nakayama (M1, supervising professor: Shibata)
　　Zsuzsanna Magyar (M2, supervising professor: Kimura)
　　Kenta Mochizuki (M1, supervising professor: Igarashi)
　　Mai Okuno (M1, supervising professor: Shibata)
　　Mirzhohid Rahimov (D1, supervising professor: Shibata)

　　(3) Preparatory Work, Phase 2: Request for Participation in the Conference, Confirmation

　After establishing the NGO it was important to request observer rights and be granted too. We sent the following request for participation to the Secretariat of the Rotterdam Convention (Geneva, Switzerland) by mail and email.

　The request for participation was sent in the beginning of June, but by the end of that month there was still no reaction from the Secretariat, so we decided to call them to confirm the arrival and registration of our letter and to accelerate the decision.

　Considering that our observer rights might depend on the success of the call, we did some simulation training beforehand (but it turned out that the ladies at the Secretariat are exceptionally kind and helpful…).

　The arrival of our letter and its contents were confirmed. We were told that we are eligible as observers and the Secretariat promised to send an email with the same contents. However, there was no sign of our email confirmation for a week. Out of pressure of time, since we needed to make reservations for our flight to Geneva, we called the Secretariat again.

　It turned out the Secretariat sent the confirmation to the wrong email address. We gave them a new one and waited for the confirmation again. Finally, this email arrived and we were officially approved to participate as observers in the COP3, under the name of KURIM.

　On September 8th, we received a letter (below) from the Secretariat asking for official registration of the participant members of KURIM. We sent the filled in registration forms for eight persons by fax and by email.

　After confirming our participation as KURIM in the COP3 of the Rotterdam Convention, we made reservations for our accommodation and airline tickets.

　Regarding accommodation, we looked for cheap hotels around Geneva on the internet. It was an important point to book a hotel where cancellation fees do not occur until short before the arrival date. Finally we chose a very economical apartment hotel (four persons in one room) in France.

　In preparation for the conference it is important to understand the issues and development of past conferences. We organized a study circle and did some research.

The flowchart of the documents related to the non-compliance procedures of PIC Convention

　　（6）Observation of the Third Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention

Please visit this page about the observation of the Third Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention.

　　（7）Report

Please see the Report submitted by Magyar Zsuzsanna Blanka.