Millions of people in war-torn areas are dependent on humanitarian relief for their survival. Nonetheless, parties involved in the armed conflict sometimes impede access to affected civilian populations. During this HILAC lecture, two  international law experts discuss the legal questions and challenges under international humanitarian law relating to the provision of humanitarian relief during armed conflict.

The HILAC lecture is an occasional lecture series on the subject of law and armed conflict. This time, Professor Dapo Akande (University of Oxford) and senior research fellow Emanuela Chiara Gillard (EUI) will speak. They are the drafters of the Oxford Guidance on the Law Relating to Humanitarian Relief Operations in Situation of Armed Conflict. 

In their lecture, they will address emerging issues related to relief operations such as specific warfare methods like sieges and blockades, and Switzerland’s proposed amendment to the ICC statute to include the war crime of starvation of the civilian population for situations of non-international armed conflicts.

About the speakers

• Emanuela-Chiara Gillard is Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict. From 2007 to 2012, Emanuela was the Chief of the Protection of Civilians Section in the Policy Development and Studies Branch of the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. For eight years prior to joining OCHA in 2007, Emanuela was a legal adviser at the International Committee of the Red Cross.