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14 August 2019
Our Strategic Adviser on international humanitarian law (IHL), Dr Annyssa Bellal, has been invited to brief on 13 August – together with the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Peter Maurer and the United Nations (UN) Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Miguel de Serpa Soares – the UN Security Council (UNSC) on the Geneva Conventions.
The briefing, organized in the context of the 70th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, discussed contemporary issues and challenges related to the respect and implementation of IHL.
In her briefing, Dr Bellal notably addressed the protracted nature of armed conflict and the need to mainstream international humanitarian law in the wider international legal system, the prevalence of non-international armed conflicts and the need to increase ownership of humanitarian norms among armed-non state actors, as well as the benefits of peer-pressure evaluation as an interesting way forward to better the overall system of IHL protection.
‘It is a great recognition for both the expertise of Dr Bellal and for the Geneva Academy to be invited to brief members of the UNSC on what we see as the more pressing issues related to the respect and implementation of the Geneva Conventions. The UN Security Council has played in the past a crucial role in enhancing their respect in certain armed conflicts and it can and should do so more systematically’ underlines Professor Marco Sassòli, Director of the Geneva Academy.
‘Having an academic and independent voice in these discussions is crucial and we are very thankful to the organizers for having invited Dr Bellal’ he adds.
The full speech of Dr Annyssa Bellal before the UNSC is available here.
You can watch the briefing on the UN Web TV.
Tamara Aburamadan, currently enrolled in our LLM in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, tells us about the programme and life in Geneva.
Geneva Academy
For the 2020-2021 academic year, 18 practitioners will follow the programme in Geneva and 26 online.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe
This online IHL Talk aims at shining light on substantial and/or procedural challenges to the effective and principled promotion of international law at the UN Security Council, including from a State’s perspective.
ICRC
This short course, which can be followed in Geneva or online, examines the sources of international humanitarian law (IHL). It provides an introduction to the key principles and terminology of IHL.
ICRC
This short course, which can be followed in Geneva or online, discusses the extent to which states may limit and/or derogate from their international human rights obligations in order to prevent and counter-terrorism and thus protect persons under their jurisdiction.
UN Photo/Stuart Price
This project aims at mapping various existing accountability mechanisms, in the context of military interventions, through the lens of the requirements of a transitional justice process in order to identify possibilities and gaps.
The Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts project (RULAC) is a unique online portal that identifies and classifies all situations of armed violence that amount to an armed conflict under international humanitarian law (IHL). It is primarily a legal reference source for a broad audience, including non-specialists, interested in issues surrounding the classification of armed conflicts under IHL.
Geneva Academy