Ardi Imseis is a scholar and practitioner of public international law. He joined the Queen’s Faculty of Law in 2018, following a 12-year career as a UN official in the Middle East, first with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and then with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Since leaving the UN, Imseis has continued to engage in high-level public advocacy on international law, peace and security, including a number of invited addresses to the UN Security Council.  He has served as legal counsel and advised on cases before the International Court of Justice. Between 2019-2021, Imseis was appointed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to serve as a Member of the Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts, a commission of inquiry mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate and report on violations of human rights and humanitarian law in the conflict in Yemen. He serves as the Academic Director of the International Law Programs that Queen's Law offers at Bader College, Herstmonceux Castle, East Sussex, United Kingdom.

Professor Imseis’s scholarship has appeared in, inter alia, the American Journal of International Law, the Berkeley Journal of International Law, the Harvard International Law Journal, the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, and the University of British Columbia Law Review. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Third World Approaches to International Law Review. He is former Editor-in-Chief of the Palestine Yearbook of International Law (2008-2019), Visiting Research Scholar, Department of Law, American University in Cairo and Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and Human Rights Fellow, Columbia Law School. Between 2010 and 2011, he served as Senior Legal Counsel to the Honourable Catherine A. Fraser, Chief Justice of Alberta.

Research Foci:

  • Public international law;
  • International humanitarian law;
  • International human rights law;
  • International refugee law;
  • International criminal law;
  • International legal history;
  • Law and practice of the United Nations.

Recent Professional Accomplishments

  • Invited to brief the House of Commons, Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, Ottawa, Canada, on the future of Canada's diplomatic capacity, December 2023.
  • Invited to address the United Nations Security Council on the Third Report of the Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen, December 2020. See here for text.
  • Invited to brief the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights on accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the situation in Yemen, December 2020
  • Member, Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen, United Nations Human Rights Council (2019-2021)
  • Invited by the European Council on Foreign Relations to brief British Members of Parliament and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on recognition of states in international law, June 2018.
  • Invited to address the United Nations Security Council on protection of civilians in armed conflict, May 2016.
  • Invited to brief members of the French Sénat on the international law governing belligerent occupation, Palais du Luxembourg, Paris, France, December 2015.

Selected Publications

For a full list of Professor Imseis' publications, please consult his CV.

Books:

Articles:

Book Chapters:

UN Publications:

  • “Situation of Human Rights in Yemen including Violations and Abuses since September 2014, Report of the Group of International and Regional Experts on Yemen", 10 September 2021, UN Doc. A/HRC/48/20.
  • "Situation of human rights in Yemen, including violations and abuses since September 2014-Report of the Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen", 28 September 2020, UN Doc. A/HRC/45/6 (Conference Room Paper, UN Doc. A/HRC/45/CRP.7)

Opinion, Editorial and Media Interviews: