Christine Bakker holds a Ph.D from the European University Institute in Florence, where she is currently a Research Fellow at the Academy of European Law. From 2008 till 2011, she assisted the Scientific Director in the overall coordination of the FP7 PRIV-WAR Project, and now participates in the FP7 Transworld Project on transatlantic relations and their role in global governance. She has worked at the European Commission (EU) for several years and has carried out legal research on children in armed conflict as a consultant for the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre. Her research interests are in the fields of international criminal law, human rights including children’s rights, and environmental law.
Her publications relevant to the conference include:
C. Bakker and M. Sossai (eds), Multilevel Regulation of Military and Security Contractors: The Interplay between International, European and Domestic Norms (February 2012, Hart Publishing); ‘The Role of EU External Action in Ensuring Compliance with Human Rights and Humanitarian Law by Private Contractors’, with M. Sossai’, in C. Bakker and M. Sossai (eds), Multilevel Regulation of Military and Security Contractors ; ‘Private Military and Security Companies: The Potential Impact on Children’s Rights’, with Susanna Greijer, in F. Francioni and N. Ronzitti (eds), War by Contract: Human Rights, Humanitarian Law and Private Contractors (Oxford University Press, January 2011); ‘Duties to prevent, Investigate and Redress Human Rights Violations by Private Military and Security Companies: the Role of the Host State’, in F. Francioni and N. Ronzitti, War by Contract.
Doug Brooks is currently a consultant, but perhaps is best known as the founder of ISOA, the International Stability Operations Association, an organization for which he served as President for almost twelve years and now retains the honorary title of President Emeritus. Mr. Brooks is a specialist on private sector capabilities and African security issues and has written extensively on the regulation and constructive utilization of the private sector for international peacekeeping and humanitarian missions. Mr. Brooks has testified before the U.S. Congress, South African Parliament and to UN functions, and as an advocate for the Stability Operations Industry he makes frequent appearances on news programs and in documentaries.
Benjamin Buckland, Project Officer for Public Private Partnerships at DCAF, works on the role of private actors in security governance as part of DCAF’s Horizon 2015 programme. He helped to develop and acted as managing editor of Strategies Against Human Trafficking: The Role of the Security Sector and has published and conducted training in several countries on trafficking, smuggling and irregular migration. Ben is also assisting the Swiss government and the ICRC in preparations for the Montreux+5 conference to be held in Montreux, Switzerland in December 2013. In addition, Ben has published and conducted field research on corruption and security sector governance in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Middle East and Central Asia.
Before taking on his current role, Ben acted as a consultant on ethics and counter corruption at The Ethicos Group, as assistant editor of The Refugee Survey Quarterly for UNHCR and OUP, and as a project officer for counter corruption at IMPACT.
Ben holds a Masters in International Affairs from the Institut de Hautes Etudes Internationales et du Développement in Geneva and a Bachelor of Arts with 1st class honours from the University of Melbourne.
Andrew Carswell, based in Washington D.C. since 2011, currently serves as delegate to the U.S. and Canadian Armed Forces for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Between 2009 and 2011 Andrew served as advisor for the ICRC’s Unit for Relations with Arms Carriers in Geneva, where he supported twenty-five armed forces delegates worldwide regarding their efforts to implement the law of armed conflict at the national level; and between 2006 and 2009 he was based in Pretoria as Regional Delegate to the Armed Forces of Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean. Prior to his career with the ICRC, he served as an officer in the Canadian Forces Office of the Judge Advocate General (2000-05), where he specialized in military prosecutions, international law and legal training. He was deployed to the NATO chain of command as a divisional legal advisor in Bosnia (2002) and served as third in command of the Canadian Military Prosecution Service (2003-05). Before joining the military, he was a criminal prosecutor in the city of Calgary, Canada (1997-2000). He performed his articles of clerkship at the Court of Appeal of Alberta (1996-97), and remains a member of the Alberta Law Society.
Mark DeWitt is deputy general counsel and vice president for Triple Canopy, Inc., an integrated security and mission support services provider. In addition to serving as corporate legal counsel, he oversees the contract and compliance functions at Triple Canopy. Prior to joining Triple Canopy, Mr. DeWitt worked at two leading Washington, D.C. law firms where he provided government contracting and procurement policy guidance, to both domestic and foreign clients. He also advised companies on issues relating to legal and regulatory compliance and assisted numerous companies conducting business in conflict and post-conflict environments such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr. DeWitt holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and international business from Pennsylvania State University. He earned a juris doctor degree, with a specialty certificate in international law, from the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Mr. DeWitt previously served as chair of the board of directors for the International Stability Operations Association (ISOA), an international industry association comprising firms that work in the stability, support and development industry sectors. Mr. DeWitt currently serves as the U.S. industry representative to the Steering Committee for the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Providers.
Heather Elms is Associate Professor of International Business at the Kogod School of Business, American University, Washington, D.C. She received her PhD in Strategy & Organization from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in critical thinking and international business strategy, and her research focuses specifically on the relationship between corporate and stakeholder responsibility in the global context, including the role of professionals in those responsibilities. She has investigated that relationship and role in different industries (e.g., health care, security) and in different regions of the world (e.g., Central and Eastern Europe). Professor Elms has published her work in outlets including Academy of Management Review, Business Ethics Quarterly, Organizational Research Methods, Strategic Management Journal, and Strategic Organization. She is an Associate Editor of Business Ethics Quarterly, and on the Editorial Boards of Business & Society and International Journal of Emerging Markets.
Francesco Francioni is Professor, emeritus, of international law and Co-Director of the Academy of European Law at the European University Institute, Florence, and currently visiting professor at the Columbia Law School, N.Y. He has been Professor of International Law at the University of Siena and Visiting Professor at the Universities of Oxford, Cornell, and Texas. He currently holds a part time professorship at LUISS University in Rome. He has represented Italy in many international negotiations and diplomatic conferences, especially in the field of international environmental law and cultural heritage law. He is a member (associate) of the Institut de droit international, a member of Editorial Board of the European Journal of International Law, and General editor of the Italian Yearbook of International Law.
He has published extensively in the field of public international law. His most recent publications include Public and Private in the International Protection of Global Public Goods, European J. Int. L. (2012), War by Contract (OUP 2011) and Enforcing International Cultural Heritage Law (OUP 2013).
Katherine Gallagher is a Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), where she focuses on holding individuals, including US and foreign government officials, and corporations, including private military contractors, accountable for serious human rights violations. Among the cases she has worked, or is working, on are international accountability efforts for U.S. officials involved in torture (Spain, Switzerland, Canada); ICC Vatican Officials Prosecution; Arar v. Ashcroft, Corrie v. Caterpillar, Matar v. Dichter, Saleh v. Titan, Al-Quraishi v. Nakhla and L-3, Estate of Atban v. Blackwater.
Prior to joining CCR, she worked at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia from 2001-2006. Among other jobs, she has also worked as a legal advisor for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Kosovo and with the Special Court for Sierra Leone in Freetown. During the negotiations to establish the International Criminal Court, she worked as a member of the Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice in the International Criminal Court, to ensure that gender-based violence and discrimination are adequately addressed.
Katherine currently serves as a Vice-President on the International Board of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), of which CCR has been a member since 2004. She is currently a member of the Editorial Committee of the Journal for International Criminal Justice. Katherine received a joint M.A. in Journalism and Middle East Studies from New York University in 1995 and a J.D. from the City University of New York in 2000.
Amaury Cooper is Deputy Director for Risk Management and Global Security at International Relief & Development (IRD). He is responsible for the development and implementation of corporate-wide policies, protocols, and procedures, as well as advancing an enterprise-wide strategy to mitigate risk; safeguard employees and assets; as well as ensure continuity of operations for the organization around the world. He oversees all aspects of security, crisis, and business continuity management for the organization’s international programs, including: administrative, personnel, and facility security; security & crisis education and training; contingency planning, crisis management and emergency preparedness; and internal investigations.
He has over ten year’s professional experience in international crisis and security analysis, planning, and management in both private and non-profit sectors. Prior to IRD, he was Technical Manager for Security and Field Operations at Creative Associates International. Before that, Amaury held positions in crisis response, security management, and analysis at CHF International, Control Risks, and the Center for Nonproliferation Studies. He has traveled extensively throughout Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
Along with his role as Secretary of the Board of Directors of the International NGO Safety & Security Association (INSSA), Amaury is a founding member and Chair of the U.S. Department of State’s Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) International Development Working Group (IDWG) and active member of InterAction’s Security Advisory Group (SAG). He is also sits of the International Leadership Council at Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) and the Board of Advisors of the American Mandarin Society.
Amaury holds an MA in International Policy Studies from the Monterey Institute of International Studies with an emphasis on the nexus of terrorism and transnational crime, and its effects on security and development of post-conflict/failed states. He earned a BA in International Relations with minors in Global Peace & Security and East Asian Cultural Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has certificates in Project Management from Georgetown University as well as Advanced Mandarin Chinese from Tsinghua University and Beijing Normal University, in Beijing, China. He is fluent in French and Mandarin Chinese, and has a working knowledge of Spanish.
Rebecca DeWinter-Schmitt is Co-Director of the Initiative for Human Rights in Business at the Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law at American University’s Washington College of Law. She is an expert in business and human rights, in particular pertaining to the private military and security industry. She currently co-chairs Amnesty International USA’s (AIUSA) Business and Human Rights Group and chairs the Working Group on Private Military and Security Companies. In various capacities, she has been involved in multi-stakeholder efforts to develop standards for private security providers. Through her joint inter-disciplinary research with the Kogod School of Business, she is undertaking applied research to identify best practices in voluntary self- regulation as applicable to the private security industry.
Dr. DeWinter-Schmitt’s consulting and advocacy work are linked to her academic research interest in civil society efforts to ensure corporate accountability.
Until 2012, Dr. DeWinter Schmitt was an Assistant Professor at American University’s School of International Service’s Peace and Conflict Resolution Program, teaching courses on international affairs, human rights, ethics, economics of violence and peace, and corporate social responsibility. From 1998- 2002, Dr. DeWinter-Schmitt was a staff member of AIUSA, first in its National Field Program and then as Program Associate to the Just Earth! Program on Human Rights and the Environment.
In 2007, Dr. DeWinter-Schmitt received her PhD from American University’s School of International Service for her dissertation, “Business as Usual? The Mobilization of the Anti-sweatshop Movement and the Social Construction of Corporate Identity.” Dr. DeWinter-Schmitt received her master’s degree from the University of Marburg, Germany and her undergraduate degree from Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.
Stuart Groves, following a 36 year career with the Canadian Army, spent 13 years as the Senior Security Manager for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, initially covering the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Rwanda, moving to Geneva in 1999 to cover global operations. Since then he has seen mission service in all major areas of UN activity worldwide. He led the UN internal investigation into the Canal Hotel bombing in Baghdad and served as a member of the Secretary-General’s Security accountability panel. He has served as the UN Security Adviser to a number of International Commissions of Inquiry. He was an active member of the steering group of the UN Security Management Network which develops global security policy and procedures. He recently chaired the UN working group charged with developing policy for the use of private security companies. From retirement in 2009 to June 2011 he joined the UN Department of Safety and Security on a temporary basis pending the filling of the newly created post of Deputy Director of Regional Operations. Since then he has carried out a number of security projects as a consultant for various UN agencies such as ILO, FAO, and UNAIDS. Until the end of 2012 he filled the post of Senior Security Officer for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. His most recent projects involved field work in Mindanao for the UN and a review and proposals for headquarters security for ILO in Geneva. He is a voting member of the ASIS committee developing standards for PSCs.
Sabelo Gumedze is the Head of the Research and Development Unit at the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA) based in Pretoria, South Africa. He is a former Senior Researcher of the Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding Division at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), in Pretoria, South Africa. Dr. Gumedze has over 10 years experience in research with a background in legal scholarship and practice, policy development, International Law, human rights, and human security research, analysis, training, teaching, supervising, project management and implementation. He has worked as a consultant/partner/advisor with the United Nations, African Union, think-tanks, NGOs, and universities in Africa, Europe and North America. For the past six years, he has been involved in researching on the privatisation of security phenomenon in Africa. Dr. Gumedze holds a Doctor of Social Science in International Law (Cum laude Approbatur) from Åbo Akademi University, Finland. He also holds a Licentiate of Social Science in International Law from Åbo Akademi University. He further also holds a Master of Laws (LLM) degree in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Over and above these post-graduate degrees from Finland and South Africa, Dr. Gumedze holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and Bachelor of Arts in Law (BA Law) degrees from the University of Swaziland. He is an admitted Attorney of the High Court and Supreme Court of Swaziland.
Véronique Haller is Counselor and Deputy Head of Legal and Political Affairs at the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington, D.C. since summer 2010. During the first 6 months of her assignment, she worked with the US Department of State in the Bureau of International Organizations Affairs as a Transatlantic Diplomatic Fellow.
From 2005 to 2010, Ms. Haller was the Deputy Director of the section for international humanitarian law and human rights law in the Office of the Legal Adviser of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in Bern. In this capacity, she has represented Switzerland in many diplomatic conferences, especially in the field of humanitarian disarmament. Before, she served during a year at the Embassy of Switzerland in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Prior to entering the foreign service, Ms. Haller worked with a leading sports media and marketing company, Infront Sports and Media AG, in Zug, Switzerland, as a Manager of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) portfolio in the Legal Affairs. She spent a year in Korea and Japan in preparation of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. From 1999 to 2001 she was a Tax Consultant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Zurich. Ms. Haller holds a Master of Law from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and an Postgraduate Diploma in International Sports Law from Anglia Law School at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK.
Jon Huggins is the Director of the Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP) Program that encourages multi-stakeholder cooperation between industry, governments and civil society to find a sustainable solution to piracy. He previously served as NATO’s Operational Liaison Officer to the European Union Council Secretariat in Brussels and as Contingency Planning Officer at NATO headquarters where he focused on operations and capacity-building programs in the Balkans, the Horn of Africa and Afghanistan. His work on major military staffs includes; lead planner for Counter-Terrorism and Irregular Warfare for the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review and Study Coordinator for the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel. During his 22 years in the US Navy, Huggins served as a Naval Flight Officer and Mission Commander on airborne missions in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, the Persian Gulf, and over Afghanistan. Huggins holds an MA degree from George Mason University’s School of Public Policy and a BS degree in Economics from Iowa State University. He is a graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff College in Leavenworth, Kansas and spent a year as a resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council of the United States in Washington, DC.
Christopher Mayer is the Director, Contractor Standards and Compliance in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Program Support). His primary responsibility is to develop policy and manage Department-level oversight for private security contractors (PSCs) supporting U.S. contingency operations. His duties include acting as U.S. Government Technical Representative in the development of industry standards for PSCs and U.S. Government technical advisor for the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers. More recently, this portfolio was expanded to include integration of human rights and anti-human trafficking policy into U.S. contingency contracting.
Prior to his retirement from the U.S. Army in 2009, then-Colonel Mayer served under the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Security Affairs, where he was responsible for developing integrated approaches to post-conflict or disaster relief and recovery. He also represented the U.S. Government in drafting the Montreux Document for good practices regarding Private Military and Security Companies. Previous duty assignments include Senior U.S. Military Observer and Chief of Civil-Military Coordination to the UN Mission in Liberia (2007-2008); Chief of Staff for the Defense Reconstruction Support Office (2005-2007); and Chief of Staff, Iraq Program Management Office (2004-2005), responsible for the Coalition Provisional Authority-managed reconstruction of Iraq. In this capacity, he established an operations center to centrally manage Private Security Company support of reconstruction. A career armored cavalry officer, Christopher Mayer is also a qualified in Civil Affairs and certified in Defense acquisition and emergency management – including qualification as a search and rescue pilot.
His awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Superior Civilian Service Award, the Commander’s Award for Civilian Service, the Commander’s Award for Public Service, and the United Nations Medal. Chris Mayer holds Master’s Degrees from the University of Louisville and the Army War College and is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Air War College.
J.J. Messner is a Senior Associate at The Fund for Peace and directs its Sustainable Security & Sustainable Development program and Human Rights & Business Roundtable. He also leads FFP’s work on the Voluntary Principles on Security & Human Rights. In this capacity, he has been involved in site assessments, multistakeholder dialogue & engagement, and security & human rights training of both companies and public security forces in nearly a dozen countries.
Prior to joining The Fund for Peace, from 2006 to 2010, J.J. was Director of the International Stability Operations Association (formerly the International Peace Operations Association), a non-profit organization focused on private sector support for operations in conflict and post-conflict environments. During this time he led ISOA’s standards process and was involved in the organization’s work on the development of the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Providers. He was also the founder and Editor-in-Chief for four years of the Journal of International Peace Operations.
Originally from Adelaide, Australia, J.J. received his Bachelors degree in Politics and International Studies from the University of Adelaide, Australia and a Masters of Science (Peace Operations) from George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia. His academic work has also included research abroad in Costa Rica, India, Mexico and Timor-Leste as well as a study abroad at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Andrew Orsmond, an Associate at Foley Hoag, LLP, focuses on advising clients of Foley Hoag’s unique Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practice. He has worked with multinational corporations and other entities on the design and implementation of a range of CSR strategies and engagement with related stakeholders. Drawing on his experience as a military officer and extensive background in U.S. and International Labor & Employment law, Andrew has particular expertise counseling clients on best practices relating to the integration of human rights standards into security arrangements and the implementation of international labor rights. His experience includes extensive field work, participating in and leading human rights impact assessment teams in West Africa and North Africa.
Andrew also advises U.S. and foreign employers on a range of domestic U.S. and international labor and employment matters. He has assisted clients with employment law concerns in Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Andrew’s litigation experience includes trial and appellate practice in U.S. state and federal courts, in arbitrations, and before administrative agencies. In addition, Andrew has extensive experience conducting internal corporate investigations and advising clients on remedial measures.
Prior to beginning his legal practice, Andrew served for 11 years as an officer in the United States Marine Corps, serving in various combat arms and intelligence positions from 1991 until 2002. In 1995, Andrew served as the Intelligence Officer for Battalion Landing Team 3/8, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, during its successful mission to rescue an Air Force pilot shot down over Bosnia-Herzegovina. In 2001 and 2002 he returned to active duty as an intelligence officer at U.S Central Command, supporting operations in Afghanistan, Southwest Asia, and East Africa.
Faiza Patel serves as Co-Director of the Liberty and National Security Program at New York University School of Law, which seeks to ensure that our government respects human rights and fundamental freedoms in conducting the fight against terrorism.
Before joining the Brennan Center, Ms. Patel worked as a senior policy officer at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague. She clerked for Judge Sidhwa at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and previously worked as an associate at Debevoise & Plimpton in Washington, DC. Ms. Patel’s academic work is published in the American Journal of International Law, the Emory Journal of International Law, the European Journal of International Law, the Hague Yearbook of International Law, and the NYU Journal of International Law and Politics. In addition, she has contributed to a number of books, including The Research Handbook of International Criminal Law (Edward Elgar, forthcoming), Treaty Enforcement and Cooperation in International Criminal Matters (T.M.C. Asser, 2002) and The Chemical Weapons Convention: Implementation, Challenges and Opportunities (United Nations Press, 2006). Ms. Patel is also a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries.
Born and raised in Pakistan, Ms. Patel is a graduate of Harvard College and the NYU School of Law.
Antoine Perret is a PhD candidate in Law at the European University Institute (Florence, Italy) and his dissertation is on privatization of security in Latin America. He has collaborated with the Geneva Center for Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) and the UN Working Group on Mercenaries. Antoine received an LLM from the European University Institute, an MA in International Affairs from the Universidad Externado de Colombia (Bogotá, Colombia) in collaboration with Sciences Po (Paris, France) and Columbia University (New York, USA), and a BA in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva, Switzerland). He is currently a research fellow at the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies at American University (Washington, DC, USA).
John Richardson is Co-Director of the Initiative for Human Rights in Business at the Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law at American University’s Washington College of Law. For the past fourteen years, Mr. Richardson has been CEO of JMR Portfolio Intelligence, Inc. a corporate governance and human rights consultant based in Washington DC.
He was formerly the Co-Director and President of the Center for Political Accountability, an advocacy group focused on corporate political giving. For Prior to forming JMR Financial Inc. in 1997, he was a Vice President with American Capital Strategies, an investment bank located in Bethesda, Maryland.
From 1993 to 1996, Mr. Richardson administered the pension investment program of the Laborers International Union of North America. He was responsible for overseeing both the corporate governance and the institutional shareholder programs. In addition, he was the union’s Assistant Director of Research & Education. From 1990 to 1993, Mr. Richardson was the Special Projects Coordinator with the Southern California District Council of Carpenters and gained further experience as a research analyst and community organizer for the Service Employees International Union in Los Angeles. From 1983 to 1990 Mr. Richardson was President of the Labor Research Group in San Francisco, a consulting firm that helped construction trade unions to investigate public works construction projects, research, and organizing campaigns. He also worked as the Northern California Investigator for the Painting & Drywall Work Preservation Fund, in Oakland, California.
Mr. Richardson received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara, his Juris Doctor degree from Golden Gate University, in San Francisco and his LLM degree in International Law at American University, Washington College of Law in Washington DC.
Meg Roggensack, as Senior Advisor for Business and Human Rights, leads Human Rights First’s work on internet freedom, labor rights, natural resources and security and multistakeholder engagement and accountability mechanisms to address the human rights impacts of global business operations. She teaches a graduate seminar on these issues at Georgetown University Law Center, and speaks regularly about the intersection of human rights and trade and implications for corporate accountability.
Prior to joining Human Rights First, Meg practiced law with Hogan Lovells, specializing in international trade and legislative policy. She has provided strategic guidance and leadership on corporate responsibility and related issues to multinationals, governments, and nonprofits.
Meg has also advised numerous private and quasi-governmental organizations on democratic transition, rule of law, and economic recovery initiatives, and U.S. policy toward Latin America. She is a member of the board of the Due Process of Law Foundation, and of the Advisory Committee of the Center for Refugee and Disaster Response at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is the past president of the Washington Foreign Law Society, and Past Vice President of the Board of the Washington Office on Latin America.
Meg graduated magna cum laude from Carleton College with a B.A. in history. As a Thomas J. Watson Fellow, she spent a year in Latin America studying the impact of economic development initiatives on indigenous communities, before earning her J.D. from George Washington University.
Felix Schwendimann, since May 2010, is the Diplomatic Officer at the International Humanitarian Law Section in the Swiss Directorate of International Law in Bern. From July 2009 – April 2010, he was the Adviser at the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations in New York (Humanitarian Action/Sustainable Development). From 2007-2009, he served as the Legal Adviser at the Federal Office for Migration in Bern (Schengen/Dublin). From 2004-2007, he was a Research Fellow at the Institute of Public International Law at the University of Zurich.
From January – April 2010, he attended NYU School of Law/UNITAR-Visitors Programme. In 2006 he received a Doctorate (magna cum laude) for his dissertation on legal questions regarding International Humanitarian Law and UN Peace Support Operations from the University of Zurich (Dr. iur.). From 2000-2001, he spent an exchange year at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid. In 202, he completed Law Studies at the University of Basel (lic. iur.).
