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Geneva Call
12 January 2021
Ezequiel Heffes works as a Thematic Legal Adviser at Geneva Call, a humanitarian NGO that engages armed non-State actors to increase their level of compliance with humanitarian norms. He graduated from the Geneva Academy in 2013, and since then he has worked in the humanitarian sphere, first as an ICRC Delegate in Colombia, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and then at Geneva Call.
At Geneva Call, he is in charge of certain thematic files, notably health care, child protection issues and landmines. He has given advice to colleagues on these files, and delivered trainings to numerous stakeholders, including armed actors, on humanitarian norms. He has also participated in bilateral meetings to discuss their understanding and interpretation of these norms, as well as the challenges they may face when attempting to comply with the applicable legal framework.
In my view, the LLM has three strengths. First, it is based in Geneva, which allows students to be in touch with different specialized organizations and scholars working on various areas of international law. Second, it is taught by some of the most influential specialists in the field. In addition to their knowledge of the subject-matters, they bring a real-life experience that is difficult to find elsewhere. Third, once you come to the Geneva Academy, you are part of a bigger community of individuals spread around the world. Geneva Academy’s alumni can be found working at the UN and its various branches and bodies, ICRC, governments, NGOs and international criminal tribunals. Many of my former classmates are now colleagues with whom I have professional exchanges in different fora.
The combination of core courses and optional ones also represents an added value of the programme, as it allows students to have some flexibility on the topics they want to study. The teaching assistants (TAs) also deserve to be mentioned. By assisting in much-needed tutorials, they serve as an excellent complement to the professors and lecturers.
It is obviously difficult to select just a few. The study trip to Solferino is definitely the first one that comes to my mind. We were accompanied by the Directors of the Geneva Academy at the time, all the TAs and the students. The trip was one of the highlights of the year. I also remember with great appreciation the exchanges we had with my classmates when preparing for the tutorials and exams.
It was one of the most important steps I have taken. Thanks to the Geneva Academy I was able to do a professionalizing experience at the ICRC, a humanitarian organization for which I worked after finalizing the LLM. In addition, studying at the Geneva Academy allowed me to develop a structure for legal reasoning, something I did not have before coming to Geneva. Not only I have gained in substance, I believe that the Geneva Academy also provides the tools that allow students to produce better legal argumentation.
Yes, I do. The analytical structure one acquires at the Geneva Academy is probably unique, and it has served me throughout the years in various positions and for different discussions, such as on the notion of protected person in IHL, the extraterritorial application of international human rights law and the interplay between these two branches.
Yes, absolutely.
News
Arthur Nguyen dao
The Henry Dunant Research Prize, the Best LLM Paper Prize and the Best MTJ Paper Prize distinguished three graduating students for their exceptional academic work.
News
MSF
Our Senior Research Fellow and Strategic Adviser on IHL Dr Annyssa Bellal travelled this summer to North-East Syria with colleagues from Geneva Call – Ezequiel Heffes and Pascal Bongard – as part of the research project she leads that examines the practice and interpretation of ANSAs on core IHL norms.
Event
OUP
In this online book launch – part of our IHL Talk series – Professor René Provost will discuss with leading scholars in IHL and human rights the legal and practical challenges related to the administration of justice by armed groups.
Event
etlene Reskp, Unsplash
This bilingual workshop, held in English and French, aims to raise awareness about the upcoming changes to the EU seed marketing legislation and explore pathways to align it with the right to seeds.
Short Course
UN Photo
This short course, which can be followed in Geneva or online, analyses the main international and regional norms governing the international protection of refugees. It notably examines the sources of international refugee law, including the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and their interaction with human rights law and international humanitarian law.
Short Course
Francisco Proner / Farpa/ CIDH
This short course, which can be followed in Geneva or online, aims at presenting the institutions and procedures in charge of the implementation of international human rights law.
Project
UN Photo
This research aims at taking stock of and contributing to a better understanding of the above-mentioned challenges to the principle of universality of human rights while also questioning their validity. It will identify relevant political and legal arguments and develop counter-narratives that could be instrumental to dealing with and/or overcoming the polarization of negotiations processes at the multilateral level.
Project
MSF
This research aims at building a common understanding and vision as to how states and the relevant parts of the UN system can provide a concrete and practical framework to address human rights responsibilities of armed non-state actors.
Publication
CCPR
Publication
Geneva Academy
