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Use of force investigations in civil and military conflict set to be debated at Leeds Law conference
Seven experts from the fields of international human rights and criminal investigation are set to speak at Leeds Law School’s one-day conference.
On Monday 8 December, the free event, to be held in Room 412 of the University’s Rose Bowl building, will highlight legal, moral and practical problems facing state authorities (military or police) when planning the use of force, or having used such force in conducting what could be considered an effective investigation in international conflict zones, now and in the future.
The expert speakers will provide various perspectives on the quality of the international investigative process, the treatment of combatants/prisoners and what the use of air, artillery and light weapons can tell us about the conflict and those that used them.
Sessions are hosted by Anthony Forde, a Senior Lecturer at Leeds Beckett, specialising in International and Domestic Criminal Investigation and Law; Executive Director for the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI), John Ralston; retired Col. Desmond Travers from the IICI; Senior Curator and Analyst for Firearms and Weapons at the National Firearms Centre in the Royal Armouries, Leeds, Mark Murray-Flutter; Professor Ray Murphy of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the National University of Ireland; Human Rights Advocate and former Commissioner on the joint Haitian/UN Investigation Anna Coulouris, and Dr. Doug Morrison, Senior Lecturer at Leeds Beckett University who specialises in health care law, mental health law and policy, ethics, regulation, human rights and military operations.
Anthony Forde, who also has experience as a police investigator, forensic specialist and lawyer, commented: “When I open the conference I’ll be speaking about the law and the changing nature of warfare from a high intensity conflict between two opposing state armies on the battlefield to insurgency warfare, where military personnel are often expected to operate as police-like security forces amongst civilian populations. This has seen the European Court of Human Rights holding Military Commanders responsible for justifying the lawful use of force that stems from that change of perspective.
“The use of force investigations in civil and military conflict is the underlying theme of this law conference, and our speakers will be debating topics from the identification of firearms and still photography, to the treatment of prisoners of war, to the commission of inquiry into prison deaths in Haiti.”