Gloria Gaggioli

Gloria Gaggioli

Director of the Geneva Academy and Associate/SNF Professor at the Law Faculty, University of Geneva

Areas of expertise

International Humanitarian Law  /  Qualification of Armed Conflict  /  International Human Rights Law  /  Counter-terrorism  /  States of Emergency  /  Extraterritoriality  /  Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict  /  Conduct of Hostilities  /  Use of Force  /  European Human Rights Law  /  Right to Life  /  Drones  /  Law Enforcement  /  Means and Methods of Warfare  /  Self-Defence  /  State Succession  /  Torture

Gloria Gaggioli is the Director of the Geneva Academy since August 2020 and an Associate/ Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) Professor at the Law Faculty of the University of Geneva. She is also member of the board of Geneva Call since August 2019.

Gloria Gaggioli has published widely in various fields of public international law and participates regularly in international conferences, roundtables and expert meetings. She is currently leading a four-year research project funded by the SNF on ‘Preventing and Combating Terrorism and Violent Extremism: Towards a Legal-Empirical Approach’. Her work focuses notably on issues related to the interplay between international humanitarian law and international human rights law, the right to life and the use of force, including the conduct of hostilities, law enforcement and self-defence.

Prior to joining the University of Geneva, she served as Legal Adviser in the legal division of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and is the author of the ICRC report The Use of Force in Armed Conflicts: Interplay between the Conduct of Hostilities and Law Enforcement Paradigms.

Professor Gaggioli also taught at the University of Neuchâtel and worked as Visiting Professor at Lille Catholic University and at the University of Aix-Marseille, as External Lecturer at the University of Copenhagen and as Researcher/Teaching Assistant at the Geneva Academy and University of Geneva. She conducted research as a ‘Distinguished-Scholar-in-Residence‘ at the US Naval War College, Stockton Center for the Studies of International Law.

She wrote her PhD thesis (summa cum laude, Pedone 2013) on ‘The Reciprocal Influence between Human Rights Law and Humanitarian Law in the Light of the Right to Life’.

Taught Courses and Research Projects

Iraq, Mosul. View of the west bank after the war. Project

IHL in Focus

As a yearly publication, it keeps decision-makers, practitioners and scholars up-to-date with the latest trends and challenges in IHL implementation in over 100 armed conflicts worldwide – both international and non-international.

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Surveillance Camera Project

COUNTER-TERROR PROJECT: A LEGAL EMPIRICAL APPROACH

The ‘Counter-Terror Pro LegEm’ project combines legal analysis with social science research to (1) examine the effectiveness of counterterrorism measures and their effects on human rights and (2) analyse the structure of terrorist networks such as Al Qaeda or the Islamic State and see whether they qualify as ‘organized armed groups’ for the purpose of international humanitarian law.

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Colombia, Medellín, Bellavista prison. The ICRC frequently visits the prisons of the country. Prison overcrowding is one of the main issues. LLM - Course

International Human Rights Law

This course provides a comprehensive overview of the main topics of international human rights law and its relationship with international humanitarian law.

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Member of an armed group in Syria Executive Master - Course

The Law of Non-International Armed Conflicts

This course discusses the protection offered by international humanitarian law (IHL) in non-international armed conflicts (NIACs) and addresses some problems and controversies specific to IHL of NIACs, including the difficulty to ensure the respect of IHL by armed non-state actors.

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Afghanistan, Parwan detention facility Executive Master - Course

Preventing and Combating Terrorism

This course discusses the extent to which states may  limit and/or derogate from their international human rights obligations in order to prevent and counter terrorism and thus protect persons under their jurisdiction.

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Afghanistan, Parwan detention facility. Inside a room where detainees of the prison, separated by an acrylic glass, are allowed to meet with their families a couple of times per year with the help of the ICRC employees who facilitate the programme. Short Course

Preventing and Combating Terrorism

This online short course discusses the extent to which states may limit and/or derogate from their international human rights obligations in order to prevent and counter-terrorism and thus protect persons under their jurisdiction.

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Short Course

The Law of Non-International Armed Conflicts

This online short course discusses the protection offered by international humanitarian law (IHL) in non-international armed conflicts (NIACs) and addresses some problems and controversies specific to IHL of NIACs, including the difficulty to ensure the respect of IHL by armed non-state actors.

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Publications

Cover page of the book

Research Handbook on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law

2022

Gloria Gaggioli, Robert Kolb, Pavle Kilibarda

Edward Elgar Publishing

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Interrogation and Torture

February 2020

Gloria Gaggioli, Steven J. Barela, Mark Fallon and Jens David Ohlin

Oxford University Press

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Book cover of La convention de Vienne de 1978 sur la succession d'États en matière de traités

La convention de Vienne de 1978 sur la succession d'États en matière de traités

February 2016

Giovanni Distefano, Gloria Gaggioli, Aymeric Hêche

Bruylant

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Book cover of the book L'influence mutuelle entre les droits de l'homme et le droit international humanitaire à la lumière du droit à la vie

L'influence mutuelle entre les droits de l'homme et le droit international humanitaire à la lumière du droit à la vie

August 2013

Gloria Gaggioli

Pedone

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Portrait of Andrew Botz News

LLM in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights: What our Alumni Say

22 January 2024

As a Human Rights Officer with the UN Mission in South Sudan, Andrew Botz supports investigations into alleged violations of international humanitarian law and human rights in the context of the armed conflict in the country. In this interview, he tells about the programme, fond memories and what it brought to his career.

Portrait of Maeva Réné-Barry News

MAS in Transitional Justice: What our Alumni Say

11 January 2024

As an Advocacy Officer at the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, Maeva Réné-Barry advocates for institutional changes at international and regional levels and conducts field missions to gather victim testimonies. In this interview, she tells about the programme, fond memories and what it brought to her career.