27 July 2023
Vance Culbert is a senior development and humanitarian professional who has managed operations for non-governmental organizations and United Nations (UN) agencies over the past twenty years. He has focused on humanitarian protection programming and policy, the promotion of international humanitarian law (IHL), and the protection of civilians. He has also worked extensively in the field of education in emergencies and post-disaster reconstruction.
He just started as a Visiting Fellow at the Geneva Academy and will stay with us until the end of October.
I have worked in collaboration with researchers and experts from the Geneva Academy during the past several years on initiatives including IHL opinions on housing, land and property issues in Palestine, and IHL promotion with non-state armed groups across the MENA region. I look forward to positive collaboration on exploring legal protection aspects of global climate debates.
Most of the global policy processes on addressing climate change mitigation, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), have been on emissions reduction. There have been few initiatives on supply-side limitation, despite the fact that the large majority of global production is concentrated in a dozen countries. My research will look at the geopolitical and economic barriers to bringing about such an agreement, and how this could be brought in line with protection considerations required for a just transition.
Many of those oil and gas-producing countries who have made significant commitments to emissions reductions continue to invest heavily in production capacity expansion. There is currently no linkage between UNFCCC emissions goals and global production, making possible pathways to a just transition less likely and more chaotic.
Additional research can directly inform increased calls for new policy initiatives. Pressure for a new global agreement on production regulation is increasing. Data is lacking however on the economic implications of such an agreement, and policy options for how such an agreement could ensure fair usage of remaining resources.
Given the breadth of expertise at the Geneva Academy, I look forward to exchanges with colleagues on legal and protection aspects of global policy options. I also hope to be able to engage the Geneva Academy’s networks to be able to further raise the profile of this important issue.
The Geneva Academy has released one briefing in French and four research briefs in French, English, German, and Italian on the right to food in Geneva.
Geneva Academy
At the 34th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, we hosted a booth with Geneva Call and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway.
ICRC
Co-hosted with the ICRC, this event aims to enhance the capacity of academics to teach and research international humanitarian law, while also equipping policymakers with an in-depth understanding of ongoing legal debates.
Wikimedia
In this Geneva Academy Talk Judge Lətif Hüseynov will discuss the challenges of inter-State cases under the ECHR, especially amid rising conflict-related applications.
Participants in this training course will be introduced to the major international and regional instruments for the promotion of human rights, as well as international environmental law and its implementation and enforcement mechanisms.
ICRC
Participants in this training course will gain practical insights into UN human rights mechanisms and their role in environmental protection and learn about how to address the interplay between international human rights and environmental law, and explore environmental litigation paths.
UNAMID
This project will develop guidance to inform security, human rights and environmental debates on the linkages between environmental rights and conflict, and how their better management can serve as a tool in conflict prevention, resilience and early warning.
UN Photo/Violaine Martin
The IHL-EP works to strengthen the capacity of human rights mechanisms to incorporate IHL into their work in an efficacious and comprehensive manner. By so doing, it aims to address the normative and practical challenges that human rights bodies encounter when dealing with cases in which IHL applies.
Geneva Academy
Geneva Academy