The Mekong Legal Network (MLN) convened for the second time in Chiang Mai, from January 17 to 24, 2010. Most regional lawyers who attended the first session were there, and a few new lawyers joined us for the second session. Training and strategizing were vigorous and comprehensive, and plans for future actions moved forward with the mutual agreement of all.

Public interest lawyers from Burma, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, China and Cambodia heard from international legal experts Judith Chomsky, Dana Clark, Natalie Bugalski, Jingjing Jhang, Carl Middleton and many others on such wide ranging issues as World Bank and IFI accountability mechanisms; legal standards and tools to address involuntary resettlement; new national laws and regional developments such as China’s new environmental tort laws, transboundary environmental impact assessments, and the ongoing processes to address human rights and environmental impacts of proposed Mekong Dams. Experts from Internews, Bridges Across Borders-Southeast Asia and Open Society Institute helped participants hone their skills in negotiation and alternative dispute resolution; personal safety for human rights defenders; and fundraising for social change.

Midweek, MLN traveled to the Mae Moh coal-burning power plant in Thailand to hear first hand of the successful legal struggles by local villagers against this ADB-financed project that has led to hundreds of pollution-related deaths and countless ongoing illnesses and environmental harms. Maliwan Najwirot, Secretary of the Occupational Health Patients Rights Network of Mae Moh, gave an impassioned and inspiring presentation about innovative legal strategies that villagers successfully used against Thailand’s energy utility, EGAT, in spite of the ongoing challenges and the David vs. Goliath nature of their struggle.

The final two days of our second session included strategizing for future actions, including plans to encourage the respect for human rights, environment and the rule of law in conjunction with the eleven large dams proposed for the Mekong River’s mainstream. In 2009, MLN engaged the Mekong River Commission’s Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment process with a legal analysis of the dams, and published its findings. As follow up MLN will produce a legal briefing paper that will be translated into local languages and accessible to affected people.

A regional exchange between Chinese, Vietnamese and Lao environmental lawyers and is currently being planned, in order for Chinese experts to share and explain their experience with improving environmental laws and creating environmental courts in China.

MLN wrapped up the week with a dinner cruise on the Ping River, and all involved were excited to get to work on these and other important projects. The next session, scheduled for summer 2010, promises to push forward MLN's agenda of protecting the environment and promoting human rights in the Mekong Region.