About the author(s):
Katharine Fortin is an Associate Professor at Utrecht University where she teaches IHL and IHRL. Before joining Utrecht University, she worked at the ICTY, ICC and Norton Rose Fulbright. She is the author of The Accountability of Armed Groups under Human Rights Law (Oxford University Press, 2017) which won the 2018 Lieber Prize. She has written widely about the framework of law that applies to armed groups in non-international armed conflicts and is one of the editors of the Armed Groups and International Law blog.
There is no better way of increasing students’ knowledge of international humanitarian law and its related fields than by spending a week taking part in the competition, acting out role plays and being forced to get behind the legal provisions in the treaties to see how the law is applied in real life. As Rogier and I are both ex-pictet-istes, we fall into the category of students that Françoise Hampson refers to when she says:
“I have yet to meet a contestant in the Concours Pictet whose face does not light up when they recall the experience (see here for her article on teaching the law of armed conflict)”
We both heartily recommend the experience not least because this year’s competition is in… Thailand!