LCIL-CILJ Annual Lecture 2025: 'The Application of Human Rights Law to the Armed Forces' - Prof Alison Duxbury, Melbourne Law School

Please note, this lecture will not be recorded.

Lecture summary: In the last few years, courts have decided several cases that have examined the application of human rights law to the actions of a state’s armed forces when deployed on operations, including armed conflict. These cases have raised questions concerning the extra-territorial application of human rights law and the relationship between international humanitarian law and human rights law. In addition, other cases have led courts to consider the extent to which members of a state’s armed forces are entitled to the protection of human rights law, as embodied in either international obligations or domestic constitutions. The aim of this lecture to consider some of the themes that have emerged around discussions of the application of human rights law to military personnel, including the increasing push to civilianise military law, the appropriateness of the ‘humanisation’ of the law of armed conflict, and the suggestion that human rights law will impact on the operational effectiveness of armed forces.

Alison Duxbury is a Professor at Melbourne Law School and the President of the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law. She is also a Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Conflict and Security Law and a member of the Australian National International Humanitarian Law Committee. Alison's major teaching and research interests are in the fields of international law, international institutional law, international humanitarian law, and human rights law. Her publications include The Participation of States in International Organisations: The Role of Human Rights and Democracy (CUP, 2011), a co-authored book, Can ASEAN Take Human Rights Seriously? (CUP, 2019), and two co-edited collections, Military Justice in the Modern Age (CUP, 2016) and Australia and the International Legal System: From Empire to the Contemporary World (Hart, 2025). Alison is currently working on a book on the human rights of members of armed forces with Rain Liivoja.

Chair: Dr Darren Peterson, Centre Fellow

The Friday Lunchtime Lecture series is kindly supported by Cambridge University Press & Assessment.

There is a sandwich lunch at 12.30 pm in the Old Library at the Centre. All lecture attendees welcome.