Nils Melzer

Nils Melzer (born 1970) is a Swiss academic, author, and practitioner in the field of international law. Since 1 November 2016, Melzer has served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. He is a professor of international law at the University of Glasgow and holds the Human Rights Chair at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights in Switzerland. He has been teaching there since 2009, including as the Swiss Chair of International Humanitarian Law (2011–2013).

Education and career

Melzer was graduated '' summa cum laude'' from the University of Zürich with a Ph.D. degree in law.

Melzer served for 12 years with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as delegate, deputy head of delegation, and legal adviser in conflict areas. After leaving the ICRC, Melzer held academic positions as research director of the Swiss Competence Centre on Human Rights (University of Zürich), as senior fellow and senior advisor on Emerging Security Challenges (Geneva Centre for Security Policy) and at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. He has served as Senior Adviser for Security Policy at the Political Directorate of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

Melzer's books include ''Targeted Killing in International Law'' (Oxford University Press, 2008) as well as the ''Interpretive Guidance on the Notion of Direct Participation in Hostilities'' (ICRC, 2009) and the ICRC handbook, ''International Humanitarian Law - a Comprehensive Introduction'' (ICRC, 2016). He co-authored the NATO CCDCOE '' Tallinn Manual on the International Law applicable to Cyber Warfare'' (Cambridge, 2013), and of the NATO MCDC ''Policy Guidance: Autonomy in Defence Systems'', (NATO ACT, 2014).

United Nations Special Rapporteur

Assessment of Julian Assange's confinement

Melzer visited Julian Assange in prison on 9 May 2019, accompanied by two medical experts specialised in examining potential victims of torture and other means of ill-treatment, to assess the conditions in which he was held. On 31 May, Melzer described the treatment Assange had received from the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, and Ecuador as psychological torture and the U.S. indictments as the "criminalisation of investigative journalism".

In a November 2019 statement Melzer criticised the UK government for placing Assange's life at risk by ignoring previous warnings about the state of his health. He said Assange "continues to be detained under oppressive conditions of isolation and surveillance, not justified by his detention status". He also said that Assange's access to legal counsel and documents were being severely obstructed, preventing him from preparing a defence against "the world's most powerful government". Melzer asked the UK government to stop Assange's extradition to the US, release him and allow him to "recover his health and rebuild his personal and professional life".

The Swedish prosecutor announced that the investigation had been dropped as of 19 November 2019. The same month Melzer also strongly criticised Assange's treatment in all the legal proceedings in the UK, U.S., Ecuador, and Sweden, stating that there was "no due process proceeding whatsoever" and "severe violations of due process consistently".

In a January 2020 interview, Melzer said he had never seen a comparable case where a person was subjected to nine years of a preliminary investigation for rape without charges being filed. He said Assange's lawyers made more than 30 offers to arrange for Assange to visit Sweden in exchange for a guarantee that he would not be extradited to the U.S. and described such diplomatic assurances as routine international practice. Melzer made various criticisms of the Swedish prosecutors, including for changing one of the women's statements without her involvement in order to make it sound like a possible rape. Melzer said that the Swedish rape investigation was an abuse of process aimed at pushing Assange into a position from which he was unable to defend himself.

One of the women interviewed by Melzer later sharply criticised him and demanded his resignation. She said that by defining how a "proper rape-victim" would have to act, Melzer was engaging in victim blaming and that his report was partially "untrue and defamatory". Melzer published a statement in which he tried to resolve misunderstandings and expressed hope that they would not divert attention away from the problems in the case of Assange. Later the woman said, that she did not consider Assange's action criminal and that she has "long forgiven" Assange.

Melzer's book, ''The Trial of Julian Assange: a Story of Persecution'' was published by Verso Books in February 2022. It recounts his investigation of Assange's case.

Honours and awards

*Melzer's legal study called ''Targeted Killing in International Law'' was a joint-winner of the 2009 Paul Guggenheim Prize in International Law, awarded by the Geneva Graduate Institute.

Published works

Selected publications
* ''Targeted Killing in International Law'' (Oxford University Press, 2008).
* ''Interpretive Guidance on the Notion of Direct Participation in Hostilities under International Humanitarian Law'' (Geneva: ICRC, 2009).
* ''Cyberwarfare and International Law'' (Geneva: UNIDIR, 2011)
* With Hans-Peter Gasser: ''Humanitäres Völkerrecht – Eine Einführung'', 2nd ed. (Zürich: Schulthess, 2012).
* With Michael N. Schmitt (ed.) et al., ''Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare'' (Cambridge: University Press, 2013).
* ''International Humanitarian Law - a Comprehensive Introduction'' (Geneva: ICRC, 2016).
* ''Der Fall Julian Assange - Geschichte einer Verfolgung''. 336pp. (München: Piper Verlag, 2021).
*

References

External links

''Special Rapporteur: Nils Melzer.''
at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Nils Melzer
at the University of Glasgow

{{DEFAULTSORT:Melzer, Nils
1970 births
Living people
International law scholars
United Nations Special Rapporteurs on torture