Kalshoven-Gieskes Forum on International Humanitarian Law

25/11/2024

Here is another short report of our authors' workshop for the upcoming research handbook on victims under international law... Grotius Centre Summer Schools Leiden Law School

From 29 to 30 October 2024, the Kalshoven-Gieskes Forum (KGF) and the Groitus Centre for In-ternational Legal Studies had the pleasure of hosting an inspiring authors’ workshop in The Hague for the forthcoming Research Handbook, Victims under Public International Law, edited by Dr. Robert Heinsch ...

20/11/2024

We are proud to share the success of our recent two-day Authors’ Workshop in The Hague, hosted by the Kalshoven-Gieskes Forum on International Humanitarian Law at Leiden Law School from 29-30 October 2024. This event brought together an exceptional group of international scholars and practitioners to advance the forthcoming Research Handbook on Victims under International Law (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2026).

Led by the Handbook’s editors, Assoc. Professor Dr. Robert Heinsch and Dr. Jelena Plamenac the workshop provided a collaborative platform to address pressing questions surrounding victims’ rights and protections under international law, with an amazing group of contributors participating in person or virtually.

Discussions focused on complex and challenging legal themes across international criminal law, international humanitarian law, and international human rights law. Key topics included the inherent obstacles within international legal frameworks to enforcing victims’ rights, slavery- and business-related human rights abuses, the shortcomings of domestic and international accountability mechanisms, and innovative reparations models for victims.

This workshop was made possible by the generous support of the (LUF)/ Dr. H.A. van Beuningen Fonds, www.luf.nl, contributing to an engaging and productive environment for all participants. A heartfelt thank you to all contributors for their expertise and dedication in strengthening and advancing the mechanisms of international law to place victims at its center.

📖 Coming March 2026: Research Handbook on Victims under International Law (Edward Elgar Publishing) Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies Leiden Law School

18/11/2024

As we are entering the 2025 IHL Clinic cycle, Leiden IHL Clinic founder & KGF director Assoc. Prof. Dr. Robert Heinsch is taking a step back from Clinic supervision. Everyone involved in the past 12 years of impact-oriented education at Leiden Law School extends their gratitute and congratulations to him for building such an inspiring, hands-on learning environment for so many IHL Clinic graduates!

Applications for the Leiden IHL Clinic 2025 are open! This academic year, we are looking for 10 students of the LL.M. programmes in Public International Law (reg. and adv.) of Leiden Law School, who are motivated to work on two research projects on contemporary questions of IHL, and its intersections with IHRL and ICL.

Dr. Giulia Pinzauti, who has been the IHL Clinic’s Deputy Director since 2017, will step up as Director. She will continue to be supported by Johanna Trittenbach, who has been working for the Clinic since 2019.

We take this opportunity to thank Assoc. Prof. Dr. Robert Heinsch, Director of the Kalshoven-Gieskes Forum on International Humanitarian Law and Founder of the Leiden IHL Clinic, for his tremendous work in support of clinical legal education at Leiden Law School. His dedication to impact-oriented education has enabled generations of students at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies to work with a wide array of partner organizations and to produce more than 50 research reports of highest quality and with societal impact. Dr. Heinsch’s enthusiasm, commitment, and creativity in directing and developing the Leiden IHL Clinic continue to serve as an inspiration for IHL Clinic graduates, the many colleagues and supervisors that supported him over the past 12 years, and partners working in academia and practice around the world. His legacy will continue.

We are looking forward to welcoming the new cohort of IHL Clinic students in January!

18/11/2024

Our PhD candidate Johanna Trittenbach is in Kosovo for a research stay at Universiteti i Prishtinës! Johanna will continue to work on her PhD research on arms transfer control under international law and will engage with the colleagues and students at Pristina University Law Faculty. Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies Universiteit Leiden / Leiden University

We are excited to welcome PhD student Ms. Johanna Trittenbach from Leiden University, Netherlands, to our office! Ms. Trittenbach will be joining the University of Prishtina, Law Faculty for a one month research project. We look forward to supporting her research and fostering valuable academic exchange.
📚🌎 🇽🇰🤝🇳🇱

23/07/2024

Our annual Summer School on ‘International Humanitarian Law in Theory and Practice’ at Leiden Law School marked a wonderful week of in-depth lectures and discussions about . The programme was filled with presentations by 15 excellent speakers who revisited fundamental understandings and explored contemporary questions of IHL. Field visits to the International Criminal Court and the Atlantikwall Museum in the Hague complemented the programme, and participants were able to apply their IHL knowledge in practical exercises.

A big Thank You to the 35 enthusiastic participants from all over the world for all their contributions to the programme, to all speakers, as well as to course coordinator Johanna Trittenbach, Catie Huynh and the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies for the organisation of the programme.

18/06/2024

On Friday, 14 June, KGF Director Dr. Robert Heinsch and researcher Sabrina Rewald participated in an event on “OSINT: From Theory, Intelligence to Evidence”, co-hosted by OSINT for Ukraine and Leiden University. Robert and Sabrina reflected on the benefits and challenges posed by the use of open source digital information as evidence in international criminal proceedings, drawing insights from the KGF’s Digitally Derived Evidence (DDE) Project and the Leiden Guidelines on DDE, available at https://leiden-guidelines.com/. Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies Leiden Law School

17/06/2024

KGF researcher and IHL Clinic supervisor Sabrina Rewald spoke today at Utrecht University's Law Clinic Impact Event 2024, convened by Asst. Prof. Jessica Dorsey. The symposium on “Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Role of Strategic Litigation in Affecting Societal Change” provided a great space for legal practitioners, researchers, teachers and students to interact and exchange views about ongoing strategic litigation initiatives. Sabrina’s contribution to the panel on ‘stakeholders and actors’ highlighted the role that IHL Clinics can play in mapping avenues for strategic litigation and developing legal research and tools (as an example, the Leiden Guidelines on Digitally Derived Evidence, available at https://leiden-guidelines.com/) that can be used by practitioners in their pursuit to obtain justice for IHL and IHRL violations.

14/06/2024

We were in Rome last week for two conferences in the framework of the IHL RED project! Visit www.ihl-red.org to learn more about the value of IHL Clinics.

On 26-29 May 2024, our students participated in an IHL Clinic Exchange Conference in Rome, bringing together IHL Clinic students and staff from Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, Università degli Studi Roma Tre and Universiteit Leiden / Leiden University. This collaboration is funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union and enabled our students to experience an exciting programme of lectures, peer-to-peer presentations, networking events, and a visit to the UN World Food Programme HQ!

The programme culminated in the ‘Conference on Military Manuals on IHL: challenges and opportunities in drafting instruments for the application of IHL by Armed Forces’, chaired by Prof. Giulio Bartolini. The conference provided a deep dive featuring diverse perspectives. Speakers from Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the United States of America came together to discuss different examples of existing National IHL Manuals and current drafting initiatives outlining common issues and challenges in drafting such instruments. In addition to these country perspectives, NATO and the ICRC joined to present their views.

The conference was driven by a spirit of knowledge-exchange and capacity-sharing, and seeks to foster professional skills and career development. It also facilitates students’ exposure to practitioners of IHL and related fields working in armed forces, public service, civil society and academia.

On Thursday, 30 May 2024, the IHL RED Consortium, with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross, hosted the IHL Legal Clinics Networking Conference to discuss with IHL academics and humanitarian organizations the opportunities and challenges of clinical legal education in International Humanitarian Law.

We would like to extend a big thank you to all speakers and attendants for their inspiring input and in-depth discussions on IHL, as well as on Clinical Legal Education of IHL. We are looking forward to the next steps in our collaborations and to see the growing IHL Clinic Network soon again!

12/01/2024

We are excited to announce that our MOOC on “International Humanitarian Law in Theory and Practice” has reached a significant milestone– it has now surpassed 60,000 learners! Additionally, the MOOC is now offered with subtitles in 20 languages, enhancing accessibility for a broader audience.

A heartfelt thank you to all the learners who have contributed to this. Your dedication to understanding and promoting humanitarian principles is truly inspiring and all the positive feedback has encouraged us to continue our mission to disseminate IHL more widely!

Join us in celebrating this achievement by tagging someone who would benefit from delving into the world of International Humanitarian Law. Let's persist in cultivating the understanding of and a dedication to International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

Leiden Law School Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies