TALKS · CONFERENCES
Yousuf Syed Khan is a frequent speaker on starvation as a method of warfare, siege warfare, international cultural heritage law, and international humanitarian law and human rights in armed conflict generally. He has delivered lectures or presented his research at European institutions including the Universities of Leiden, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Oslo, and University College London (UCL); at US institutions such as Harvard University, Vanderbilt University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the United States Military Academy (West Point); as well as at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, the Peace Palace in The Hague, and elsewhere.
Towards a Holistic Accountability Framework for Syria: Is It Possible? | United Nations Human Rights Council 58th Session Side Event | Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland | 27 March 2025 (*LAW rep.)
In a historic milestone — for the first time ever — the Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic sponsored a side event during a United Nations human rights council session. The side event, organised by the Syrian Forum and Legal Action Worldwide (LAW), explored the possibility of consolidating and mainstreaming international mechanisms on Syria.
Harvard University | T.H. Chan School of Public Health | Atrocity Prevention Lab | Spatial Strategies for Peace Annual Conference | 19 March 2025
Presenter on ‘Spatial Analysis and Early Warning: Anticipating Starvation as a Method of Warfare and Forced Displacement’. My research explores integrating advanced spatial analysis into early warning and atrocity prevention strategies to anticipate the deliberate use of starvation as a method of warfare and forced displacement in starvation contexts.
Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights | Geneva, Switzerland | 18 March 2025
Invited to deliver a guest lecture on ‘Defining, Investigating, and Prosecuting Starvation as a War Crime’ as part of the International Criminal Law LL.M. course
Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights | ‘Private Military and Security Companies – Trends, Legal Gaps and Challenges for Accountability, and Obstacles for Victims to Pursue Truth and Justice’ | Geneva, Switzerland | 10 March 2025
Co-organised with the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, this event took place on the sidelines of the Human Rights Council’s 58th Session to explore alternative accountability pathways for those affected by the activities of Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs). It identified avenues for enhancing international cooperation and strengthening legal frameworks to address these complex challenges.
Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights | In and Around War(s) Podcast: Food Insecurity in Armed Conflict | Geneva, Switzerland | 12 February 2025
The In and Around War(s) podcast episode explores contemporary legal issues related to warfare. In this episode, I discuss starvation as a method of warfare, forced displacement in starvation contexts, and the use of siege-like tactics.
University College London (UCL) | Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care | London, England | 5 February 2025
Invited to deliver a guest lecture for the Master of Public Health (MPH)
Utrecht University School of Law | Utrecht, Netherlands | 16 December 2024
Invited to deliver a ‘Masterclass’ to LL.M. students on the investigation and prosecution of starvation crimes under international criminal law and international humanitarian law
Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights | ‘IHL Talk: Food Insecurity in Armed Conflict’ | Geneva, Switzerland | 10 December 2024
This IHL Talk, held in conjunction with the launch of the Geneva Academy’s first spot report under the IHL in Focus project on Food Insecurity in Armed Conflict and the Use of Siege-Like Tactics, explored the intersection of armed conflict and food insecurity, through the lens of international humanitarian and human rights law.
Panellists:
• Prof. Andrew Clapham (Professor of International Law, Geneva Graduate Institute)
• Dr. Krisztina Huszti-Orbán (Lead Researcher, Geneva Academy)
• Yousuf Syed Khan (Nonresident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council)
Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights | ‘The Role of Arms Control in Promoting Human Rights’ | Webinar | 30 October 2024
Keynote Speaker for a webinar hosted on the sidelines of the United Nations Disarmament Week, scheduled for 24 – 30 October 2024
World Without Genocide | ‘Starvation: A War Crime - Global Prosecutions’ | Webinar | 24 September 2024
Invited as the Guest Speaker to present on ‘Defining, investigating, and prosecuting starvation as a war crime’. This webinar examined challenges in prosecuting starvation as a war crime in situations such as Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, and Ethiopia, given that no court to date has entered a conviction for an international crime on the charge
Maat for Peace Development, and Human Rights | ‘Challenges Facing Arab Countries Joining the Arms Trade Treaty’ | Webinar | 20 August 2024
Panellist on a webinar hosted on the sidelines of the Tenth Conference of States Parties (CSP10) to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), scheduled for 19 – 23 August 2024
The Environmental Peacebuilding Association (EnPAx) & the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies at Leiden University | Third International Conference on Environmental Peacebuilding | The Hague, Netherlands | 19 – 21 June 2024
Session: Accountability for Wartime Environmental Damage in UkrainePanellist and presentation of my paper on ‘The interlinkages between starvation as a method of warfare and environmental crimes in Ukraine’
Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights | Geneva, Switzerland | 4 June 2024
Invited to deliver a guest lecture for the International Criminal Law LL.M. course on the investigation and prosecution of starvation as a method of warfare
International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) | Annual Conference 2024 ‘Houston, we have a problem’: Counter-Terrorism in the Age of Uncertainty | The Hague, Netherlands | 28 – 29 May 2024
The ICCT Annual Conference brings together a mix of key CT and P/CVE practitioners, policy makers, and international scholars to explore pressing developments in depth. Particpant in closed-door workshops on the Rise of Transnational Repression, Marginalisation of P/CVE, Monitoring and Evaluation of CT programmes, and the Rising Threat of State-Terrorism emanating from outside European Borders.
Leiden University | Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies | Faculty Discussion | 17 May 2024
Presentation of my research on rule of law responses to terrorism in the aftermath of counterterrorism operations in Syria (ISIL): blanket unlawful internment as IDP camps
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) | Criminal justice responses to the situation in Libya | Tunis, Tunisia | 27 – 28 February 2024
Invited to present on the prospects of and modalities for the establishment of a Hybrid Special Tribunal for Libya or specialised chambers within the Libyan judicial system, utilising international technical assistance, in the absence of or following an investigative mechanism
Vanderbilt University | Journal of Transnational Law - Symposium 2024 | Nashville, Tennessee | 25 January 2024
One of the two Keynote Lecturers for the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law biennial symposium (the other Luis Moreno Ocampo, inaugural Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC)); and author of a comment for publication in the VJTL. This 2024 symposium was themed on the right to food and food security in both contemporary and future-oriented contexts
Navigating the international legal landscape of the Israel-Palestine conflict | T.M.C. Asser Instituut, Supranational Criminal Law (SCL) Lectures [Webinar] | 19 December 2023
This supranational criminal law lecture discussed a number of international legal aspects pertaining to the Israel/Palestine conflict. It addressed three different fields, namely: (1) the jus ad bellum, including the scope of the right to self-defence; (2) the jus in bello, including questions related to targeting; and (3) the jus post bellum and the search for accountability for violations, with a focus on the crime of starvation. The webinar consisted of a moderated Q&A with experts, followed by a Q&A session with online participants.
Experts:
• Prof. Terry Gill (Emeritus Professor of Military Law, University of Amsterdam)
• Yousuf Syed Khan J.D. LL.M. (Senior Lawyer, Global Rights Compliance)
• Prof. Helen Duffy (Professor of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Leiden University, and Director, Human Rights in Practice)
American Society of International Law | ASIL Midyear Meeting, Research Forum | Pennsylvania, USA | 9 – 11 November 2023
Panellist and presentation of my research paper entitled ‘Humanitarian Evacuations and “Forced Displacement” in the Syrian Arab Republic’ during the panel session on ‘Losing Autonomy: Individual Rights in Times of Conflict’ with Discussant Professor Jaya Ramji-Nogales
War Criminals for Hire: The Role of Mercenaries in Modern Armed Conflict | United Nations Human Rights Council 54th Session Side Event | Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland | 20 September 2023
Panellist speaking on the role played by mercenary groups in Ukraine, highlighting the legal qualification of Wagner Group members as mercenaries or combatants, the challenges encountered in curbing their activities, and the gaps in holding perpetrators to account
Global Rights Compliance | Pan-Asian Forum: Strengthening Accountability and Advocacy Initiatives | 글로벌라이츠컴플라이언스 주최 범-아시아포럼 | 19 – 20 September 2023
Presentation on ‘Information Sharing with Commissions of Inquiry and Fact-Finding Missions’ during the GRC Pan-Asian Forum panel session on ‘Engagement with Commissions of Inquiry, Independent Investigative Mechanisms, Fact-Finding Missions, and Special Procedures’
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) | Trial Monitoring | 17 November 2022
Panellist speaking on my experiences leading a team with the UN in Iraq to monitor the post-ISIL administration of justice, including on trial monitoring and procedural safeguards to ensure torture prevention
United States Military Academy at West Point | 8 – 10 November 2022
Presentation of my research paper at the Sixth annual Lieber Institute Workshop at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, which was dedicated to ‘Making and Shaping the Law of Armed Conflict’
University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School | 1 March 2022
Presentation regarding best practices for the international investigation, collection, and preservation of evidence of violations and international crimes and their role in the international legal order, particularly concerning the interplay between atrocity inquiries and actionable criminal accountability
Generating Respect Project | 9 December 2021
Between January 2020-23, I served alongside academics and practitioners on the Advisory Board of the ESCR-funded Generating Respect Project, which examined how religious leaders influence the behaviours of State and non-State parties to armed conflicts and whether their religious interpretations (can) generate greater respect for humanitarian norms. During our conference on ‘Religious Actors & Humanitarian Norms Compliance in Armed Conflict: Roles, Influence, Engagement’, I presented my research paper entitled ‘Overlooked iconoclasm: intangible heritage and endangerment in Syria’
Global Rights Compliance | 19 May 2021
To mark the third anniversary of the adoption of landmark UNSC Resolution 2417, Global Rights Compliance convened a webinar on the implementation of Resolution 2417 with a focus on Syria, South Sudan, Yemen, Ethiopia, and broader UNSC action, where I presented on forced and calculated population transfers and their link with starvation crimes
University of Oslo | Norwegian Centre for Human Rights | 2 April 2020
Presentation of my research paper entitled ‘A Vanishing History: Iconoclasm and Syria’s Endangered Cultural Heritage’, during the UiO ‘Disentangling the Relationship between Religion and Law’ conference
University of Amsterdam | Centre for International Law, War Reparations Centre | Amsterdam, Netherlands | 25 October 2017
Panellist discussing ‘Syria and the question of accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity’
Leiden University | Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies | The Hague, Netherlands | 14 July 2017
Panellist discussing ‘Justice and Truth-finding for Syria’, moderated by Professor Carsten Stahn, with myself and Lotte Leicht, EU Director of Human Rights Watch. The panel, a part of the Human Rights & Transitional Justice Summer School, focussed on the importance of gathering evidence and the interplay with bringing perpetrators to justice
International Bar Association | Queen Mary University, Centre for Commercial Law Studies | London, England | 4 – 5 November 2017
Speaker, ELSA Conference on International Human Rights Law
Harvard University | Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) | 22 February 2017
Prior to the release of the Syria Commission’s report on the siege of eastern Aleppo, I was invited as a co-guest alongside Amb. Stephen Rapp (US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes, 2009-2015) to discuss ‘Pursuing Accountability in Syria’
The Peace Palace | The Hague, Netherlands | 30 September 2016
Presentation of my research paper entitled ‘Jus post bellum and the Protection of Cultural Property: A Consideration of the Situation in the Syrian Arab Republic’, during the ‘Jus Post Bellum and the Justice of Peace’ conference (convenor’s reflections here)