July 5 -8 final blog entry?

My last few days will be spent catching up with people,  final meetings with the students on their cases, and perhaps a last presentation Wednesday, perhaps on International Law(this is scheduled, but Chimge may have another idea). 

Tuesday I had lunch with the Legal Assistant to the President of Mongolia, who expressed interest in my work with the Alien Torts Statute. She is doing a book chapter on Public Interest Litigation and I offered to send her copies of the briefs that I have written on standing. 

Wednesday evening, I will meet Luke, the lawyer who translated at the conference last month, for dinner. I also need to meet with the law firm that is doing the air pollution case, at least on Friday, and hopefully once before that.

This will probably be my last blog entry: I am leaving Saturday morning to come home and do not expect to do anything particularly exciting in the last few days. 

Some people have e-mailed me encouragement, but I have wondered if my blog entries are getting a little boring – too much like the obnoxious people who tweet what they had for breakfast.  I have stuck to factual reporting – perhaps more opinion, analysis and commentary would have been better, but not consistent with the purposes of this blog – to make a public report of my Mongolian experience. 

July 4 - My 59th birthday

I did not have Internet Sunday evening or Monday morning, so I went to the office early on Monday, hoping to catch up on e-mail and maybe even talk to Nancy by Skype. However, the Internet was not working at the office either, and I did not have Internet until about noon.

I had hoped to do some Westlaw research for the law firm that is planning to do a day on air pollution and also want to do some research on old technology.  No luck.

So I reviewed the material that I did have about air pollution in Ulan Baatar until I eventually got Internet access. 

Everyone in the office knew that it was my birthday: in CHRD office tradition, my computer was decorated with a multicolored snake adorned with colorful stuffed creatures.  I knew the students were planning something: about 2:30 P.M. we went out and took a series of photographs, including photographs of me with all of the students individually and several group photographs. 

When Urna, the director of CHRD, and I realized that we would not see each other again (she is leaving on Tuesday or Wednesday and I will be gone by the time she returns), we sat down and discussed future projects for about an hour. I would really like to help develop environmental litigation in Mongolia, and particularly, to provide assistance to ensure that the wave of multinational corporations that will be invading the country act with some modicum of responsibility. 

After our meeting, I found that Sukchin and Ochiroo were waiting for me to take me to a "surprise” birthday party. They had rented a karaoke room, and we partied for about 3 ½ hours, singing karaoke, drinking vodka and eating birthday cake. I was very glad that the students, en masse, walked me home since, under the social pressure to drink, it probably was not safe for me to walk home alone on city streets.

Clinic students - this is the picture that was given to me framed, which I will put up in the office

The statute of Sukhbataar ("Red hero") in the Square. He led the Mongolian forces that, with Soviet help,  liberated the country from the Chinese and White Russians  in 1921

JUly 2-3

I devoted my last weekend in Mongolia for hiking in the area of Ulan Baatar.

On Saturday, I did the hike that Chimge had warned me against doing: to the summit of Bogdkhan Uul. I took about an hour to walk to the South end of town, and started looking for the trail. I eventually found my way to a resort, and followed a path down from the resort into a steep valley, which ultimately led to the marked trail to the peak.  The trail was very popular and I saw at least 50 hikers during the course of the day.

Saturday night Baatar, Hugh and I went out for a drink, and I enjoyed listening to a discussion of Buddhist  scholarship as well as the best ways of living as a graduate student in Cambridge (Baatar, a monk for 13 years, will be studying at the Harvard Divinity School in September).

Sunday, I went for a hike with a local hiking group, run by an expatriate named  Aki. We took a bus several miles east of the city, towards the airport, and then walked back along a particularly pretty ridge. The other hiking participants were largely people who were in Mongolia to study or to work for non-governmental organizations. It was interesting to compare notes with several of them. 

Again, the pictures that I took of the two days of hiking do not do justice to the loveliness of the forested ridges, although I am happy that I finally did see edelweisses during the second hike. 

Group photo of ridge hike on Sunday

Hike leader Aki

Edelweiss (in slight breeze)

summit rock of Bogdkhan Uul (which I climbed of course)

view of Tsetseegun in distance from Bogdkhan Uul

panorama from summit of Bogdkhan Uuloram

Chinggis Khan statue in Sukhbataar Square

Walking along ridge

The lawyers training program

The lawyers training program was one of my principal assignments in Mongolia. Obviously, I spent the better part of the week preparing for my eight separate presentations, covering approximately 4 hours of the actual 7½ hours of training. I think the program went pretty well, except for the very serious issue of a very small attendance: approximately 15 lawyers, plus the students in the clinic. 

I am not entirely sure that we offered information of particular value, which may explain the small attendance. I presented what I could:  information about public interest law in general, obviously based upon my experience in the United States, and suggestions for what might be tried in Mongolia, based upon my seven weeks of observation of Mongolian law. I don't know what else I could have done, but I still wonder how valuable the information actually is for Mongolian lawyers.

Some of my presentations, pertaining to the topic of public interest law in general (with a lengthy segment devoted to the civil rights movement in the South, and the particular impact of Brown vs. Board of Education) were designed for a general audience. Other presentations, such as the possible use of international law and the Mongolian Constitution in public interest litigation, were aimed at practicing lawyers.  

Mongolia is one of the few countries in the world that explicitly incorporates international law, including customary international law, in its civil law. This is the direct opposite of the United States, which does not even recognize international treaties that it has signed as part of its own law (cf. the 2008 Supreme Court decision in Medellin). 

Although the Mongolian Constitution provides for a wide range of rights, and Mongolia, like many Asian countries and many countries formerly dominated by the Soviet Union, has a special Constitutional Court, the concept of constitutional litigation is radically different than in the United States. I made a presentation on possible uses of the Constitution, including an explanation of the difference between facial unconstitutionality and unconstitutional as applied.

I also made presentations on the concept of standing for nongovernmental organizations, on the implications of the United States law of evidence, particularly with respect to expert witnesses, for Mongolia, and on nonlitigation tactics, such as boycotts, publicity and creative litigation strategies. 

We had the services of a very good translator; a very interesting woman who works for a women's rights NGO and is also fluent in Russian (having gone to Russia as a student in the last years before 1990). I very much enjoyed hearing her political perspective about the changes in Mongolia and am sorry that I probably will not have another opportunity to speak to her at greater length.

I gave the students my camera to take pictures during the program and they took 98 pictures. Some of them are attached below.

Chimge and me introducing a topic

Lunch: Chimge is next to me, across from Khishge: the translator is across from me

My apartment neighbor Hugh stopped by for about an hour

Several students from the clinic: Eegi, Nomio, Duya, Mumbuu and Baigali

Group photo of all participants

the conference room

After the program, we went back to the CHRD office, where Khishge, Amra and I drank a bottle of Chinggis Vodka. I had gone back to my apartment to get it, and did not realize that I was at serious risk of getting arrested walking back to the CHRD office with the bottle: apparently it is illegal to purchase alcohol on the first day of the month and the police may ask someone seen with alcohol in public where and when it was purchased.

June 29-30

Two more quiet days, preparing for and anticipating the big training program on Friday. Wednesday, I made my weekly presentation: on non-litigation tactics. I talked about Corporate Campaigns, including Ray Rogers' current campaigns against Coca-Cola, use of publicity, and my experiences in Herkimer twenty years ago.

The students were in high spirits throughout the day, before the presentation, during a lunch break and afterwards. There was an extended discussion in Mongolian, with much laughter, which Chimge said involved me, but that I wasn't supposed to know what it was about.

Tuesday night, I returned to the square to play chess, where I was instantly recognized and played two games with no monetary stakes. Thursday, the students watched the chess videos: apparently nothing was being said about me, but everyone in the video was trying to help my opponent with advice.

Thursday was a quiet day in the office, reviewing my notes for Friday, discussing the conference with Chimge, and meeting with a law firm that is making a presentation.

Late in the afternoon, we had a meeting with two lawyers from a large local firm that will do a case for CHRD challenging air pollution in Ulan Bataar. They were focusing on getting data proving that there are adverse health impacts: I tried to encourage them to focus on developing a legal theory holding the City legally responsible. I suggested a possible claim under the Constitution which guarantees citizens a safe environment.
I also want to meet with them next week to talk about what they can do to investigate the coal plants. I hope to talk to them about ways of measuring pollution from plants, getting relevant information, pollution control technology and air dispersion modeling; standard concepts for environmental lawyers in the U.S., but new concepts for lawyers here. I also promised to do some Westlaw research about anti-smoking cases in the U.S. which they think might be relevant, and will review clean air cases against coal plants (hopefully I can a find a few that raised non-statutory claims.  


I have also met another neighbor in my apartment building: a former Buddhist monk who went to an American university who is going to Harvard to study theology in the fall. He is familiar, but has not yet met Hugh, who has two Master's degrees in Buddhist studies.  I am looking forward to having a few drinks with both of them: we should have some interesting talks.

June 27-28

Two quiet days in the office, preparing for the lawyers training program on Friday. Monday, I prepared PowerPoint slides, in English, to be translated into Mongolian. I prepared  presentations on: 1) public interest law in general, including a segment on the experience of public interest law in the civil rights movement in the South,  2) possible uses of international law, 3) Mongolian law in public interest litigation, and 4) standing and justiciability (editing my presentation to the student clinic down to a 30 minute lecture).

Tuesday, I went for what has become my standard morning run,  in a nearby riverbed, avoiding the hard cement and tile street surfaces. 

At the office, I prepared the last two presentations, on nonlitigation strategies to promote the public interest, and on the law of evidence, with special emphasis on the use of expert testimony in litigation. Chimge, who was translating my presentation from yesterday, was a little taken aback by my references to “Freedom Riders”, “Jail, No Bail” and the Ku Klux Klan in my presentation, but thinks they are references that the participants in the training program will enjoy having explained. 

My home for the weekend

Relaxing on my front porch after the afternoon hike

I hiked up to the ridgeline, the eastern border of the Terelj Valley, and most of the ridge that is visible.

Home.

I am attaching the pictures I took during my hikes in Terelj. As previously stated, these pictures do not do justice to the spectacular nature of the terrain.

June 25-26 - visit to Terelj

Hugh had persuaded me that I should stay over in the Terelj, rather than come back the same day (it is only about an hour drive), and I am very glad. It was  very nice waking up in the country, going for a morning run on Sunday, and going for a two-hour horse ride in the afternoon.

My big surprise on Saturday was to learn that the Terelj was the same area where the conference was held two weeks ago, and the ger camp where I stayed was only a few kilometers from the site of the conference. Had I known that, I would have stayed at the same camp as the conference.

Still, where I stayed was comfortable enough, and even though it rained hard early Saturday and early Sunday, I was able to do two fantastic hikes on Saturday and avoided the rain on Sunday. The landscape pictures that I took do not do the area justice (included in next post).

Gaala drove me there and back. Upon arrival home on Sunday, the key broke off in the lock, and I was forced to wait two hours before I could get in to my apartment. Hugh came by, invited me over for dinner, and we had another great talk. It turns out he is also a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and we compared notes on martial arts.