Richard Magnus, Singaporean Representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, gives a keynote address.More than 65 human rights and international law professionals from 18 countries participated in the Asian International Justice Initiative’s 2011 Summer Institute in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, which focused on issues related to the rights of women and children in the Asia Pacific region.

HONOLULU (Sept. 8, 2011) -- Philippines President Benigno Aquino III has appointed East-West Center alumnus Juan Romeo Nereus Acosta to the newly created cabinet post of Presidential Adviser for Environmental Protection.

President Aquino told the press that Acosta, who is popularly known by the nickname “Neric,” will be tasked with coordinating environmental concerns for a “coherent implementation of policy.”

President Aquino administers the Oath of Office to Neric Acosta on Aug. 24. Photo: Jay Morales/Malacañang Photo Bureau.“(He) will help me have a better, sharper focus because he will be able to tackle it in a more in-depth manner,” Aquino said after Acosta was sworn in on Aug. 24.

HONOLULU (Jan. 6, 2012) -- The East-West Center has received two grants totaling $970,000 from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to support the U.S.- Timor-Leste and U.S.- South Pacific Scholarship Programs over a five year period. These programs aim to develop a corps of leaders who will contribute to political, economic and social development in their home countries and strengthen relations with the United States.

“By investing in tertiary education through initiatives like these, the United States is helping to foster prosperity, good governance, the rule of law, journalistic freedom, and human rights in the Asia Pacific region,” said Terance Bigalke, EWC’s Director of Education.

Applications Now Open for
Research Fellowships in Washington, D.C.

HONOLULU (Jan. 18, 2012) -- The East-West Center has received an initial grant of $93,858 ­from the Center for Global Partnership at the Japan Foundation – renewable over three years for a total of approximately $281,574 ­– to support the EWC’s new Japan Studies Fellowship Program. The program will provide three- or six-month research fellowships for scholars and analysts from the United States and Japan to conduct policy-relevant research on issues related to the U.S.-Japan partnership, including economic, diplomatic, politico-security, social, and international topics.

Journalists from Pacific Plate countries invited to apply by March 12

HONOLULU (March 5, 2012) – The Japan Foundation’s Center for Global Partnership has awarded the East-West Center close to $100,000 to conduct a journalism seminar focusing on disaster management and resiliency. Journalists from Japan, the U.S., China and other countries bordering the seismically active Pacific tectonic plate are invited to apply by the March 12 deadline. Click here for more information.

HONOLULU (May 4, 2012) – The East-West Center (EWC) has been awarded a contract for $458,276 from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) to provide technical and financial support for the development and refinement of HIV/AIDS Incidence Estimation in the Spectrum software under the guidance of the UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV/AIDS Estimates, Modeling and Projection. Spectrum is a suite of policy models that provide policymakers with analytical tools to support decision making processes.

Free public seminar at the East-West Center on Fri. Oct. 26
will feature Korea’s Ambassador to the U.S. Y.J. Choi
and U.S. Ambassador to Korea Sung Kim

U.S. Ambassador to Korea Sung Kim and Korea’s Ambassador to the U.S. Y.J. Choi will present a special Ambassadors’ Dialogue on key issues impacting the U.S.-Korea alliance, Fri. Oct. 26, 4:30 – 6 p.m. at the East-west Center’s Imin International Center – Jefferson Hall (across from Kennedy Theatre). The event is open to the public and free of charge. Paid parking is available on the UH Manoa campus.

HONOLULU (Oct. 24, 2012) – For two days this week, senior American and Australian policymakers, entrepreneurs, journalists and academics met at the East-West Center for the annual Honolulu session of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue.

A bipartisan private initiative, the dialogue brings together thinkers, business people, journalists and policymakers from both countries to engage in frank and thorough exploration of matters of mutual interest, especially issues on which Australia and the United States can provide critically needed leadership by working together and cooperatively with other partners.

(Click here to read an account of the meeting by participant Joanne Wallis of Australian National University.)

HONOLULU (Nov. 14, 2012) – The priority application deadline for the East-West Center's 2013-14 Asia Pacific Leadership Program – considered the premier leadership education program in the Asia Pacific region – is Dec 1, 2012.

From August – December 2013, up to APLP 40 Fellows from around the globe will join regional specialists and leadership educators in a dynamic learning community at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii for this graduate certificate program combining the development of regional expertise with the enhancement of individual leadership capacity. All participants receive a fee-waiver fellowship valued at approximately $15,000.

YANGON, MYANMAR (June 25, 2013) -- Sixteen distinguished journalists from 10 Asia Pacific nations, including the U.S., are currently visiting Myanmar on a study tour, as the East-West Center brings its internationally recognized Jefferson Fellowships journalists’ exchange program to the country for the first time in the program’s 46-year history.

Young leaders from 10 Pacific nations participating in program supported by Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry

HONOLULU (Sept. 10, 2013) -- The East-West Center has welcomed the first group of participants to the Pacific Islands Leadership Program with Taiwan, a new initiative designed to enhance leadership capacity in the Pacific islands region and build a network of young leaders who will contribute to lasting people-to-people relationships across the Pacific, Asia, and United States.

HONOLULU (Nov. 18, 2013) – The East-West Center’s Board of Governors has elected two new international members: Indian business leader Ratan N. Tata, who is returning to the board after serving several terms between 1993 and 2004, and first-time EWC board member Takeshi Niinami, CEO of Japan’s Lawson, Inc.

Newly elected boardmembers Ratan Tata (left) and Takeshi NiinamiEWC Board of Governors Chair Brian Tsujimura and the other board members, along with Center President Charles E. Morrison, extended a warm welcome to the new members, who were elected to three-year terms, and expressed their sincere gratitude to outgoing member Tarun Das.

HONOLULU (Dec. 3, 2013) -- Five high school students and one teacher from Burma who were recent participants in the Southeast Asia Youth Leadership Program at the East-West Center have won a grant of $7,000 in a project proposal competition sponsored by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs, which funds the SEAYLP program.

The EWC program alumni received their award for a proposal to educate the public in the city of Mandalay about environmental issues – with a special focus on outreach to adolescents – and to decrease the amount of litter in the community through clean-ups and placement of recycling bins.

HONOLULU (Jan. 10, 2014) – Twenty K-12 educators from South Korea have arrived at the East-West Center to begin a month of residencies in U.S. school communities in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts and Vermont. The ROK-US Teacher Exchange Program global learning and school immersion program is coordinated by EWC’s AsiaPacificEd Program with funding from the Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding under the auspices of UNESCO and the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Education. Later this year, American teachers from the U.S. host schools will travel to Korea for reciprocal exchange and learning.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 16, 2014) -- Thirteen college students from the Pacific Islands and Timor Leste who are studying in Hawai‘i on East-West Center-administered scholarships are currently in Washington, D.C. on six-week internships designed to offer them professional experience and help expand their understanding of American society.

USSP and USTL participants meet with Ms. Julia Findlay of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs.

Young leaders from 13 Pacific nations participating
in program supported by Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry

HONOLULU (Sept. 9, 2013) -- The East-West Center has welcomed 26 participants from 13 island nations to the 2014 Pacific Islands Leadership Program with Taiwan.

NAHA, OKINAWA  (Sept. 20, 2014) – At the East-West Center’s 2014 international alumni conference that concluded yesterday  in Naha, Okinawa, Center officials announced a new partnership with the Okinawa Prefecture Government that will continue an established scholarship program that allows several Okinawan students each year to pursue graduate degree or leadership program study at EWC and the University of Hawai‘i.

From left: Hidemasu Goya, Robert Nakasone, EWC Adjunct Project Specialist, and Sayaka Sakuma