1 week (International Humanitarian Law) 06.07.2026 - 10.07.2026
UNIGE students: CHF 250
External students (*): CHF 900
Junior professionals (*): CHF 1,100 

2 weeks (International Law) 22.06.2026 - 03.07.2026
UNIGE students: CHF 300
External students (*): CHF 1,400
Junior professionals (*): CHF 1,700 

3 weeks (International Law & International Humanitarian Law) 22.06.2026 - 10.07.2026
UNIGE students : CHF 350
External students (*): CHF 1,800
Junior professionals (*): CHF 2,200

(*) Bachelor's and master’s degree-seeking students and PhD candidates only. The tuition fees for lifelong learning students are subject to employment status.

 

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 15 April 2026

 

 

 

Course Director:

Dr. Elena Cima

Elena Cima is a Senior Lecturer in International Law at the University of Geneva, where she teaches courses on international environmental law, energy law, and investment law. 

She holds a PhD in International Law from the Geneva Graduate Institute, a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Milan and an LL.M degree from Yale Law School, where she was editor of the Yale Journal of International Law. She also supervises several international environmental and economic law clinic projects at the LLM Program in Public International Law at the Geneva Graduate Institute.

She has published in several peer-reviewed journals on international environmental law, as well as on the interface between international environmental law and trade, investment, human rights and energy law, and has recently published a monograph with Brill entitled From Exception to Promotion: Rethinking the Relationship between International Trade and Environmental Law.

Elena  often participates in international treaty negotiations and arbitrations in relation to climate change, water, trade and investment law.

Course Coordinator:

Océane Reuse

Océane holds a Bachelor’s degree in Swiss Law and a Master’s degree in International Law from the University of Geneva, with a specialization in Business and Human Rights. She is currently completing a series of internships across Europe and East Asia to gain practical experience in arbitration, human rights, and multilateral diplomacy.

Lecturers 2026 :

Frédéric Bernard

Frédéric Bernard obtained a law degree from the University of Geneva in 2002, a diploma of advanced studies in the torts law in 2005 and a PhD in public law in 2009. His PhD examined the relationship between the rule of law and the fight against terrorism. In 2010, he was a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, United States. He is admitted to the Geneva Bar since 2013 and practiced law at a Geneva law firm where he is still working as Of Counsel. Before becoming Professor at the University of Geneva in 2019, Frédéric Bernard was senior lecturer at the Global Studies Institute of the University of Geneva (2011-2019). He specializes in administrative law, constitutional law, human rights and the fight against terrorism.

Georgios Dimitropoulos

Georgios (George) Dimitropoulos is a Professor of Law as well as Associate Dean for Research and S.J.D. Program Coordinator at the College of Law, Hamad Bin Khalifa University. He is also a Chairholder of the WTO Chairs Programme. He also holds the position of Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University in Qatar and Senior Research Affiliate at the Singapore Management University Centre for Digital Law. He serves as the Co-Chair of the American Society of International Law International Law and Technology Interest Group and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of World Investment & Trade and the Asia Pacific Law Review.  George studied law at the University of Athens, and holds an LL.M. and J.S.D. from Yale Law School, as well as an LL.M. and Ph.D. summa cum laude from the University of Heidelberg. He was a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg and a Hauser Research Scholar at New York University School of Law. He has held visiting positions at the Athens Public International Law Center, SMU Yong Pung How School of Law, University College London Centre for Law, Economics and Society, the Université Catholique de Lyon and the Jigme Singye Wangchuck School of Law in Bhutan. George’s research focuses on the regulation and governance of transnational digital markets. A major focus of his work has been the rise of new digital technologies and their interaction with traditional models of domestic law. His work has appeared in several leading journals. He is the editor of Regulating Blockchain: Techno-Social and Legal Challenges (Oxford University Press, 2019) and Digitilisation, New Technologies and International Investment Law (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2026).

Jean-Pelé Fomété

Dr. Jean-Pelé Fomété, Deputy-Registrar of the International Court of Justice since 2013. Previously, Dr. Fomété served as Registrar of the United Nations Dispute Tribunal in Nairobi from 2009 until 2013. The 12 years before that, he worked with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), first as a legal adviser and Special Assistant to the Registrar, and then as a program director at the ICTR Registry. Prior to joining the ICTR, Dr. Fomété worked as a Law Clerk at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and as Chief of the United Nations Political and Legal Affairs Service at the Ministry of External Relations of Cameroon. Dr. Fomété holds a Doctorate in international law and diplomacy from the International Relations Institute of Cameroon (1990). He also has a Master’s of Business Administration from the Maastricht School of Management & the Eastern and Southern African Management Institute (2005).

Gloria Gaggioli

Gloria Gaggioli is a Full Professor of International Law and Vice-Dean at the Law Faculty of the University of Geneva. She serves on the boards of Geneva Call and the International Review of the Red Cross. Her publications span various areas of public international law, with a particular focus on international humanitarian law, human rights law, and counter-terrorism. She has taught or conducted research at universities in Denmark, France, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. From August 2020 to August 2024, she served as Director of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. Previously, she worked as a Legal Adviser in the Legal Division of the International Committee of the Red Cross (2011–2014).

Sévane Garibian

Sévane Garibian is Professor in International Criminal Law and Transitional Justice at the University of Geneva and Adjunct Professor in Legal Philosophy at the University of Neuchâtel. She is also an Associate Researcher at the Institut de recherche interdisciplinaire sur les enjeux sociaux (EHESS/CNRS, Paris) and a member of the scientific council of the Association Francophone de Justice Transitionnelle (AFJT). She was a member of the European Research Council research programme ‘Corpses of Mass Violence and Genocide’ (ERC Consolidator Grant 2012-2016). Professor Garibian also led the SNSF-funded research programme Right to Truth, Truth(s) through Rights: Mass Crimes Impunity and Transitional Justice at the University of Geneva (2016-2022). Since 2018, she has been associated, together with her team, with the ICRC Missing Persons Project as a scientific consultant for the drafting of Guiding Principles for the Dignified Management of the Dead in Humanitarian Emergencies and to Prevent them Becoming Missing Persons. Prior to joining the University of Geneva, Professor Garibian was an SNSF post-doctoral research fellow and a visiting fellow at the University of Buenos Aires and Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona. She holds a PhD from the Universities of Paris X and Geneva.

Itonde Kakoma

Itonde Kakoma is the President and CEO of Interpeace since October 2023. Prior to Interpeace, he served as the Permanent Representative of the International Federation of the Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to the African Union and International Organizations (2021-2023). Mr. Kakoma served in various leadership capacities on matters of international peace mediation, including as Director for Global Strategy and member of the leadership team at CMI Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation. Previously, Mr. Kakoma was the Assistant Director for the Conflict Resolution Program at The Carter Center, managing a portfolio of the Center’s peace initiatives and supporting former President Carter’s backchannel diplomatic efforts. He was an international observer for The National Referendum on the Right to Self Determination for the People of South Sudan; and served as an advisor and report writer for the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Mr. Kakoma was an Executive-in-Residence and subsequently Global Fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). He holds an Executive Master in International Law in Armed Conflict from the Geneva Academy for International Humanitarian Law & Human Rights and the Graduate Institute of International & Development Studies.

Namira Negm

Namira Negm is the first Director of the African Migration Observatory and Honorary President of the African Society for International Law. She is a Visiting Professor at the Geneva Summer School in International Law and International Humanitarian Law (Geneva University), Member of the Editorial Board of the International Organizations Law Review and Member of the Advisory Board of the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law (Malta). She is a seasoned diplomat, professor and international advocate. Negm was the first female Legal Counsel of the African Union, the first and only African/Arab/Muslim/Egyptian female that addressed both the ICJ and the ICC (Advisory Opinions of Chagos, the illegality of the occupation of the Palestinian Territories and the Jordan’s Appeal in AlBashir case). She has also negotiated numerous international and African multilateral legal documents and Conventions.

She is a Justitia Award Laureate for 2023 (International Leaders/ Lifetime Award). She was also chosen among 100 Egyptian Female Heroes by WoEgypt’s Heroes 2020.

Negm is the former Ambassador of Egypt to Rwanda, Former Legal Advisor of the Egyptian Mission to the UN in NY, and former Visiting Professor at the American University of Cairo and University of `Rwanda.

She carries a PhD in Public International Law from University of London (2006) and LLM in Public International Law from King's College London (1996). She has many academic and non-academic publications. Her publications include a book entitled ‘The Transfer of Nuclear Technology under International Law: Case Study of Iraq, Iran and Israel’, and another entitled ‘An Introduction to the African Union Environmental Treaties’ and Articles on ‘The Role of Egypt in the Negotiations of the Crime of Aggression’, ‘The African Union Humanitarian Law Policy: An Analysis of Africa’s Regional Institutions and Practice’, ‘The African Union Sanctions Regime in case of Unconstitutional Change of Government’ , and ‘The Ethio-Eritrea Commission.’

Nils Melzer

Professor Melzer has served in numerous international leadership, academic and advisory roles, including as Director of International Law, Policy and Humanitarian Diplomacy at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from 2022 to 2024; United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNSRT) from 2016 to 2022; Vice President of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in Sanremo, Italy (IIHL) from 2019 to 2022; Professor of International Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom from 2017 to 2021; Human Rights Chair at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights from 2016 to 2022; Senior Security Policy Adviser at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) from 2015 to 2016; Senior Fellow for Emerging Security Challenges at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) from 2012 to 2014; Swiss Chair for International Humanitarian Law at the Geneva Academy from 2011 to 2013; Research Director at the Competence Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Zürich from 2011 to 2012; and Field Delegate, Legal Adviser and Deputy Head of Delegation at the International Committee of the Red Cross from 1999 to 2011. Professor Melzer holds a PhD in law from the University of Zürich (summa cum laude) and has authored award-winning and widely translated publications on contemporary issues of international law and policy arising in relation to targeting and the use of force in police, military and counter-terrorism operations, the use of new technologies in warfare, as well as human rights and, in particular, the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Thomas Schultz

Thomas Schultz is Professor of International Arbitration at the Law Faculty of the University of Geneva. He also holds a fractional appointment as Professor of Law at the Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London, and has been a Visiting Professor of International Law at the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies since 2018. A recipient of the Jubilee Prize from the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences, Schultz founded and is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of International Dispute Settlement. For a number of years, he was also an international commercial arbitrator.  Schultz was previously Co-Director of the Geneva Center for International Dispute Settlement (CIDS), Swiss National Science Foundation Research Professor of International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Swiss National Science Foundation Ambizione Fellow at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, and a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Cambridge and at the University of Geneva. He obtained a PhD and a licence en droit from the University of Geneva, and an LLM in legal theory from the European Academy of Legal Theory in Brussels.

Dire Tladi

Dire Tladi is a Judge of the International Court of Justice, in the Hague and Distinguished Professor at the University of Johannesburg, SARChI Chair in International Law. Prior to that, Tladi was Professor of international law and holder of the NRF SARChI Chair in International Constitutional Law at the University of Pretoria. He was previously Chair and member of the UN International Law Commission and its Special Rapporteur on Peremptory Norms of General International Law (Jus Cogens). He was President of the South African Branch of the International Law Association. He was also Special Adviser to the South African Foreign Minister. He was legal adviser to the South African Foreign Ministry and the legal counsel to the South African Mission to the United Nations in New York. He has published widely in international law. Dire Tladi is also the author of two works of fiction.

 

 

Lecturers and guest speakers

The program features a range of esteemed lecturers guest speakers, including private legal practitioners, renowned academics, members of international organizations, public legal practitioners from international courts and tribunals, and ambassadors. Participants benefit from engaging lectures and discussions with experts in various fields, offering deep insights into the most pressing issues in international law today.

Program Structure

 The Summer School consists of three weekly modules. Below is an outline of the program based on previous years. Please note that the content is subject to change and the final schedule will be provided closer to the event.

• Week One – 22 June to 26 June 2026
• Theme: The Spirit and Functioning of International Law
• Possible topics: A History of Multilateralism, Public International Law, Privatization of International Justice, The International Court of Justice, The Politics of International Courts and Tribunals
• Field trip: United Nations

• Week Two – 29 June to 3 July 2026
• Theme: Current Challenges in International Law
• Possible topics: Climate Change and Governance, International Environmental Law, International Investment Law, International Law and Energy, International Trade Law, Jus Cogens, Law of the Sea
• Field trip: World Trade Organization

•  Week Three – 6 July to 10 July 2026
• Theme: Humanitarian Dimensions of International Law
• Possible Topics: AI and War, Business and Human Rights, International Criminal Law and Transitional Justice, International Humanitarian Law, International Terrorism, Refugee Law, Targeted Killings
• Field trip: ICRC Museum

Additionally, the program includes networking events and a roundtable discussion on career opportunities in international law, providing valuable opportunities for participants to connect with professionals in the field.

Certificate of Attendance

Upon successful completion of the Summer School, participants will receive a Certificate of Attendance, reflecting their active participation in the program. For participants with attendance below 80%, the issuance of certificates is at the discretion of the course organizers.

Credits

Subsequently to the in-person program in Geneva, participants have the opportunity to write an academic paper on a topic related to International Law or International Humanitarian Law of their choice. Depending on the policy of their home university or institution, successful completion of the paper may earn academic credits.

• 3 ECTS credits for one week of attendance
• 6 ECTS credits for two weeks of attendance
• 9 ECTS credits for the completion of the full three-week program

 

Luzhen Gong, University of Vienna, Austria - 2024 Edition

I can confidently say that my horizons in this academic area have not only widened, but also pushed me to pursue my objectives and goals in order to step back into this world.

Three weeks in the lovely city of Geneva presented the chance for me to engage in the University of Geneva Summer School Programme about International Law and International Humanitarian Law.

Geneva is not only well-known for its magnificent, clear blue lake but also for its international organisation hub. This course of study helped me gain insight into many different facets of the relevance of international regulation and implementation. I have not only deepened my knowledge but also made some amazing memories with my fellow colleagues (we were having lunch together, took many pictures, and explored the city at the weekend).

Thankfully, the course director, Prof. Dr. Elena Sima, and the course coordinator, Océane Reuse, didn't just focus on theory; we also diligently investigated field excursions to the headquarters of the UN, the WTO, and the museum of the ICRC, where officials showed us the daily itinerary with its practical side. After savoring this summer school, I can confidently say that my horizons in this academic area have not only widened, but also pushed me to pursue my objectives and goals in order to step back into this world.

Seeing everyone once more excites me.

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Margaux Descheemaeker, Ghent University, Belgium - 2022 Edition

I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to attend the Geneva Summer Schools, participating in the course "International Law" hosted by the University of Geneva.
It was a pleasure learning about a broad range of interesting and important topics such as global health, the politics of international law, climate change, artificial intelligence in war, and ocean governance.I am looking forward to implementing all the valuable information I have gained into practice!

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Sabina Dalipova - 2015 Edition

I participated in 2015 and it I got my first international law experience out of if from Prof Makane Mbengue who let me help him as a student assistant during the summer school. He subsequently wrote me a letter of recommendation for it, and it opened doors for me at the UN Office of Legal Affairs in New York, in an international law firm in Hong Kong and at the ICC in Paris…. And all this helped me land my first job at the UN now in New York. So very thankful to Prof. Kolb for recommending me to go to GSS and to Makane Mbengue for giving me the opportunity to get my first student job experience in international law which did a dominos effect to the current job I have now. 

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