Antonina OKUTA, a student of the Academy’s Master in IHL, launched a working group that will analyse the legal parameters of setting up a special tribunal for Kenya and its legal implications in particular if the matter be referred to the ICC. Professors Antonio Cassese and Paola Gaeta supervise the project. Final report (pdf)

Radio Suisse Romande interview 

Rights Experts Push for World Court of Human Rights
Finding a "rightful place" for human rights
Initiative lancée en faveur des droits humains

The Geneva Academy will organize a Training Course on Monitoring Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to be held in Geneva from 11-15 May 2009. Applications for international and non-self funded participants close on 6 March. Download the application form and read further information.

The Oxford Companion to International Criminal Justice has recently been published by Oxford University Press.  The Editor-In-Chief is Professor Antonio Cassese, and other Academy faculty have contributed chapters, including Professor Paola Gaeta. 

Download an order form now and benefit from a 20% discount!

Mercredi 30 juin, 20h, Alhambra - Genève

(la suite)

Enjoyment of health is a fundamental human right, often taken for granted. Yet, for huge numbers of people around the world, this right is not a reality. Indeed, some areas lack the political will and infrastructure to guarantee the right to health. These and other issues form the substance of Realizing the Right to Health, a recently published book edited by Andrew Clapham and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson.

To mark this publication, on 22 June, the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights organised an international symposium to address the topic “Realizing the Right to Health: Whose Role is it Anyway?” Deputy UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Kyung-wha Kang, delivered the keynote address, and a number of experts participated as panellists, including Len Rubenstein, Professor Mary Crewe, Professor Eibe Riedel, Professor Lynn Freedman, Iain Byrne, Gian Luca Burci, Carole Presern, and Tido von Schoen-Angerer. The Deputy High Commissioner welcomed the book as “an initiative of the highest standards, which highlights the numerous challenges to the realisation, universality and protection of the right to health, and offers rigorous analysis and arguments to counter scepticism about health as a human right.”

Panellists addressed the importance of strengthening national health systems, and the role of governments in building strong healthcare systems. They examined case studies of how they sometimes fail to do this, for example in Zimbabwe where the government has overseen the collapse of the health system and the emergence of a large-scale health crisis. They also discussed the growing importance of new global health initiatives and public-private partnerships such as the Global Fund and GAVI. Panellists addressed the role of healthcare practitioners, as well as those of civil society, pharmaceutical companies, and global development donors. A key issue was how the World Health Organisation and other UN bodies should prioritise a rights-based approach to health and how to ensure more effective global governance in this area. The importance of taking a gender-based focus was highlighted, and the case study of maternal mortality was examined, with the Deputy High Commissioner noting that “If we are serious about reducing maternal mortality and, more broadly, about tackling the great gap in women's health, a human-rights based approach must be adopted by all of us, whatever roles we play.”

Realizing the Right to Health, (Rüffer & Rub: Zurich), Volume III in the Swiss Human Rights Book series, an initiative of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (www.swisshumanrightsbook.com), contains 40 chapters by 60 leading healthcare practitioners, human rights advocates, health officials, and other authorities in the international right to health movement.

It describes how realising the right to health requires a strong focus on strengthening healthcare systems and transforming health systems for women. Taking a human rights approach to health means understanding the underlying social determinants of this right, as well as how to ensure the right to health is realised in times of emergency and armed conflict, and for all groups in society, including migrants and refugees, LGBTI persons, prisoners and detainees, and others. In Realizing the Right to Health leading international experts in human rights and health address issues such as access to essential medicine, HIV/AIDS, trade and health, SARS and malaria, and human rights approaches to other key health challenges. They address the role of governments, non-state actors and healthcare practitioners, the responses of multilateral institutions, and highlight some of the most promising strategies for realising the right to health.

A video of this event will be posted later on the website of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights.

To order a copy of the book.

The programme for the international symposium and book launch.

Enzo Cannizzaro
Professor of International and EU Law at the University of Rome "La Sapienza"
Armed Conflicts and Proportionality

Thursday, 20 May 2010 – 6.30 PM
Uni Bastions (B. 101)
Place de l'Université 3, Geneva

lecture given in English

Derek P. Jinks
Professor in Law and a Senior Fellow at the Robert S. Strauss Center or International Security and Law at the University of Texas. He is the Charles H. Stockton Professor of International Law at the U.S. Naval War College for 2009-2010

Wednesday, 24 March 2010 – 6:30 PM

The lecture will be given in English

Applications for the 2010-2011 Academic year are now open. Please return the form below duly completed and with all required attachments.

The deadline for applications to the MAS is 15 February 2010.

Application form (pdf)

Download the programme. (pdf)

In September 2009 the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights moved to the newly renovated Villa Moynier. The Villa Moynier is situated in the Parc Mon Repos, a few hundred metres away from Villa Barton, the current headquarters of the Graduate Institute. Over the last year, the Villa Moynier has been undergoing important renovation work funded by the City of Geneva and the Swiss Confederation; some CHF 3.7 million was used to restore this building which bears the name of one of the founders of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The staff of the ADH are enjoying setting up in the Academy's new home, but we ask for your patience as our phones, faxes and other facilities are gradually unpacked and we get back to full operations.

Our new contact details are:

Street address:
Villa Moynier
120B Rue de Lausanne

Postal address:
Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights
Villa Moynier
P.O. Box 67
1211 Genève 21

You can reach us on new telephone and fax numbers:
Phone +41 (0) 22 908 44 88
Fax +41 (0) 22 908 44 99

This year’s ‘simulation exercise’, an annual activity for students enrolled in the MAS in International Humanitarian Law at the Geneva Academy, took place at the Palais des Nations, the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva.

Assisted by interpreters from ETI (School of Translation and Interpretation at the University of Geneva), the Geneva Academy students were asked to advise the United Nations Secretary-General, a role played by Professor Nicolas Michel, on the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against President Al-Bashir. Students played the roles of high-level civil servants of the United Nations (Heads of Departments of the UN Secretariat, UN Legal Counsel, UNHCR, OCHA, etc.), State representatives (from the five permanent members of the Security Council), and representatives from both regional and non-governmental organisations (ICTJ, Human Rights Watch, etc.). At the end of the day, after difficult discussions and negotiations, students put forward proposals for a draft of a statement by the Secretary-General, in the hypothetical case that he would be invited to participate in a debate in the Security Council about the consequences of the arrest warrant for international peace and security in Africa.

The simulation, which was held on 16 April 2010, was organized under the responsibility and supervision of Professor Nicolas Michel, with the collaboration of Mr. Steve Wilkinson, and with the assistance of Ms. Katherine Del Mar. The Geneva Academy would like to thank the School of Translation and Interpretation (www.unige.ch/eti) and the Geneva International Model of United Nations (www.gimun.org) for their generous assistance, as well as the United Nations Office at Geneva for their availability and hospitality.