Professors and Lecturers
Raphaël van Steenberghe graduated in law and philosophy from the University of Louvain (UCLouvain) in 2001 and 2002. He also holds an LL.M. in international law from Cambridge University (UK). He obtained a doctorate in law at UCLouvain. His Ph.D. thesis dealt with self-defence under public international law. He carried out postdoctoral research on several topics, including the obligation to extradite or prosecute international crimes, at New York University (USA), the Geneva Academy of Humanitarian Law (Switzerland) and Columbia University (USA). Since 2014, he is a FNRS Research Associate and Professor at UCLouvain. He founded the International Law of Armed Conflict Team (ILOAC-T) in 2016. His areas of expertise include public international law, the law on the use of force (jus ad bellum), international humanitarian law, human rights in armed conflict, international criminal law and international environmental law in armed conflict. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including La légitime défense en droit international public (Larcier, 2012) and Le droit international humanitaire comme régime spécial de droit international? (edited volume, Bruylant, 2013). |
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Jérôme de Hemptinne graduated in law from the University of Louvain (UCLouvain) and obtained two LL.M. degrees in international law, one from Cambridge University and the other from New York University (NYU). He obtained a doctorate in law at the Geneva Academy of Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. His Ph.D. thesis dealt with the mutations of armed conflicts under international humanitarian law. He worked at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) as Senior Legal Adviser, at the United Nations Legal Division in New York and at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for 9 years. He is currently a Professor at the University of Utrecht and a guest Lecturer and Researcher at the University of Louvain (UCLouvain), where he teaches and makes research in international humanitarian law. His research covers several topics, including the protection of the environment during warfare, the protection of animals in times of armed conflict, the transformation of armed conflicts and the principles of individual criminal responsibility. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including Droit international humanitaire, co-written with Jean d’Aspremont (Pedone, 2012), Les conflits armés en mutation (Pedone, 2019), Modes of Liability in International Criminal Law (co-edited with R. Roth, E. Van Sliedregt, M.J. Ventura and L. Yanev, CUP, 2019) and Animals in the International Law of Armed Conflict (co-edited with A. Peters and R. Kolb, CUP, 2022). |
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Pierrot Chambu graduated in law from the Official University of Bukavu (UOB) in DRC in 2009 and holds two Master degrees, one in international law from the University of Louvain (UCLouvain) and the other in human rights from Saint-Louis-Brussels. He obtained a Ph.D in law at UCLouvain. His Ph.D. thesis dealt with detention in non-international armed conflict. He is currently a Professor at Université officielle de Bukavu (UOB) and acts as the Dean of the law Faculty at that University. He is also an Associate Member at UCLouvain. His research currently focuses on the prosecution of international crimes in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), reparation to victims of sexual violence in armed conflict and the protection of natural parks in eastern Congo during warfare. He also acts as a lawyer in a Congolese law firm. He is the author of several articles and a book entitled La detention dans les conflits armés non internationaux (Anthemis, 2021). |
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Pauline Lesaffre graduated in law from the University of Louvain (UCLouvain) in 2015 and holds an LL.M. degree in human rights and humanitarian law from the University Panthéon-Assas (Paris II). She obtained her Ph.D. in law from UCLouvain. Her Ph.D. thesis dealt with transborder armed conflicts under international humanitarian law. During her Ph.D. studies, Dr Lesaffre also worked in Geneva as a Visiting researcher at the Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights (CH). After her Ph.D. studies, she was granted a BAEF postdoctoral fellowship for a one-year postdoctoral research stay at Yale University and the US Naval War College (US). Although she stayed in Belgium for personal reasons, Dr Lesaffre also obtained a Humboldt postdoctoral research fellowship to undertake another one-year postdoctoral stay at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg (DE). She is currently a FNRS Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer at UCLouvain. Her main research project examines the role of analogies in the development of International Humanitarian Law. She is the author of several articles in well-known journals, several chapters in edited volumes and one book entitled Le choix subjectif de mort dans le droit européen des droits de l’homme (Pedone, 2017). Dr Lesaffre is in the process of publishing her second book entitled Le droit international humanitaire à l’épreuve des conflits armés transfrontières. |
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Ezéchiel Amani Cirimwami is a Professor of International Law at the University of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Guest Professor of International Law at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Guest Lecturer of Human Rights and Military Operations at the Royal Military Academy of Belgium and an Associate Member at UCLouvain. He holds a PhD in law from the UCLouvain and the Free University of Brussels (VUB). His PhD thesis focused on closing the treaty law’s gaps in the obligation to extradite or prosecute those alleged to commit international crimes. He graduated in law from the Official University of Bukavu and obtained an LLM in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights from the Catholic University of Bukavu. He also attended postgraduate specialization courses organized by the Hague Academy of International Law (Public International Law session and directed studies, 2016) and the International Law Commission (ILC)’s International Law Seminar (54th ed., Geneva, 2018). Ezéchiel worked as Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law and served as an Associate Editor of the Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law. He previously acted as a Public Prosecutor and Judge at the High Court in the DRC and as a legal assistant to counsel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the case of Armed activities on the territory of the Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo v. Uganda) (reparations). He participated, as a DRC plenipotentiary delegate, in the Ljubljana Diplomatic Conference leading to the adoption of the Ljubljana – The Hague Convention on International Cooperation in the Investigation and Prosecution of the Crime of Genocide, Crimes against Humanity, War Crimes and other International Crimes. He also served at the Diplomatic Conference as a member of the legal Drafting Committee. He is currently acting as counsel of the DRC before the ICJ (Obligations of States in respect of climate change (Request for Advisory Opinion)) and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Request for an Advisory Opinion submitted by the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law). He has published in several international peer-reviewed journals and blogs. The ILC has cited his work, and has been recognized by the ICRC as one of the best works on IHL in Africa. Currently, Ezéchiel is working on the publication of his book entitled L’obligation d’extrader ou de poursuivre les auteurs des crimes internationaux: combler les lacunes du droit conventionnel. His research interests include public international law, international criminal law, international human rights law, international humanitarian aw, and international dispute settlement. |
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Jacques B. Mbokani graduated in law from the Université libre des pays des Grands lacs (ULPGL) of Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 2001. He also holds a Master degree in Human Rights from the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) in 2005. He obtained a doctorate in law at UCLouvain in 2015. His Ph.D. thesis dealt with amnesties for crimes under the Rome Statute in States under transitional justice. Since 2016, Dr. Mbokani is professor of law at the University of Goma. He is a former Council for the DRC at the International Court of Justice in the Case concerning Armed Activities on the Territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC v. Uganda), 2nd phase on reparations. His areas of expertise include human rights, public international law, international humanitarian law and international criminal law. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including La jurisprudence congolaise relative aux crimes de droit international (edited by the Open Society Foundations, 2016). |
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Ph.D. Students and Researchers
Aristide Evouna graduated from the Catholic University of Central Africa (UCAC) in Cameroun, where he acted as a teaching and research associate. He is a former Fellow of the United Nations Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa and has also carried out various consultancies for the Youth Department of the Science, Technology and Education Commission of the African Union. In addition, he holds an LL.M. degree in international law from UCLouvain. He is currently a Ph.D. student, and his thesis focuses on the commitments of organized armed groups under international law, with a focus on ‘special agreements’, provided for by Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions. |
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Philippe Jacques graduated from the university of Louvain (UCLouvain) in 2018 and holds an LL.M. in international law from the University of Leiden. His interest in the law of armed conflict developed during his participation in the Jean-Pictet International Humanitarian Law Competition and the Frist Kalshoven International Humanitarian Law Competition. He is currently a Ph.D. student and his Ph.D. thesis focusses on the principle of equality of belligerents in non-international armed conflict. |
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Alexandra Bernard graduated from the university of Louvain (UCLouvain) in 2020 and holds an LL.M. in international law from the University of Leiden. Her interest in the law of armed conflict developed during her participation to the Moot Court organised by the Belgian Red Cross. She also took part to the updating of the MOOC on international humanitarian law. She is now working as a teaching and research assistant in public international law at UCLouvain. She is also the new coordinator of the LL.M. in International Law (fully online). She is particularly interested in the international protection of the environment.
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François-Xavier Decleyre earned a Master of Laws from the University of Louvain (UCLouvain) in 2008 and thereafter, a Master of Laws in European Law from the University of Brussels (Université libre de Bruxelles) in 2009 and a Master of Laws in Admiralty from Tulane University, USA, in 2012. Besides his profession in the maritime industry, François-Xavier is a reserve officer holding the rank of Commander in the Belgian Navy. In this capacity, he took part in several military operations (e.g. Atalanta, Emasoh/Agenor) and now serves as Synthesis Officer (i.e. Chef de Cabinet) and Legal Advisor to the Belgian Navy Commander. He is also a board member of the Belgian Maritime Law Association (Association belge de droit maritime/ Belgische Vereniging voor Zeerecht) and a visiting lecturer on Law of Armed Conflict at Sea, Law of the Sea and Maritime Law at the Royal Military Academy (Belgium) as well as at the Naval Academy (Belgian-Royal Netherlands Navies). François-Xavier is currently a Ph.D. student at UCLouvain and conducts his Ph.D. research in the field of international law applicable to naval mines and naval mine warfare. |
Erik Brouwer graduated from the University of Milan in 2016 and obtained an LL.M. in public international law from UCLouvain in 2021. From 2017 to 2021, he worked in the arbitration practice of an international law firm. He is currently a Ph.D. student and teaching assistant at UCLouvain, and he also works as contributor/analyst for IAReporter. His Ph.D. research project focuses on the sources and holders of investment obligations in disputed territories, addressing legal issues that lie at the intersection between international investment law, general public international law, and international humanitarian law.
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Selection of online articles linked to research topic:
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Coline graduated magna cum laude from UCLouvain in 2018. She also holds a Master in Laws (LL.M) in International Legal Studies from the New York University (NYU) (2021), for which she was awarded two scholarships, from the Belgian American Educational Foundation (BAEF) and from NYU (Dean’s Graduate Award). Coline is a lawyer at the Brussels bar since September 2019, where she is assisting clients in international arbitrations. She is also a teaching assistant at UCLouvain in Public International Law. Coline is currently a PhD student at UCLouvain, where she conducts research about the international regime of reparation for the victims of sexual violence committed in armed conflicts.
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Razy Aman Eddine is a lawyer and legal researcher specialized in international law and international relations. He holds a Joint Master's degree in the International Law of Global Security Peace, and Development with Best Student Award (summa cum laude) from the University of Glasgow, with a full-ride scholarship from the European Commission 2021-23. His degree was completed jointly with a master de spécialisation en droit international public avec la plus grande distinction (summa cum laude) from Université libre de Bruxelles, as well as a Master's in International Security with two matrícula de honor (summa cum laude) from Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals. His academic honours include ranking 1st place in Lebanon in the 2021 national lawyer qualification bar exams and receiving the 2020 Jamal Abdel Nasser Award for Academic Distinction. Before moving to Louvain-la-Neuve, Razy’s professional and teaching experiences spanned Brussels, Geneva, Hamburg, and Beirut, in addition to his studies in Glasgow, Barcelona, Brussels, Munich, and Beirut, and training courses in Hiroshima, Geneva, The Hague, and Krzyżowa. His current research at UCLouvain addresses the protection of biodiversity during armed conflict. Researcher ORCID ID: 0009-0008-1815-2543. |
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