18 October 2021, 18:00-19:30
Event
ICRC
In this opening lecture of the 2021–2022 academic year, Dr Helen Durham, Director of International Law and Policy at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), will address the legal, operational and political imperative of the international community continuing to work towards the application and implementation of international humanitarian law (IHL).
Building on a range of current themes that an institution such as the ICRC needs to grapple with – from the use of new technologies in warfare to issues such as climate challenges, global responses to pandemics and increasing instances of urban warfare – the session will focus around the relevance and long-standing nature of key principles of IHL. Dr Durham’s own experience from being a field delegate to a Director within the ICRC will add a personal dimension to this presentation.
Dr Helen Durham is Director of International Law and Policy at the ICRC headquarters in Geneva. In her role, she oversees a large global network of international lawyers, policy advisers, armed forces delegates, weapons specialists, sociologists, diplomats, researchers and academic experts who work towards the respect of IHL.
Dr Durham regularly represents ICRC at venues such as the United Nations (UN) Security Council and in bilateral engagements with ministers, senior government officials and military decision-makers. In the last few years, she has led a range of IHL multilateral negotiations in Geneva and travelled widely to engage with authorities on matters relating to the protection of civilians during times of armed conflict and other situations of violence.
Admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria and High Court of Australia, she has an Arts and Law degree with honours (Melbourne University) and a PhD (Melbourne University with research at New York) in international law, with a focus on IHL and international criminal law.
Dr Durham has widely published on IHL topics, in particular those relating to women and armed conflict. Previously she has been a legal adviser for ICRC in the Pacific Region, Head of Office for ICRC in Australia and held a range of roles in the Australian Red Cross.
She also held the post of Director of Research for the Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law at Melbourne Law School where she also lectured in international law in the Master's Programme. Dr Durham has been inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2014), was awarded an Australian Centenary Peacewoman (2015) and has been appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia (2017).
This event is reserved for our incoming students.
Geneva Academy
Natia Kalandarishvili-Mueller is a professor of international law at ALTE University in Tbilisi. Also an alumna of our LLM in IHL and Human Rights, she just started as a Visiting Fellow at the Geneva Academy and will stay with us until the end of November 2022.
Olivier Chamard/Geneva Academy
Professor Sassòli was in charge of the IHL part of the report that was presented on 13 April by the three experts to the OSCE Permanent Council.
ICRC
This short course examines the conduct of hostilities in situations of international armed conflict, also known as the Law of The Hague.
ICRC
This short course, which can be followed in Geneva or online, will cover the ‘nuts and bolts’ of implementation, including national legislation, dissemination and training, and discuss the mechanisms such as the International Fact-Finding Commission, as set out in the treaties.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
orihaus
This project aims at staying abreast of the various military technology trends; promoting legal and policy debate on new military technologies; and furthering the understanding of the convergent effects of different technological trends shaping the digital battlefield of the future.