We use various third-party cookies to provide social media features and to analyze our traffic. Please use the options below to manage your cookie settings. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Please be aware, if you deny cookies, certain features of our website may not work.
This will apply to all services
Google Analytics
YouTube
Mona Koehler-Schindler>
16 May 2022
Mona Koehler-Schindler works as an Associate Human Rights Officer on Anti-Terrorism Issues at the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
Prior to joining ODIHR, she served as a member of NATO’s International Staff in Afghanistan and Belgium. From 2017 to 2019, she worked as a Political Advisor to the NATO Senior Civilian Representative to Afghanistan, providing political assessments and supporting civil-military cooperation in the country. Before that, she served in different capacities at NATO headquarters in Brussels, including in the Counter-Terrorism Section, the Science for Peace and Security Programme and the Strategic Analysis Capability Centre. Previously, Mona worked amongst others for the German Federal Enterprise for International Cooperation (GIZ) in the Police Programme Africa, focusing on security sector reform in the counter-terrorism context.
Mona holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the University of Aberdeen and is currently enrolled in our Executive Master on the International Law of Armed Conflict.
In this interview, she tells about the programme, online learning and what this will bring to her career.
Mona Koehler-Schindler
UK in Austria
Following different assignments with NATO, I’m currently working for the OSCE/ODIHR in the field of human rights and countering terrorism. The Executive Master in International Law in Armed Conflict allows me to complement my practical knowledge of international security and defence policy with the theoretical concepts of international law.
The programme combines high-quality education with state-of-the-art research on emerging challenges. My personal highlights are the courses on international humanitarian law (IHL), the interplay between IHL and international human rights law (IHRL), and the sharing of experiences with other participants who work in the field.
It works much better than I thought! The programme is very well prepared and communication by the Geneva Academy is excellent which makes it much easier.
I will admit it takes some time to find a routine at the beginning but the Geneva Academy is very much aware of the challenges we face and is very flexible and supportive in this regard.
The Executive Master in International Law in Armed Conflict allows me to strengthen my understanding of international law, in particular IHL and IHRL, and thereby complements my practical experience of working in the security policy field.
Absolutely! This programme is an opportunity to learn the legal framework of armed conflict while maintaining a job simultaneously.
News
UNICEF Ukraine
Our Research Fellow Dr Chiara Redaelli tells us whether these referendums will affect our RULAC classification of the armed conflicts that are currently taking place in Ukraine.
News
Geneva Academy
Renewed fighting – despite ongoing peace talks – prompted the reclassification of the armed violence between Thailand and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional Coordinate (BRN) on our Rule of Law in Armed Conflict online portal.
Short Course
UN Photo
This online short course 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
ICRC
This online short course provides an overview of the content and evolution of the rules governing the use of unilateral force in international law, including military intervention on humanitarian grounds and the fight against international terrorism. It focuses on the practice of states and international organizations.
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
ICRC
This project aimed at compiling and analysing the practice and interpretation of selected international humanitarian law and human rights norms by armed non-state actors (ANSAs). It had a pragmatic double objective: first, to offer a comparative analysis of IHL and human rights norms from the perspective of ANSAs, and second, to inform strategies of humanitarian engagement with ANSAs, in particular the content of a possible ‘Model Code of Conduct’.
Publication
Publication
UKRI
