Skip to content

Annyssa Bellal

Senior Researcher, Centre on conflict, development and peacebuilding at the Geneva Graduate Institute

Dr Annyssa Bellal is an international lawyer with more than 18 years of experience in the area of conflict studies, both at the academic and policy levels, with a particular expertise on the issue of armed non-state actors.
Dr Bellal was formerly a Strategic Adviser on International Humanitarian Law and Senior Research Fellow at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian law and Human Rights.

She also worked as a legal adviser for the Swiss NGO Geneva Call, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights as well as the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs. In 2011, she acted as the Head of the International Humanitarian Customary Law Project at the International Committee of the Red Cross. She has engaged directly with armed non-state actors in the field, notably in Syria, Iraq and the DRC. In 2019, she was invited to brief the UN Security Council on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, along with the President of the ICRC and the UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs.

Her research was awarded several fellowships and grants notably from the UK Research and Innovation and the British Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the Swiss National Science Foundation, McGill University, New York University and the Graduate Institute of International Studies and Development. She was also an Assistant Professor in public international law at the Irish Centre for Human Rights in Galway, Ireland and currently teaches at Sciences Po, Paris, the University of Bern and the Geneva Academy.

Dr Bellal holds a PhD (summa cum laude) in Public International Law from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and an LLM in Philosophy of Law from the University of Grenoble. She also holds a Master of Advanced Studies in International Relations and an MA in Law from the University of Geneva.

Resources

From Words to Deeds A Study of Armed Non-State Actors’ Practice and Interpretation of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Norms: Research and Policy Conclusions

September 2022

Annyssa Bellal, Pascal Bongard, Ezequiel Heffes

From Words to Deeds: A Study of Armed Non-State Actors’ Practice and Interpretation of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Norms: Al-Qaeda

September 2022

Annyssa Bellal, Pascal Bongard and Ezequiel Heffes

From Words to Deeds: A Study of Armed Non-State Actors’ Practice and Interpretation of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Norms: The Islamic State Group

September 2022

Annyssa Bellal, Pascal Bongard and Ezequiel Heffes

From Words to Deeds: A Study of Armed Non-State Actors’ Practice and Interpretation of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Norms: The Hezbollah – Lebanon

September 2022

Hiba Mikhail, Hassan Baalbaky, Annyssa Bellal, Pascal Bongard and Ezequiel Heffes

From Words to Deeds: A Study of Armed Non-State Actors’ Practice and Interpretation of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Norms: The Philippines – Moro Islamic Liberation Front/Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces

August 2022

Chris Rush, Annyssa Bellal, Pascal Bongard and Ezequiel Heffes

From Words to Deeds: A Study of Armed Non-State Actors’ Practice and Interpretation of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Norms: The Taliban-Afghanistan

June 2022

Ashley Jackson, Rahmatullah Amiri, Annyssa Bellal, Pascal Bongard and Ezequiel Heffes

Le cas du Mouvement National de Libération del’Azawad (MNLA), Mali

March 2021

The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights; Geneva Call

Annyssa Bellal, Ezequiel Heffes and Pascal Bongard

Case Study: The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (Mouvement National de Libération de l’Azawad, MNLA), Mali

March 2021

The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights; Geneva Call

Annyssa Bellal, Ezequiel Heffes and Pascal Bongard

Case Study: Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia–Ejército del Pueblo (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army, FARC-EP)

March 2021

The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights; Geneva Call

Annyssa Bellal, Ezequiel Heffes and Pascal Bongard

The War Report 2018

April 2019

Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Norwegian centre for Human Rights

Annyssa Bellal

The War Report 2017

March 2018

The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights

Annyssa Bellal

The War Report 2016

March 2017

The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights

Annyssa Bellal

Human Rights Obligations of Armed Non-State Actors: An Exploration of the Practice of the UN Human Rights Council

December 2016

Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights

Annyssa Bellal

The War Report 2014

December 2015

Oxford University Press

Annyssa Bellal

Briefing N°2: Draft Arms Trade Treaty

October 2012

Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights

Annyssa Bellal, Andrew Clapham, Stuart Casey-Malsen, Gilles Giacca

Rules of Engagement: Protecting Civilians through Dialogue with Armed Non-State Actors

October 2011

Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights

Annyssa Bellal, Stuart Casey-Maslen

Règles d'engagement – La protection des civils à travers un dialogue avec les acteurs armés non étatiques

October 2011

Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights

Annyssa Bellal, Stuart Casey-Maslen

Reglas del Juego – Cómo proteger a los civiles mediante el diálogo con los actores armados no estatales

October 2011

Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights

Annyssa Bellal, Stuart Casey-Maslen

Immunités et violations graves des droits humains

October 2011

Bruylant

Annyssa Bellal, Andrew Clapham