Short Courses - The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights

Robert Kolb

Professor of Public International Law at the Law Faculty, University of Geneva

Areas of expertise

International Humanitarian Law / Qualification of Armed Conflict / International Human Rights Law / Extraterritoriality / Conduct of Hostilities / Protection of Civilians / Law of Occupation / Use of Force / Public International Law

Robert Kolb has been Professor of Public International Law at the Law Faculty, University of Geneva since 2007.

He is a leading expert in international law and international humanitarian law and has published several books and articles on these topics in English, French, German and Italian.
In 2011, he acted as a counsel for the German government in the Jurisdictional Immunities (Germany v. Italy) case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Prior to 2007, Professor Kolb worked as a legal adviser to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. He was also Secretary of the Institute of International Law and a member of the Board of Directors of the University Centre for International Humanitarian Law, which became the Geneva Academy in 2007.

He was Lecturer in Public International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Associate Professor at the University of Bern and Adjunct Professor at the University of Neuchatel. He also taught at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan.

The Law of International Armed Conflicts – Geneva Law

This course will examine the sources of international humanitarian law (IHL), as well as the threshold criteria for its applicability in an armed conflict. It will provide an introduction to the key principles and terminology of IHL.