This article analyzes international issues surrounding Crimea's secession from Ukraine and accession to Russia in the context of the exercise of self-determination. Can the secession of the Crimea be recognized by international law as a legal exercise of its self-determination? To answer this question, the following aspects need to be reviewed. First, do the people of the Crimean Republic have the right to secession? Second, was the referendum conducted by the Crimean Republic based on a free and genuine will of the people? Under the current international law, exercise of self-determination in the form of independence must be strictly limited to dire situation where secession is an inevitable option. The secession of the Crimea does not fit the requirement: therefore, it is in violation of the international law. In addition, it is questionable whether the Crimean Crisis constitutes “a free and genuine expression of will of the related people.” That is, it is doubtful whether the referendum that had favored the accession to Russia would have brought about a different result if there had not been the use of force by Russia. Therefore, the secession of the Crimea Peninsula, and the following accession to Russia are all invalid while seriously infringing on the sovereignty of Ukraine. Of course, the reality of international politics makes it hard to regard the accession of the Crimea into Russia downright invalid, which is pointed out as a huge gap between the law and the reality. Aside from the realistic consideration, however, too generous interpretation of the secession could accelerate fragmentation of the international community's state structure, and therefore, should be abstained. More specific criteria for the exercise of self-determination need to be discussed.

One of the most common vehicles for entry into Chinese markets by international companies is to establish a wholly foreign-owned entity ("WFOE") or a joint venture company ("JV"). While WFOE and JV are subsidiaries of the foreign parent company, they are also Chinese companies, so they shall be governed by both the Chinese Company Law and the WFOE and JV laws. The Chinese Company Law, WFOE and JV laws require that Chinese companies, including WFOE and JV shall have an appointed legal representative and supervisor or a board of supervisors as the case may be. Since legal representatives and supervisors have some privileges which can affect a company``s operation, the laws set out certain strict qualifications for legal representatives and supervisors as well as legal liabilities on them when they commit misconduct. This article tries to address the development history of Chinese companies, roles of legal representatives and supervisors, responsibilities, qualifications and forbidden activities of legal representatives and supervisors as well as the potential legal liabilities on them when they commit misconduct so that foreign investors can know these issues when establishing WFOE or JV in China and foreign officers can also evaluate whether to act as legal representatives or supervisors in a WFOE or JV.

The Republic of Moldova as a member of the Council of Europe has ratified the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and additional protocols of this convention on July 27, 1997. Thus, since the Republic of Moldova deposited the instrument of ratification of the convention, the country``s citizens are able to submit complaints to the European Court of Human Rights regarding the restoration of violated rights and the compensation for the moral or material damages. After the collapse of the USSR and the declaration of independence on August 27, 1991, the Republic of Moldova has experienced a complex stage of transition to a market economy experiencing a major economic downturn which caused corruption in various areas such as politics, justice, business etc. This violates the European Convention on Human Rights by Moldovan authorities and domestic courts of law in the process of judicial examination of criminal and civil cases. Also, it resulted in the increased number of applications submitted to the European Court of Human Rights and condemnation of the government of the Republic of Moldova for the infringement of provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights. Therefore, in the Member States where there is a high level of human rights abuse and a largely increasing number of applications, the European Court of Human Rights has established mechanisms for the enforcement of the ECHR judgments. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the national mechanism of enforcement of the European Court of Human Rights judgments by the Republic of Moldova in order to avoid and prevent the violation of the European Convention on Human Rights in the future by Moldovan authorities and courts of law. Despite the existence of a number of state institutions which are competent to exercise the control of the enforcement process of the ECHR judgments in the Republic of Moldova, the situation regarding the protection of human rights has not changed for the better.

During World War II, as estimated, 5000 to 20,000 women in Indonesia were forced to be sexual slaves. Mostly under aged, those women experienced extremely inhumane treatment at army barracks. Furthermore, survivors had to keep their pain, shame, stigma, and guilt as secret. They faced emotional and physical pain, whereas Japanese soldiers were granted freedom from punishment. The systematic sexual slavery began to seize public attention when women``s groups including the Korean Women``s Association demanded an official apology, thorough investigation and proper compensation to the Japanese government in May 1990. Meanwhile, the Japanese government stated that neither the government nor the military was involved with the Comfort Women issue and it was operated by private entrepreneurs. For many years, though the realization is still too slow, Indonesian comfort women have been fighting for their rights to the truth-telling and reparations, as they are neglected and denied of the justice by the Indonesian government in exchange for the state``s political interests and economic relationship with the Japanese government. International Humanitarian Law provides a set of rules that guarantee women``s rights in the time of armed conflict. However, there must be a political will from Indonesian Government to have a role in supporting the Indonesian comfort women to seek justice. Nowadays, it is perhaps something that had been forgotten by history, but it still remains in victim's misery. The historical evidence will be lost if it is not disclosed.

In Korea of 2011, a total population of about 50 million, the law enforcement wiretapped 7,167 phones; seized communication metadata (1) for 37.3 million communication facilities (phone numbers, e-mail addresses or other accounts); and seized the subscriber-identifying information for 5.84 million facilities.2 That is just for one year. Per capita, the number of phones wiretapped in Korea was about 9.5 times the United States including the ones issued by Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (2,7323 + 1,7894= 4,521) and about 800 times Japan (255) in the same period. As we shall see, comparison on other methods of communication surveillance fares not much better. Although the laws are in place and do require, as other developed countries do, an enhanced court approval for wiretapping 6 and the rejection rate for wiretapping applications is about 4%,7 way higher than the U.S. courts' rejection rate of 0.03%,8 the sheer volume of communications surveillance conducted by the Korean government needs a lengthy explanation. This report on the country's surveillance on private telecommunications attempts to provide exactly that. This paper also covers the interplay between the surveillance and the civil society's response.