Book Launch: ‘Unravelling Unlawful Confinement in Contemporary Armed Conflicts’

Event

Brill

This event marks the launch of our LLM alumna Jelena Plamenac’s award-winning book ‘Unravelling Unlawful Confinement in Contemporary Armed Conflicts’ published by Brill.

This book offers a fascinating empirical exploration of how states and non-state armed groups deprive us of liberty in contemporary armed conflicts. Inspired by her decade-long legal practice before international criminal courts, the author searches for practical legal solutions to close the everlasting accountability gap and better protect us from unlawful detention in non-international armed conflicts (NIACs).

Based on exclusive field records and first-hand testimonies of fighters, former detainees and policy-makers in Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine, the research reveals hidden patterns of controversial detention practices that are common to all warring parties, irrespective of their status under international law.

Seven chapters take us through the legal pluralism of belligerents’ intriguing detention behaviours and themes such as gender profiling, religion, politics and power dynamics with a new understanding of where the boundary of unlawful confinement lies between local and international law.

Based on her book’s findings, the author will discuss with leading international law and policy experts key issues related to detention in NIACs as well as pitfalls and potentials of developing new legislative initiatives that will better protect millions across nations from unlawful confinement in armed conflict.

Moderation

• Marco Sassòli, Professor of International Law, University of Geneva

Panelists

• Jelena Plamenac, UN Independent Expert on International Humanitarian Law and author of the book
• Tim McCormack, Professor of Law, University of Tasmania, Editor-in-Chief, Brill Nijhoff's International Humanitarian Law Series and Special Adviser on War Crimes to the International Criminal Court Prosecutor
• Jelena Pejić, former Senior Legal Adviser, International Committee of the Red Cross
• Nicolas Masson, Diplomat, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland
• Nils Melzer, Human Rights Chair, Geneva Academy, Professor of International Law, University of Glasgow, and former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (TBC)

Reception

The event will be followed by a reception.

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