Advanced EIHRL LLM Candidates participate in international Humanitarian Law Clinic
The IHL Clinic offers outstanding LLM candidates the chance to work pro bono on KGF projects and gain practical experience in humanitarian law in cooperation with practitioners working in the humanitarian field.
Leiden Law School’s International Humanitarian Law (“IHL”) Clinic, operated by the Kalshoven-Gieskes Forum on International Humanitarian Law (KGF) and within the Grotius Center for International Legal Studies, invited six Advanced EIHRL LLM candidates, Melanie Moulder, Ona Lorda, Meghan Ingram, Felipe Vasconcellos, Orsola Tramacere and Sabrina Rewald, to participate in the spring semester’s IHL Clinic research projects.
The IHL Clinic seeks to have societal impact and enhance awareness of and adherence to IHL standards via its research projects. The Clinic has produced over 40 research reports and collaborated with partner clients that range from international organisations to State actors and NGOs, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, Amnesty International, and the Coalition for the International Criminal Court.
This semester, and in the framework of one of the four ongoing IHL Clinic projects, Felipe, Meghan, Orsola, Ona and Sabrina have developed a toolkit with Global Rights Compliance outlining corporations’ human rights and humanitarian obligations in conflict-affected and high-risk areas, with a focus on remedies available to victims of violations. Melanie applied her criminal law experience alongside candidates from Leiden’s Advanced Public International Law LLM to a confidential project dealing with mass-scale human rights violations in a recent conflict situation. The 4-month projects were coordinated and supervised by Research and Teaching Associates, and the IHL Clinic experience was complemented by meetings with partner clients, thematic sessions with KGF Director Dr Robert Heinsch, skill sessions, and guest lectures. In June the teams presented their findings and the projects came to a close.
Orsola Tramacere, Adv. EIHRL LLM Candidate: 'My participation in the IHL Clinic has been really motivational due to the opportunity for inspiring collaboration with people from different backgrounds and experiences, but with a common goal: making a positive change with our work.'