On 24 February 2025, the Centre for Law as Protection at Deakin Law School hosted the 2025 ANZSIL International Peace and Security Annual Workshop.

 

The workshop focused on the protective role international law can play during armed conflicts. Participants proposed and discussed creative pathways to provide better support for victims of armed conflicts, as well as on the need to refocus international interventions on the facilitation of peace.

 

 

The conference was opened by Professor Omar Dajani, who provided an inspiring keynote address on pathways to peace in the Middle East.

 

 

 

The keynote was followed by a panel discussion, moderated by Rain Liivoja, on the use of digital tools in armed conflicts, with presentations from Danielle Ireland-Piper (intelligence gathering), Jenna Sorby-Adams (privacy in armed conflict), Hollie Johnston (protective digital emblems), and Monique Mann and Phillipa Stafford (digital surveillance powers).

 

 

The second panel focused on the protection of victims of armed conflicts, with presentations from Loren Persi (victim assistance), Andrea Immanuel (nationality during armed conflicts), Emily Camins (victim compensation schemes), Amanda Alexander (from civilians’ management to protection), and Eve Massingham (IHL as a global political priority). Azadah Raz Mohammad moderated this panel.

 

 

 

The third panel explored the role of state organs in armed conflict protection schemes, with presentations from Daley Birkett (self-defence and non-state actors), Andrea Furger (legitimate authority in international criminal justice), Maria Rabino-Neira (humanitarian exceptions in UN counterterrorism), Milena Sterio (role of courts in international peace and security), and Mohammad Pizuar Hossain (impunity for Atrocities against Myanmar’s Rohingya Community).

 

The conference was closed with reflections from government and defence legal advisors, including excellent interventions from Constance Minett (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand), GPCAPT Angeline Lewis (Department of Defence, Australia), and BRIG James Kennedy-Good (New Zealand Defence Force).

 

 

 

The workshop was funded by the Deakin University Centre for Law as Protection and the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law (ANZSIL).

 

 

Many thanks for Netta Goussac, the Chair of ANZSIL IPSIG, for carefully curating the panels and organising the workshop and Shiri Krebs, the co-director of the Centre for Law as Protection for all of her hard work to make this event possible. Thank you to Marilyn McMahon, Deakin Law School Dean, for generously hosting and opening the conference, and to Aleesha Simoncini, whose endless efforts made the workshop a huge success!

Thank you very much also to the fabulous ANZSIL IPSIG community who joined us: we can’t wait to come together again for the 2026 workshop!

You can watch Professor Omar Dajani’s keynote here.

Additional highlights from the event:

 

 

 

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