About the blog:
The Armed Groups and International Law blog has two main purposes: (i) ‘information sharing’ and (ii) ‘community building’ between individuals and organisations working on issues related to armed groups and international law. The blog aims to provide updates on news stories and publicize academic journal articles and seminars, talks and conferences on issues related to armed groups. Academic commentary from individuals or orgnisations on current issues, recent cases or developing issues is welcomed. Such content will be accredited to the contributing individual or organisation, who will retain sole responsibility for the accuracy and originality of the post’s contents. The editors of the blog will reserve the discretion to decide whether contributions will be published. Katharine Fortin, Ezequiel Heffes, Jelena Aparac, Saeed Bagheri, Florian Weigand and Ann-Kristin Sj?berg are the editors of the blog. Andrea Farrés Jiménez is the Managing Editor and Yiokasti Mouratidi is the assistant editor.
The Armed Groups and International Law blog was founded in June 2012 by Katharine Fortin. Previous editors of the blog are Dr Rogier Bartels and Dr Annyssa Bellal.
Top news stories are selected by the editors of the blog who cannot vouch for their factual accuracy. Efforts are made to ensure that news and commentary are only provided from established non-biased news providers, academics or students of international law or organisations with a humanitarian purpose.
About us:
Katharine FortinKatharine 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.
Ezequiel HeffesEzequiel Heffes is the Director of Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict in New York. Prior to joining Watchlist, Ezequiel worked for Geneva Call as a Senior Policy and Legal Advisor and for the ICRC in various operational positions in Colombia, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He holds a PhD from the University of Leiden, an LLM in IHL and Human Rights from the Geneva Academy, and a law degree from the University of Buenos Aires School of Law. He has widely published on different international law issues. Ezequiel is the author of Detention by Non-State Armed Groups under International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2022) and the co-editor of International Humanitarian Law and Non-State Actors. Debates, Law and Practice (Springer/Asser Press, 2020).
Jelena AparacDr. Jelena Aparac has over 15 years of professional experience in the field of international peace and security and human rights. She is a former Chair Rapporteur, member of the UN Working Group on the use of Mercenaries and a leading expert on Business and Human Rights in Armed Conflicts. Dr. Aparac is the author of the book “Business et droits de l’homme dans les conflits armés” and many other publications. She is a member of the editorial board of the Business and Human Rights Journal and has given lectures at leading academic institutions around the world. As a member of the International Expert Group on International Criminal Law and Climate Change, Dr. Aparac contributed to drafting the crime of ecocide together with the leading experts. Prior to this, Dr. Aparac worked for MSF as legal advisor and in field missions in situations of armed conflict, including South Sudan, Chad/Darfur, the DRC and the Central African Republic. She holds a PhD from the University of Paris Nanterre and an LLM from the Geneva Academy. In 2022 Dr Jelena Aparac was selected as a member of the UN Senior Women Talent Pipeline promoting women in UN senior leadership positions.
Andrea Farrés JiménezAndrea Farrés Jiménez is a qualified Spanish lawyer specialized in international humanitarian law, international security and arms control. She graduated from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in 2019 with a master’s in International Law. Her master’s thesis focused on the impact that new technologies and artificial intelligence have on IHL targeting principles. She worked as a legal expert for the Norwegian Refugee Council, the Spanish Permanent Mission in Switzerland and in The Netherlands, and the World Organization Against Torture, among other organizations. She has published on issues related to arms controls, gender, new technologies and the IHL targeting principles.
Anki SjöbergAnn-Kristin “Anki” Sjöberg is the Co-Director and Founder of Fight for Humanity, focusing on extending human rights to armed and political actors, especially armed groups. She has 16 years of experience from working in the non-profit sector on issues linked to conflict, security, armed groups, and gender. She holds a PhD in International Relations focused on Political Science from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland.
Yiokasti MouratidiYiokasti Mouratidi is an LLM graduate in Public International Law from Utrecht University, the Netherlands. She previously obtained her LLB in Law with European Law from the University of Nottingham, UK. Yiokasti has a strong interest in international humanitarian law, international security law and their intersections with environmental issues. Yiokasti currently works in the defence team at the UK Mission to the EU in Brussels; her work on the AGIL blog is provided in a personal capacity and does not necessarily reflect the views of any present or previous employer.
Florian WeigandDr Florian Weigand is Co-Director of the Centre on Armed Groups and a Research Associate at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research focuses on conflict zones, borderlands and other complex environments, how they function and are governed. Florian is the author of ‘Waiting for Dignity: Legitimacy and Authority in Afghanistan’ (Columbia University Press, 2022) and ‘Conflict and Transnational Crime: Borders, Bullets & Business in Southeast Asia’ (Edward Elgar, 2020). He also is the co-editor of the ‘Routledge Handbook of Smuggling’ (Routledge, 2021).
Saeed BagheriDr Saeed Bagheri is Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in International Law at the University of Reading School of Law, where he also held a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from 2019-2021. Prior to joining the University of Reading, he was a Max Weber Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the European University Institute (EUI) from 2017-2019. Saeed conducts research in the law on the use of force and international humanitarian law and teaches across a range of modules on law programs. He is the author of International Law and the War with Islamic State: Challenges for Jus ad Bellum and Jus in Bello (Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2021).
Disclaimer: The provision of links to websites on this blog does not constitute endorsement of these websites or their contents. The editors do not exercise editorial control over the contents of the websites and cannot guarantee their factual accuracy. The editors of the blog and/or authors posts do not take responsibility for the factual accuracy or originality of any text accredited to any other individual or organisation. The editors and authors contribute to the blog on a personal basis and the views expressed in the posts do not necessarily reflect the views of the institutions they are affiliated with.