The Geneva IHL Lab: Bridging Theory and Practice

Paola Gaeta: The Geneva IHL Lab provides a unique opportunity for students at the Geneva Academy, as well as those from our parent institutions, the Geneva Graduate Institute and the Law Faculty of the University of Geneva, to gain practical experience in international humanitarian law. The first edition began in February 2025 and brings together 18 students, organized into six teams, each focusing on an ongoing armed conflict. The teams work under the supervision of a project director and two coordinators.

Paola Gaeta: Last year, we launched a new research project called 'IHL in Focus'. Its aim is to monitor violations of international humanitarian law in major ongoing conflicts, identifying recurring themes and trends. By providing states, international organizations, civil society, and academics with impartial tools for legal analysis, the project seeks to support advocacy and humanitarian diplomacy and ultimately contribute to greater respect for IHL.

The research is carried out primarily by regional experts. However, it is also a meaningful opportunity for students to engage directly with current conflicts and apply legal concepts in real-world contexts. This approach aligns with the long-standing tradition of international humanitarian law evolving in response to actual conflicts and human suffering.

Chris Gosnell: Many conflict zones are inaccessible not only to students but also to professional researchers and journalists. At the same time, modern media and communication technologies have enabled the near-simultaneous capture and dissemination of vast amounts of information from conflict zones. In fact, the volume of information can be so great that the real challenge becomes assessing its quality, not its quantity.

Information collected in this way, especially when filtered through journalists or other intermediaries, can be ambiguous, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions about IHL violations. Rigorous analysis is therefore essential, both to evaluate the reliability of the material and to interpret its legal significance.

In addition, students are not able to use the full range of open-source techniques available to professionals, nor can they proactively contact original sources for clarification. Instead, they must work with the material they can access, drawing reasoned conclusions based on patterns and inference.

Chris Gosnell: The quality of international humanitarian law education at the participating institutions is excellent, although each institution has its own pedagogical context. The students bring these broader perspectives to the country teams to which they contribute and greatly enhance one another’s work. Some may have deeper knowledge of a specific country, aligned with the focus of their studies. Others may have particular expertise or interest in the rules applicable to certain methods of warfare, or types of violations such as sexual and gender-based violence. Combining these various areas of expertise strengthens the overall comprehensiveness of the analysis.

Chris Gosnell: Open-source methodologies are now a part of virtually every type of organized fact-gathering. UN bodies, NGOs, States and international organizations use open-source methods for everything from periodic reports to commissions of inquiry, and even criminal investigations.

These techniques are evolving rapidly and becoming increasingly powerful. By engaging with this methodology through the Geneva IHL Lab, students gain hands-on experience that will most likely be relevant in their future careers, regardless of the path they choose.