People

Dr Gus Waschefort

Senior Lecturer
Essex Law School
Dr Gus Waschefort
  • Email

  • Telephone

    +44 (0) 1206 873391

  • Location

    5S.6.10, Colchester Campus

  • Academic support hours

    By appointment.

Profile

Biography

Gus Waschefort is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Law, University of Essex. Prior to joining the University of Essex, he held academic appointments at the University of Pretoria, as lecturer, and the University of South Africa, as Associate Professor. Between 2011 and 2013 Gus was appointed as legal advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. Gus has also been a visiting researcher to the International Law Centre of the Swedish National Defence University, as well as the Centre for Human Rights and Global Justice, at New York University. Guss primary research interests relate to contemporary challenges in the context of armed conflict in Africa, including working towards enhancing the level of participation from within Africa in the global discourse on the Law of Armed Conflict. With a background in photojournalism, Gus has extensive experience working within active conflict zones in Africa, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, South Sudan and Angola.

Qualifications

  • LLB (University of Pretoria)

  • PhD (SOAS, University of London)

Research and professional activities

Research interests

Law of Armed Conflict/International Humanitarian Law

Law and Armed Conflict in Africa

The Law of Non-International Armed Conflict

Conferences and presentations

Invited keynote: International Humanitarian Law in Africa

Invited presentation, Keynote presentation, ICRC All Africa Advanced IHL course, ICRC All Africa Advanced IHL course, Côte d'Ivoire, 9/1/2019

'Implications of Children's Rights for the Prosecution of Members of the Armed Forces Younger than the Age of Eighteen' on 21 September 2016 at the Asia Pacific Military Justice Workshop in Singapore;

Singapore, Singapore, 2016

The Inter-operability of Concepts from the Law of International Armed Conflict to the Law of Non-International Armed Conflict on 5 November 2015 at the 44th Annual Conference of the Canadian Council on International Law, in Ottawa, Canada;

Ottawa, Canada, 2015

The Law of Armed Conflict in the African Context on 2 November 2015 as a guest lecture at the Swedish Defense University in Stockholm, Sweden;

Stockholm, Sweden, 2015

Mobile Non-State Armed Actors and Porous Borders in Contemporary Armed Conflict in Africa on 17 March 2015 at a conference on Non-International Armed Conflict organized jointly by the Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law and Melbourne School Law;

Conference on Non-International Armed Conflict, Melbourne, Australia, 2015

Towards a Common Language of Human Rights: Progressing from Disciplinary Separateness to Integrated Research and Thinking on 13 September 2012 at a conference on Methodological Challenges in Human Rights Research, Vienna, Austria;

Vienna, Austria, 2012

IHRL and IHL relating to child soldiers during August 2011/2012/2013 as part of an international winter school on the Convergence and Conflicts of Human Rights (IHRL) and International Humanitarian Law (IHL) in Military Operations.;

2011

Convergence and Conflicts of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law in Military Operations: Human Rights Bodies on 26 August 2011 at an international conference jointly organized by the Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (ICLA) and the International Law Centre of the Swedish National Defense College;

Petoria, South Africa, 2011

The Right to Life and Serious Technological Asymmetries on the Battlefield on 8 April 2011 at Écoles dofficiers de lArmée de lair Base aérienne 701 Salon-de-Provence (Bouches du Rhône) (French Air Force officers Training School, Air Force Base 701, Salon-de-Provence), France;

Salon-de-Provence, France, 2011

Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law in the Context of Child Soldier Prevention: Conflict or Convergence? on 10 February 2011 as guest lecturer at New York University, School of Law (organized by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice).

New York, United States, 2011

Teaching and supervision

Current teaching responsibilities

  • Human Rights & Social Justice: Structures, Theory and Practice (HU200)

  • Human Rights: Global Diversity and Global Challenges (HU930)

  • Regional Human Rights Systems (LW515)

  • International Law of Armed Conflict (LW803)

Previous supervision

Helena-Ulrike Marambio
Helena-Ulrike Marambio
Thesis title: The Potential of Legal Empowerment for Disadvantaged Groups – a Case Study of Tamil Women with Physical Disabilities in Post-War Sri Lanka
Degree subject: Human Rights
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 6/1/2021

Publications

Journal articles (10)

Waschefort, G., (2023). The Alchemy of the Right to Life during the Conduct of Hostilities: A Normative Approach to Operationalizing the ‘Supreme Right’. European Journal of International law. 34 (3), 615-646

Waschefort, G., (2020). The Subject-Matter Jurisdiction and Interpretive Competence of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Relation to International Humanitarian Law. African Human Rights Law Journal. 20 (1), 41-77

Waschefort, G., (2017). Africa and international humanitarian law: The more things change, the more they stay the same. International Review of the Red Cross. 98 (902), 593-624

Waschefort, CA., (2016). Implications of children's rights for military justice in the context of members of the armed forces younger than the age of eighteen. Journal of International Peacekeeping. 20 (3-4), 275-301

Waschefort, CA., (2014). Gravity as a Requirement in International Criminal Prosecutions: Implications for South African Courts. Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa. 47 (1), 36-63

Waschefort, CA., (2013). Beyond fragmentation: An issues- based approach to ‘human rights’. South African Yearbook of International Law. 37 (2012), 61-82

Waschefort, CA., (2012). The Pseudo Legal Personality of Non-State Armed Groups in International Law. South African Yearbook of International Law. 36 (2011), 226-236

Waschefort, G., (2010). Justice for Child Soldiers? The RUF Trial of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies. 1 (1), 189-204

Waschefort, CA., (2007). Drawing the Boundaries between Terrorism and Crimes Against Humanity. SA Public Law. 22, 457-476

Waschefort, C., (2007). Journalists in War Zones: Crossing from the Newsroom into the Arena. De Jure. 40 (2), 379-384

Books (3)

Waschefort, C., Botha, NJ. and Tladi, DD., South African Yearbook of International Law 2014. Juta

Waschefort, G., (2015). International Law and Child Soldiers. Hart Publishing. 9781849465205

Waschefort, C., Botha, NJ. and Tladi, DD., (2014). South African Yearbook of International Law 2013. University of South Africa

Book chapters (5)

Waschefort, G., Wild fauna and flora protection. In: Oxford Handbook on the International Law of Global Security. Editors: Geiß, R. and Melzer, N.,

Waschefort, C., The Role of Regionalism in the Development of the Law of Armed Conflict. In: Making & Shaping of the Law of Armed Conflict. Editors: Sivakumaran, S., . Oxford University Press

Waschefort, C., The Protection of Child Soldiers Against Intra-Party Violence during Armed Conflict: A Call for Reticence in the Development of IHL through the Jurisprudence and Practice of the ICC. In: Development of IHL in the Jurisprudence and Practice of the ICC. Editors: Faix, M. and Svaček, O., . Palgrave

Waschefort, C., Bradley, M. and Phyffer, J., Ansar Al Sunnah (IS affiliates) engaging in in a mosaic of violence in Mozambique: Terrorists, rebels or both – legal implications and challenges. In: The Conflict in Cabo Delgado: Implications for Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law and Regional Peace and Security. Editors: Svicevic, M. and Bradley, M., . Routledge

Waschefort, G., (2017). Child soldiering as a form of exploitation in the context of THB. In: Routledge Handbook of Human Trafficking. Editors: Piotrowicz, R., Rijken, C. and Uhl, BH., . Routledge. 135- 145. 9781138892064

Contact

g.waschefort@essex.ac.uk
+44 (0) 1206 873391

Location:

5S.6.10, Colchester Campus

Academic support hours:

By appointment.