Erasmus Mundus Annual Lecture

Challenges to human rights in armed conflict: Reflections from practice

It is now well accepted that international human rights and humanitarian law apply in armed conflict situations but myriad legal and political obstacles stand between victims and the promise of justice enshrined in the law. In this lecture, Professor Helen Duffy (Leiden and Human Rights in Practice) will explore key developments and challenges in the litigation of violations of IHRL and IHL in armed conflict situations from the perspective of an international legal practitioner.

Location: Room 208, Sir Alexander Stone Building

Time: 5pm, Tuesday 5th December 2023

Registration: In-person attendance only. To attend, please register via Bookitbee.

HELEN DUFFY has practiced international law in diverse contexts for over twenty five years. Her litigation experience spans regional and international human rights courts and bodies, including the African, European and Inter-American systems, the ECOWAS court, UN human rights bodies, and national courts. Positions prior to establishing Human Rights in Practice included: Legal Director of INTERIGHTS; Legal Officer in the Prosecutors Office of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY); Counsel to Human Rights Watch on International Justice, which involved International Criminal Court negotiations and universal jurisdiction including the Pinochet case; Legal Director of CALDH Guatemala, litigating genocide among other violations in the Inter-American system; Assistant Secretary to Lord Justice Scott’s 'Arms for Iraq Inquiry and Legal Adviser to the UK Government legal service. She is also Professor of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights at the Grotius Centre, Leiden University, Honorary/Visiting Professor at Glasgow, Melbourne and American Universities, and has an LLB. (Glasgow), LLM. (University College London), Dipl. Legal Practice (Edinburgh) and PHD (Leiden). She is on the board of several NGOs.

Publications include “The ‘War on Terror’ and the Framework of International law (CUP, 2nd ed. 2015), ‘Strategic Human Rights Litigation: Understanding and Maximising Impact’ (Hart, 2018) and Law Applicable to Armed Conflict (with Bohrer and Dill), CUP 2020.