News - The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights

8 August 2022

Natia Kalandarishvili-Mueller is a professor of international law at ALTE University in Tbilisi, Georgia.

She holds an LLM in International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and Human Rights from the Geneva Academy and a PhD in Law from the University of Essex.

Natia just started as a Visiting Fellow at the Geneva Academy and will stay with us until the end of November 2022.

J. Kelly Brito, Unplash

What motivated you to carry out a fellowship at the Geneva Academy?

On the world map, the Geneva Academy is the place for IHL teaching and analysis. The Geneva Academy is a hub of vibrant IHL research. It is a place of constant learning and interesting events dedicated to understanding some of the most pressing issues in IHL theory and practice. My desire to spend a research stay at the Geneva Academy is based on all this.

As an alumna of our LLM, how does it feel to come back?

It feels like coming home. I owe much of my knowledge in IHL to the Geneva Academy. Studying IHL under Professor Sassòli’s supervision was a great privilege for me as an LLM student from Georgia. I’ve been dearly missing the ambience of the Geneva Academy and to be back, is truly a joy. I fondly remember studying here. And to be able to carry out my research within these walls is a bliss.

What will be the focus of your research during this fellowship?

My research will focus on conceptualising extraterritorial non-international armed conflicts in IHL.

Why is this issue important?

As is known, there are only two types of armed conflicts in IHL: international and non-international. Hence, how can extraterritorial non-international armed conflicts be conceptualised in light of the IHL framework’s applicability? Into which category and with which types of armed conflicts can they be placed? Should they be regarded as a third, new category of armed conflicts? This is what my research will focus on.

What will be the impact of this research?

My research will contribute to filling a gap left in classifying such armed conflicts through the prism of IHL.

What do you expect from your time at the Geneva Academy?

I expect to be actively working on my own research topic, being in parallel engaged with colleagues and the wider research community on other contested issues of IHL. I am very much looking forward to this. I would like to thank the Geneva Academy for this opportunity.