Portrait of Annabel Bassil>
7 December 2021
Annabel Bassil graduated from our LLM in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights in 2019. She currently works as a Junior Legal Advisor at Diakonia International Humanitarian Law Centre.
In this role, she supports the delivery of training courses and conducts legal research on international humanitarian law (IHL). Passionate about research, she recently published an article on armed escorts to humanitarian convoys in the International Review of the Red Cross. She previously worked at the European Court of Human Rights as a Legal Trainee.
In this interview, she tells about the programme and what it brought to her career.
Olivier Chamard/Geneva Academy
The programme offers a comprehensive view of the laws applying in or related to armed conflicts. They range from public international law to IHL, international human rights law and international refugee law. I particularly appreciated the fact that the programme allows for critical thinking on those topics. The quality of the courses – which were delivered by the best experts in their respective fields – largely contributed to this positive experience.
The programme also prepares students to face practical global challenges. It often relied on case studies as a learning methodology and offered moot court competitions and internships.
In sum, it is a good combination of theory and practice.
The teaching was excellent. As a person who is passionate about learning, my thirst for high-quality legal knowledge was more than satisfied. The pace was intense but thanks to the teamwork that we managed to organize with a group of students, the learning journey was enjoyable.
The ties that I formed with my classmates are my best memories of the programme. We were spending most of our time together and I formed memorable relationships. Some of the friends that I met back then are now among my closest friends.
The LLM was an asset to advance my career because I used my knowledge in the positions that I subsequently worked in.
The alumni community of the programme is also invaluable.
After the LLM, I worked as a Legal Trainee at the European Court of Human Rights. A great portion of my work was directly related to the topics that we discussed at the Geneva Academy. In my role as Junior Legal Advisor at Diakonia IHL Centre, I also use my knowledge of IHL extensively.
Most of all, I learned critical thinking and rigorous analytical skills. I find those skills essential in any career and in life more generally.
Yes, I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a fast-paced, high-quality academic journey in International Law related to armed conflicts.
Edward Madziwa tells in this interview about his background, the programme and what it will bring to his career.
UN Photo/Manuel Elias
Our new Research Brief Climate Change in the Security Council: Obstacles, Opportunities, and Options identifies entry points for engaging on environmental and climate security issues at the UN Security Council.
Geneva Cities Hub
This side event at the UN Habitat Assembly in Nairobi will discuss how local and regional governments localize the SDGs and fulfil human rights on the ground and their increased international visibility through the UPR.
This event, co-organized with Amnesty International, will discuss the gains made since the UDHR adoption, challenges to the international normative framework on human rights and what the international community needs to do for a better future.
CCPR centre
This training course will delve into the means and mechanisms through which national actors can best coordinate their human rights monitoring and implementation efforts, enabling them to strategically navigate the UN human rights system and use the various mechanisms available in their day-to-day work.
UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré
This training course will explore the origin and evolution of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and its functioning in Geneva and will focus on the nature of implementation of the UPR recommendations at the national level.
Adobe
This initiative wishes to contribute to better and more coordinated implementation, reporting and follow-up of international human rights recommendations through a global study on digital human rights tracking tools and databases.
Gorodenkoff/Adobe
This project facilitated a multistakeholder consultative process to identify knowledge gaps, generate new evidence and co-design evidence-based tools to support regulatory and policy responses to human rights challenges linked to digital technologies.
Geneva Academy