Presentation by Dr. Gloria Gaggioli on “Self-Defense in Armed Conflicts”

Presentation by Dr. Gloria Gaggioli on “Self-Defense in Armed Conflicts,” hosted on November 29, 2016 at Harvard Law School by the HLS Program on International Law and Armed Conflict.

About the topic:

The right to national self-defense as an exception to the prohibition on the use of force in international relations (i.e. jus ad bellum self-defense) has been the subject of much legal debate, also recently in the context of targeted killings of suspected terrorists. Another distinct – although related – topic that has been less discussed by scholars but that is of equal importance is whether and when the concept(s) of self-defense, as derived from human rights, but also domestic and military law is/are relevant in a situation of on-going armed conflict, at the level of individuals or military units, for determining when and how lethal force may be used. Self-defense is a multi-faceted concept that covers different realities. It comports threats and opportunities in armed conflicts. On the one hand, over-application of fuzzy concepts of self-defense may jeopardize international humanitarian law, which is made to govern the use of force between belligerents. On the other hand, if properly understood, self-defense can assist in restraining the use of lethal force (for legal and/or policy reasons) in specific cases in contemporary armed conflicts.

About the speaker:

Dr. Gloria Gaggioli is Grant Holder of Excellence and Assistant Professor at the University of Geneva and presently Stockton Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at the U.S. Naval War College. She is an international lawyer specialized in international humanitarian law and human rights law with more than 10 years academic and practical experience. She has researched and taught in several Universities in Europe (Switzerland, France, Denmark and Sweden) and in the United States and has worked as Legal Adviser at the International Committee of the Red Cross (Geneva, Switzerland). Her publications have focused notably on the interplay between human rights law and humanitarian law, the right to life and use of force issues.