Ten Alumni Featured in the New Edition of the International Review of the Red Cross on Emerging Voices

16 December 2021

Ten Geneva Academy alumni – seven from our LLM in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights (LLM) and three from our Master of Advanced Studies in Transitional Justice, Human Rights and the Rule of Law (MTJ) – published an article in the new edition of the International Review of the Red Cross that features emerging voices in the field of humanitarian law, policy and action.

In an attempt to increase the diversity of perspectives represented, the Review launched a global call for papers from ‘emerging voices’, asking for innovative and creative arguments that might shape debates for years to come. 20 articles were selected among over 150 submissions received.

‘The process of narrowing those submissions was gruelling because the quality was through the roof’ says Bruno Demeyere, Editor in Chief of the International Review of the Red Cross.

Among the 20 articles featured in the ‘Emerging Voices’ edition, ten are written by former Geneva Academy students.

‘This shows the quality of our student body and the continuous involvement of our alumni in policy and legal debates pertaining to the protection of the most vulnerable during and following armed conflicts’ says Professor Gloria Gaggioli, Director of the Geneva Academy.

‘I am very proud of such achievement and of knowing that our alumni will form part of tomorrow’s voices and references in IHL’ she adds.

The articles, written by our alumni, touch upon a variety of issues, from the protection of cultural heritage under IHL and Islamic Law or armed escorts to humanitarian convoys from an IHL perspective to engaging armed groups for the protection of the environment during non-international armed conflicts:

• Alessandro Mario Amoroso (LLM 2016-2017): Closer to home: How national implementation affects State conduct in partnered operations

• Victoria Arnal (LLM 2020-2021), Destructive trends in contemporary armed conflicts and the overlooked aspect of intangible cultural heritage: A critical comparison of the protection of cultural heritage under IHL and the Islamic law of armed conflict

• Annabel Bassil (LLM 2018-2019), Armed escorts to humanitarian convoys: An unexplored framework under international humanitarian law

• Thibaud de La Bourdonnaye (LLM 2019-2020), Greener insurgencies? Engaging non-State armed groups for the protection of the natural environment during non-international armed conflicts

• Issa Hernandez Herrera (MTJ 2020-2021), Collaborating with Organized Crime in the Search of Disappeared Persons? Formalizing a Humanitarian Alternative for Mexico

• Maxime Nijs (LLM 2020-2021), Humanizing siege warfare: Applying the principle of proportionality to sieges

• Mayra Nuñez Pastor (MTJ 2019-2020), Behind the legal curtain: Social, cultural and religious practices and their impact on missing persons and the dead in Colombia

• Yugichha Sangroula (LLM 2016-2017), Investigating the Jana Adalat of the 1996–2006 armed conflict in Nepal

• Juliana Laguna Trujillo (MTJ 2020-2021), A legal obligation under international law to guarantee access to abortion services in contexts of armed conflict? An analysis of the case of Colombia

• Ioanna Voudouri (LLM 2012-2013), Who is a civilian in Afghanistan?

Some of these articles develop the LLM or MTJ paper written by our students, as part of their respective programmes.