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As we bid farewell to the current year, we have endeavoured to encapsulate the highlights of 2023 in 10 carefully selected photos – a challenging yet rewarding task!
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We launched a new research on neurotechnology and human rights that addresses the human rights implications stemming from the development of neurotechnology for commercial, non-therapeutic ends, forming part of our research cluster on digitalization and new technologies. On the photo, our Head of Research and Policy Studies Dr Erica Harper spoke at the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on the human rights implications of new and emerging technologies in the military domain. Her intervention shed light on military technologies’ potential impact on human rights, and addressed the risks associated with the cross-application of these technologies and the related need for regulation.
© Geneva Academy
We organized throughout the year several executive education courses, including the 15th Advanced IHL Seminar for academics and policy-makers with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). This unique opportunity to discuss and learn more about contemporary IHL issues forms a fundamental part of our mission to accompany professionals in addressing the many complexities of current armed conflicts.
© Geneva Academy
Dr Clotilde Pégorier joined us in April as our new Head of Education. In this role, she coordinates our three master’s programme and executive education and leads our Student Office. A former lecturer in law at the University of Essex, where she co-directed an international double degree programme, Dr Pégorier brings to the position a solid experience in the direction and management of master’s programmes, as well as expertise in international criminal law, human rights, transitional justice, and interdisciplinary studies at the intersection of law and the arts.
© Geneva Academy
After four editions in Geneva, this annual flagship event of our Geneva Human Rights Platform successfully took place in New York this year. It focused, via a series of panel discussions, on the need to bridge the gap between Geneva-based human rights mechanisms and the UN in New York, based on the interrelated nature of human rights issues across both cities and on specific issues like UN accountability mechanisms and the protection of children during armed conflicts.
© Geneva Academy
Back in February, the Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier presented, during a ceremony hosted at the Geneva Academy, the Knight Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany to Peter Maurer, in the presence of Geneva humanitarian and diplomatic community. By regularly hosting this type of events, we contribute to key discussions, debates and exchanges in the Geneva humanitarian and human rights community.
© Geneva Academy
Back in May, our students participated – for the third year in a row – in the Geneva Marathon. A participation supported by the Geneva Academy and an example, among many other, of our students’ rich social life in Geneva!
© Geneva Academy
We have been granted leave by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to intervene as a third party in the case Ukraine v. Russia (X) – along with 26 governments – and submitted our third-party intervention back in April. Reflecting the salience of this case, the intervention focuses on three main subjects: (1) the extraterritorial application of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in an international armed conflict; (2) the relationship between the ECHR and international legal norms governing recourse to armed force between states (ius ad bellum); (3) the interplay between the ECHR and international humanitarian law.
© Geneva Academy
Our students have the opportunity to participate in the prestigious Jean-Pictet Competition, a leading moot court in IHL. This year, Benjamin Greenacre, Anamika Pillai and Rodanthi Violaki represented the Geneva Academy at the 40th Edition in Durrës, Albania and progressed to the semi-finals. This participation is a major opportunity for our students to take the law out of the books and apply legal concepts learned in class to concrete situations. In 2024, we will be sending teams to both the English and French editions of the competition, which will be held in Nepal and Belgium.
© Geneva Academy
After Sierra Leone and Grenada, the third and final UN human rights treaty body (TB) follow-up review pilot of our Geneva Human Rights Platform took place in December in Fiji, with the participation of three Pacific Small Island Developing States: Fiji, Tonga and Vanuatu. These pilots aim at testing a new format of follow-up to TB recommendation at the national or regional levels, thereby making the system more relevant, responsive and closer to rights holders and duty bearers. Co-organized with the Pacific Community and the Commonwealth Secretariat – and with the support of the Government of Fiji – this final test focused on the implementation of the latest recommendations issued by the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
© Geneva Academy
Our public events were marked this year by the ongoing war in Ukraine – addressing key related questions like the creation of a tribunal for the crime of aggression – as well as by more recent upsurge of violence in Israel and Palestine. They also discussed key issues like youth associated with armed groups, domestic justice versus international tribunals, armed groups in international law, freedom of expression as well as missing and forcibly disappeared migrants.
© Geneva Academy
