Andrew Clapham (born in

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone ...

) is a British international lawyer specializing in

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

, international courts and tribunals and

international humanitarian law International humanitarian law (IHL), also referred to as the laws of armed conflict or the laws of war, is the law that regulates the conduct of war (''wikt:jus in bello, jus in bello''). It is a branch of international law that seeks to limit ...

. He has served in various advisory capacities at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Background and personal life

Clapham is currently professor of public international law at the

Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (, abbreviated IHEID), commonly referred to as Geneva Graduate Institute, is a graduate-level research university in Geneva, Switzerland dedicated to international relations, dev ...

, in Geneva, Switzerland. After undergraduate studies at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, he wrote his Ph.D. at the

European University Institute The European University Institute (EUI) is an international postgraduate and post-doctoral research-intensive university and an intergovernmental organisation with juridical personality, established by its founding member states to contribu ...

in Florence under the guidance of

Antonio Cassese Antonio Cassese (1 January 1937 – 21 October 2011) was an Italian jurist who specialized in public international law. He was the first President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the first President of the S ...

. He is an associate member of the

Matrix Chambers Matrix Chambers is a barristers' chambers in Gray's Inn London, Brussels, and Geneva. Founded in April 2000 by 22 barristers from 7 different chambers, it now has over 90 independent and specialist lawyers who work throughout the UK and internat ...

. He was among survivors of the

Canal Hotel Bombing The Canal Hotel bombing was a suicide truck bombing in Baghdad, Iraq, during the afternoon of 19 August 2003. It killed 23 people, including the United Nations' Special Representative in Iraq Sérgio Vieira de Mello, and wounded over 100, inc ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

during which de Mello was killed with 20 other members of his staff on 19 August 2003.

Work

Clapham has worked as Special Adviser on Corporate Responsibility to High Commissioner for Human Rights

Mary Robinson Mary Therese Winifred Robinson (; ; born 21 May 1944) is an Irish politician who served as the president of Ireland from December 1990 to September 1997. She was the country's first female president. Robinson had previously served as a senato ...

, and Adviser on International Humanitarian Law to

Sergio Vieira de Mello Sergio may refer to: * Sergio (name), for people with the given name Sergio * Sergio (carbonado), the largest rough diamond ever found * Sergio, the mascot for the Old Orchard Beach Surge Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungar ...

, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Iraq. He has also been the representative of human rights group

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

to the United Nations between 1991 and 1994. He was the first director of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights between 2008 and 2014. In 2015, Clapham was among two international lawyers whose legal opinion Amnesty International commissioned to reach the conclusion that the United Kingdom was breaching the law by allowing the sales of weapons to Saudi Arabia despite knowing about their use to bomb civilians. In 2017, he was appointed to serve as a member of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, charged with monitoring and assessing the human rights situation in the country. He advises the government of Ukraine as part of the

Task Force on Accountability for Crimes Committed in Ukraine The Task Force on Accountability for Crimes Committed in Ukraine is a ''pro bono'' international group of lawyers established on 29 March 2022 to help Ukrainian prosecutors coordinate legal cases for war crimes and other crimes related to the 2022 ...

, a group of lawyers investigating war crimes committed during the war with Russia. His book, ''War'' (Oxford University Press), won the Paul Reuter Prize for International Humanitarian Law, which is awarded by the

International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of rules of war and ...

. ''The 1949 Geneva Conventions: A Commentary '' (Oxford University Press; co-edited with Paola Gaeta, and Marco Sassóli) won a Certificate of Merit from the

American Society of International Law American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, ...

for "a preeminent contribution to creative scholarship" in 2017. Clapham is often cited in the news media for his expertise in relation to the United Nations' efforts to hold perpetrators of war crimes accountable and uphold human rights law.

Publications

Representative publications include: * ''War'' (Oxford, Oxford University Press) (2021) 624p *''The 1949 Geneva Conventions, A Commentary'' (Oxford, Oxford University Press) (2015) 1760p * ''The Oxford Handbook of International Law in Armed Conflict'', with Paola Gaeta, (Oxford, Oxford University Press) (2014) 1008p * ''Brierly's Law of Nations: An Introduction to the Role of International Law in International Relations'' (Oxford, Oxford University Press) (2012) 576p * "Corporations and Criminal Complicity‟ in ''Human Rights, Corporate Complicity and Disinvestment'', G. Nystuen, A. Follesdal, and O. Mestad (eds) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, (2011), 222-242. * ''Realizing the Right to Health'' (Zurich: Rüffer and Rub) co-edited with

(2009) 576p * ''Human Rights: A Very Short Introduction'' (Oxford, Oxford University Press) (2007) 140p * ''Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Actors'', (Oxford, Oxford University Press) (2006) 650p * ''International Human Rights Lexicon'', with Susan Marks, (Oxford, Oxford University Press) (2005) 460p

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clapham, Andrew Year of birth missing (living people) Academic staff of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies European University Institute alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge International law scholars British lawyers Living people