European Humanitarian Forum>
Our Director Professor Gloria Gaggioli participated – along with our Executive Director Maud Bonnet – in the European Humanitarian Forum that took place in Brussels from 21 to 23 March 2022 in Brussels and online.
Organized by the European Commission and France, it gathered policy-makers, humanitarian partners and other stakeholders for a more sustained dialogue on humanitarian policy and strategy.
Geneva Academy
European Humanitarian Forum
Professor Gaggioli notably intervened on at the Ministerial Session on improving compliance with international humanitarian law (IHL) to safeguard the humanitarian space.
Other speakers included the European Commissioner for Crisis Response, the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, the Director General of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, and the Chair of the European Parliament’s Sub-committee on Human Rights.
‘It is a unique opportunity to exchange around the need to improve compliance with IHL with such a high-level panel and bring the Geneva Academy’s expertise and suggestions regarding new ways to improve the monitoring and reporting on IHL violations’ underlines Professor Gaggioli.
Professor Gaggioli also spoke at a session on the importance of engaging with non-state armed groups in armed conflicts, in order to ensure access to civilians living under their control and the provision of humanitarian aid.
‘We witness a worrying shrinking of the humanitarian space, especially in the context of the fight against terror: today more than ever, we need to reiterate that humanitarian action is impossible without the engagement of non-State armed groups’ says Professor Gaggioli.
‘At the Geneva Academy, we have been conducting research for more than 10 years on armed non-State actors (ANSAs) and are one of the leading research institutions on their study. Our current project – From Words to Deeds – aims precisely at increasing our knowledge of ANSAs’ perceptions and understanding of their international obligations. Its results will notably provide tools to humanitarian organizations to engage with and encourage ANSAs to abide by the law’ she adds.
‘‘Armed groups’ views on key humanitarian norms is often overlooked because of the state-centered nature of the international legal system. It is however essential to collect their perception and interpretation of these norms to understand their difficulties or unwillingness to respect the law in practice’ adds Dr Annyssa Bellal who is directing the project and also a Senior Research Fellow at the Geneva Academy and Senior Researcher at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies.
Taylor Vick, Unsplash
Our new Working Paper provides an overview of the various novel technologies that together form part of the ‘future digital battlefield’ and assesses some of the implications they have for humanitarian protection in armed conflict.
During one week, Francesca Gortan, Sarah Surget and Sophie Timmermans represented the Geneva Academy at the 38th Edition of the Jean-Pictet Competition that took place in Durrës, Albania, from 19 to 26 March.
UN Photo
This online short course focuses on the role of public international law in international relations and on international legal persons.
ICRC
This online short course 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