Tribute from Prof Onuma Yasuaki

I wish to express my deep feelings of condolences to
you on the passing of Professor Anand.
As you all know well, although I was not taught by him directly, I have
always regarded myself as one of his students since 1970, when I became
Research Associate of the Univ of Tokyo Faculty of Law. He was then
almost the only Asian international lawyer whom we could regard as
competitive with leading Western international lawyers, publishing
actively attractive works in English.
It is through his works that I gradually came to know a number of Indian
international lawyers and their works. I made serious efforts to invite
leading Indian international lawyers as visiting professors and scholars
to the Univ of Tokyo, but this would not have been possible had I not
come to know works of Professor Anand.
It was therfore such a great pleasure for me that Professor Anand kindly
wrote a long review article of my "When was the Law of International
Society Born?" in the Journal of the History of International Law, vol 6
(2004) in the symposium dealing with this article, together with other
leading international lawyers and an IR scholar.
I have also been so grateful to him that he attended the first
preparatory meeting of the Asian Society of International Law in Tokyo
in October 2004, and always fully supported the preparations and
activities of the AsianSIL. It was unfortunate that two great Korean
international lawyers who attended the Tokyo preparatory meeting, Judge
Park of the ITLOS and Professor Paik of SNU, passed away rather shortly
after the Tokyo preparatory meeting, but Professor Anand was very
active. All Japanese members of the Society still vividly remember that
he attended the Second General Conference of the Society in August 2009
in Tokyo, although he had a serious problem with his legs. His presence
enhanced greatly the significance of the Tokyo Conference and of the
AsianSIL at large.
And it was 9 March 2010, just eleven months ago, that he was so kind as
to hold a gorgeous birthday party for me at his residence, inviting a
large number of leading Indian international lawyers. We all
enthusiastically discussed about the fourth General Conference of the
AsianSIL, which we all assumed to be held in Delhi in 2013. We all
believed that he would attend not only the Beijing Conference of 2011
but also Delhi Conference of 2013. Both can no longer be done.
Yet, I firmly believe that he will always be with us as long as we
continue making our efforts to improve the quality of international
legal studies in Asia and succeed his spirit in all our endeavours. His
name will be remembered by Asian international lawyers and international
lawyers of the world as a great Asian pioneer in our discipline.
Please convey my feelings of deep sorrow and condolences to Professor
Anand's family, his close friends and all Indian international lawyers.
With deep sorrow and sadness,
ONUMA Yasuaki

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