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20 April 2020
Monica Garcia works in Geneva as Executive Assistant at Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Access Campaign, an advocacy unit within MSF pushing for access to essential medicines, diagnostic tests and vaccines for patients in MSF’s projects and beyond. Prior to that, she developed her professional career working in corporate communications in the private sector for more than 15 years.
Monica holds a degree in Law, an MBA and a Specialization on Humanitarian Action and she is currently enrolled in our Executive Master in International law in Armed Conflict.
I have always been interested in learning more about international humanitarian law (IHL). While I have developed most of my professional career in corporate communication in the private sector, my vocation for the humanitarian sector pushed me to work for MSF and to complement my professional profile with further education on humanitarian action. Holding a degree in law, I found that the next logical step was to pursue a master in international law in armed conflict, as 60 percent of MSF projects are run in armed conflict contexts, internal unstable contexts, and post-conflict contexts.
It fully responds to my expectations. It is amazing to look back and realize how many different topics, issues, and concepts we have covered, how much knowledge and critical thinking we have achieved and how much learning we have got from leading academics. It is also very enriching to see how the four main areas of study, public international law, IHL, international criminal law (ICL) and international human rights law are so interconnected and how they are applied in real situations.
I believe this programme improves not only our technical skills but also empowers us to evaluate critically a wide variety of international disputes and armed conflicts and to approach humanitarian crisis from a legal perspective.
I have enjoyed a lot of lectures, but If I must choose one, I really enjoyed Professor Schabas’s lectures on ICL and the history of the International Criminal Court. It was an inspiring mix of law and history that took us back to the times of the Nuremberg trials.
This programme will bring me a valuable solid background in international law and will help me to further contribute to the legal analysis of humanitarian crisis. I look forward facing new professional opportunities and challenges where I will further develop all my newly acquired knowledge and competences.
I strongly recommend it, especially to NGO workers interested in complementing their education in humanitarian action with a much more technical area of expertise. It will be very valuable to increase debates and discussions on the legal aspects and implications of humanitarian action and to learn how protection during a humanitarian crisis is guaranteed by international law as well as the existing legal gaps and improvement opportunities.
News
Geneva Academy
To kick-start the activities of the 'IHL in Focus' project and refine its approach, a two-day expert meeting of representative practitioners and scholars from different disciplines was convened.
News
C64-92
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa started the new year by declaring that there is an ‘internal armed conflict’ against a series of criminal groups operating in the country. Our Research Fellow Dr Eugénie Duss, in charge of RULAC, answers our questions about whether the situation in Ecuador amounts to a non-international armed conflict.
Training
UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré
This training course will explore the origin and evolution of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and its functioning in Geneva and will focus on the nature of implementation of the UPR recommendations at the national level.
Short Course
ICRC
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.
Project
UN Photo/Violaine Martin
The IHL-EP works to strengthen the capacity of human rights mechanisms to incorporate IHL into their work in an efficacious and comprehensive manner. By so doing, it aims to address the normative and practical challenges that human rights bodies encounter when dealing with cases in which IHL applies.
Project
UNAMID
This project will develop guidance to inform security, human rights and environmental debates on the linkages between environmental rights and conflict, and how their better management can serve as a tool in conflict prevention, resilience and early warning.
Publication
Geneva Academy
Publication
Geneva Academy
