PROGRAMME
16 JULY 2025
Workshops
Ex Convento dei Minimi di San Francesco da Paola
08:30 - 09:00
Registration
09:00 - 11:00
Workshop 1: International Humanitarian Law
Luigi Daniele
11:30 - 13:30
Workshop 2: Law & Technology
Diego Mauri
17:00 - 19:00
Workshop 3: Sexual and Reproductive Rights
Rebecca Smyth
-
Associate Professor in International Law, University of Molise
Dr Luigi Daniele is Associate Professor in International Law at UNIMOL - University of Molise (Italy). His research focuses on International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Criminal Law (ICL). He holds a joint Ph.D. awarded by Nottingham Trent University and the University of Naples Federico II.
He is the author of ‘Indiscriminate and Disproportionate Attacks in International Law. Bridging the Accountability Gap [bloomsbury.com]' (forthcoming, September 2025) edited by Hart Publishing.
Luigi has published extensively on the law governing the conduct of hostilities in various conflicts, and more recently on the nexus between IHL and the Genocide Convention. He convened with researchers at NTU and the University of Nottingham the first European webinar on the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, and world-leading initiatives on various themes, including the 'Women, Life, Freedom' protests in Iran, and the evolution of the situation in Palestine before the International Criminal Court. He is a member of the International Law Chamber of the Gaza Tribunal [gazatribunal.com].
Luigi is a qualified barrister in Italy, specialized in Criminal Law and Human Rights. He holds qualifications from the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, the Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights, the Irish Centre for Human Rights and the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI).
-
Assistant Professor of International Law, University of Palermo
Diego Mauri is Assistant Professor in International Law at the Department of Law, University of Palermo (2022-). After graduating in Law from the Catholic University of Milan (2015), he attended the PhD Course in “Human Rights: evolution, protection and limits” at the University of Palermo (2015-2019); he was Research Fellow in International Law at the University of Florence (2018-2022).
In 2022 he published his first monograph Autonomous Weapons Systems and the Protection of the Human Person. An International Law Perspective (Edward Elgar Publishing).
His research topics include new technologies (in particular in the military domain), the relationship between international and domestic law, human rights, and space law.
He is Principal Investigator of a PRIN 2022 PNRR project dedicated to hybrid threats (HYDRA).
-
Lecturer in Law, Birmingham City University
Dr Rebecca Smyth is an interdisciplinary feminist academic specialising in critical approaches to human rights. She undertook her undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at Trinity College Dublin in European Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies respectively, before completing her LLM and PhD in Human Rights at the University of Edinburgh.
In 2021 she was awarded a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant for her project Abortion, reproductive freedom, and sexual and reproductive health and rights: lessons from El Salvador. Her research has been published in Feminist Legal Studies, Human Rights Quarterly and Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. Her monograph on abortion rights in El Salvador is under contract with University of California Press and (over)due to the publisher in autumn 2025.
In addition to her work on abortion rights in El Salvador and international human rights law, Rebecca is carrying out research on disability rights, anti-racism, refugee law and critical migration studies, and reproductive (in)justice in Palestine.
Currently a Lecturer in Law at Birmingham City University, Rebecca will be starting a new role as Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Exeter in September.
She speaks Italian so please don’t hesitate to communicate with her in either English or Italian!
17 JULY 2025
Keynotes
Chiesa Matrice, Palazzo Carafa
09:00 - 09:30
Registration
Morning keynote
9:30 - 12:30
This session will be held in Italian, with simultaneous translation into English.
-
Former Judge and Vice President of the International Criminal Court (2009-2019)
Cuno Tarfusser is an Italian lawyer and magistrate.
After graduating in law at the Universities of Innsbruck and Padova, he was admitted to the bar and practiced as lawyer in a law firm.
In 1984 he passed the national competition for becoming a magistrate and was appointed as Deputy Prosecutor at the District Court of Bolzano where he was in charge of the investigation and prosecution of several complex and high-profile cases concerning terrorism, organised crime, frauds relating to EU grants, crimes against life and physical integrity, sexual crimes, corruption and others.
In 2001, appointed head of the Public Prosecutor's Office, he launched an innovative office reform project, aimed at the development and implementation of managerial criteria suitable for judicial offices. The results following the implementation of this project – including the recognition of the ISO 9001 quality certification, 65% reduction of costs, elimination of backlog and lengthy waiting times – were so impressive that this organisational model became the blueprint for the “best practice project” launched by the Italian Ministry of Justice.
In 2008 Cuno Tarfusser was appointed by the Italian Government as candidate for the post of judge at the ICC and elected by the Assembly of States Parties. On 11 March 2009 he was sworn in and assigned to the Pre-Trial Division where he dealt with all cases the Court was in charge of throughout his nine years term.
In 2012 Cuno Tarfusser has been elected by the plenary of the Judges Vice-president of the Court.
In January 2018 he was appointed to presiding Trial Chamber I in charge of the trial against Laurent Gbagbo, former President of Ivory Coast, which led to a two-year extension of Tarfusser’s mandate.
Once back in the Italian judicial administration, he served as deputy prosecutor general of Milan until 11 August 2024, when he retired.
Discussant
-
Professor of International Law and International Human Rights Law, University of Palermo
Pasquale De Sena is currently Full Professor of International Law and International Human Rights Law at the Law School of the University of Palermo (2021-).
Previously, he was Full Professor at Catholic University of Milan (2011-2020); University of Naples “Federico II” (2004-2011); Second University of Naples (2001-2004); Associate Professor, University of Palermo (1998-2001); Assistant Professor, University of Siena (1991-1997); PhD in International Law, University of Florence (1991).
He was Visiting Professor at Université de Strasbourg (2007), Université Paris I (2010), Université Paris II (2012); Visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and Public International Law (Heidelberg, 1995) and the Max Planck Institute for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law (Luxembourg. 2015); Associate fellow of the “Centre d’études des norms juridiques” (2010-2016).
He has taught lectures at the International Institute of Human Rights “René Cassin” (2007, 2008, 2010; invited once again, in 2025) and The Hague Academy of International Law (2016, course on Human Dignity and International Law).
He was the President of the Italian Society of International and European Union Law (2021- 2024).
He is co-founder and General Editor of the legal journal Diritti umani e diritto internazionale (2007 -), and a permanent member of the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Human Rights of the Italian Government (2013 -).
He has published 3 authored books, coedited 3 collective books and written about 70 articles and book chapters on Public International Law.
Chair
-
Professor of International Law, University of Ferrara
Alessandra Annoni is Full Professor of International Law at the Department of Law of the University of Ferrara; coordinator of the law degree programme, deputy director of the Centre for European Legal Studies on Macro-Crime – Macrocrimes and co-coordinator of the Core Crimes cluster.
Alessandra received a law degree with highest honours from the University of Ferrara (2002) and holds a PhD in International Law at the University of Padova (2007). Before joining the Law Department of the University of Ferrara in 2015, she was a research fellow at the University of Ferrara (in 2008), and an assistant professor at the University of Catanzaro (2008-2015).
Alessandra is the author of a monograph on military occupation (L’occupazione “ostile” nel diritto internazionale contemporaneo, Turin, 2012), a monograph on Recognition as a Unilateral Act of States (Il riconoscimento come atto unilaterale dello Stato, Naples, 2023) and co-author, with F. Salerno, of a textbook on the protection of human beings in times of armed conflict (La tutela internazionale della persona umana nei conflitti armati, 2nd ed., Bari, 2023). She has also written extensively on international humanitarian law, international human rights law and international criminal law.
16:30 - 17:00
Registration
Afternoon keynote
17:00 - 19:30
This session will be held in English, with simultaneous translation into Italian.
-
Former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (2012-2021)
Discussant
-
Professor of International Law, University of Firenze
Micaela Frulli is Full Professor of International Law at the University of Florence. She was Marie Curie Fellow at the European University Institute (2010) with a project on the criminalization of acts against cultural heritage. She coordinated several national and international research projects; she is currently PI of the project FUture gEnerations and international Law: boosting an ITalian response (FUEL-IT) and Head of Unit of the Project Defending Art: Italy and the International Security of Cultural Heritage (DEFART.IT). Her main areas of interest include international criminal law, the law of immunities, the use of force in international law, human rights, the protection of cultural heritage, gender equality and women’s rights. Amongst her recent publications: Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence: A Commentary on the Istanbul Convention, co-editor with Sara De Vido, Edward Elgar Publishers, 2023. She is a Member of the Board of the International Law Association-Italian Branch, a Member of the International Humanitarian Law Institute, a Member of the Scientific Board of the Center Macrocrimes and a Member of the Steering committe of the Antonio Cassese Initiative for Justice peace and Humanity. She is Managing Co-Editor of the open access journal QIL Questions of international (http://www.qil-qdi.org/) and member of the Board of The International Spectator (https://www.theinternationalspectator.com/).
Chair
-
Lecturer in Law, Birmingham City University
