Katharine Fortin

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.

Beyond Compliance Symposium: What’s in the frame? Understanding everyday lived experiences of armed conflict through a lens of ‘harm+need’

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Editors’ note: This post forms part of the Beyond Compliance Symposium: How to Prevent Harm and Need in Conflict, featured across Articles of War and Armed Groups and International Law. The introductory post can be found here. The symposium invites reflection on the conceptualisation of negative everyday lived experiences of armed conflict, and legal and extra-legal strategies that can effectively address …

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Beyond Compliance Symposium: Why and How to Go “Beyond the Law” to Address Negative Lived Experiences of Armed Conflict

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Editors’ note: This post forms part of the Beyond Compliance Symposium: How to Prevent Harm and Need in Conflict, featured across Articles of War and Armed Groups and International Law from September 2024 onwards. The extended symposium invites reflection on the conceptualisation of negative everyday lived experiences of armed conflict, and legal and extra-legal strategies, including compliance and restraint, that …

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New ICRC Opinion Paper on Legal Classification of Armed Conflict

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The ICRC has published a new 2024 Opinion Paper explaining their approach in legally classifying contemporary armed conflicts. It is intended to make the ICRC’s methodology for classification accessible and transparent for all who are interested in the subject. The last time that the ICRC published an Opinion Paper on this matter was 2008. Since …

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Book Discussion 18th January 2024: Armed Groups and International Law: In the Shadowland of Legality and Illegality

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On Thursday 18th January, there will be a book panel discussion at Utrecht University on the new edited volume that Ezequiel Heffes and I edited: – ‘Armed Groups and International Law: In the Shadowland of Legality and Illegality’ (Edward Elgar 2023). Through a careful consideration of the status of armed groups within a complex legal …

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Petite Sardine or Big Fish? Rebel Governance and the ICC Al Hassan Trial

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On 25 May, the Defence finished their closing statements in the Al Hassan case at the International Criminal Court (ICC). The case relates to acts committed during the nine months of 2012 and 2013 that Ansar Dine and Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AD/AQMI) controlled Timbuktu. The case stems from a self-referral by Mali in July 2012 …

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State Responsibility and Rebels – an interview with Kathryn Greenman

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In this interview, Katharine Fortin talks to Kathryn Greenman about her new book ‘State Responsibility for Rebels: The History and Legacy of Protecting Investment Against Revolution’ (2021, CUP). The interview will be of interest to scholars working on State responsibility (particularly 9 and 10 of the ARSIWA), investment law, (critical) history of international law and …

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Teaching legal blogging and a student blog symposium on AGIL

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Between 14th March – 1st April, I taught a short four-session (1 hr 45 mins each) course entitled Armed Groups and International Law in which the assessment type was legal blogging. The course fitted into our capita selecta period of teaching on the public international law LLM at Utrecht. During this period, students are able …

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New report on the Judiciary System of the Autonomous Administration

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Last week, Omran Center for Strategic Studies published the English translation of a detailed report on the judicial system of the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (originally published in Arabic in August 2021). Below, you can find the Omran Center’s description of the report and the full version can be found here. As …

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