Academic staff

Undergraduate (LLB)

• Module co-ordinator for Land Law
• Tort Law
• International Human Rights Law

Postgraduate (GDL, LLM, PhD)

• Module co-ordinator for GDL Land Law
• Module co-ordinator for International Humanitarian Law (LLM)
• GDL Tort Law
• International Human Rights Law (LLM)

Areas of research and expertise:

• International Humanitarian Law (with focus on targeting law; weaponry law; housing, land and property in conflict and post-conflict situations: access to land, the right to return, decontamination, mediating and supervising competing private and public interests in land; the sociology of war and other situations of violence; military and strategic studies: counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism doctrine).
• International Human Rights Law (with focus on human rights, terrorism and counter-terrrorism; housing, land, property and human rights (landlord and tenant issues & adverse possession); human rights law fact-finding).
• Refugee Law (with focus on refugee qualification; refugee status determination procedures; refugee protection; safe country of origin and third country determination procedures).
• Land Law (with focus on landlord and tenant law; land law and human rights; adverse possession).

Research impact

European Parliament Selected Rule of Law Publications

NATO Multimedia Library

International Committee of the Red Cross 2017 Bibliography

Further information

The Rule of Law in Crisis and Conflict Grey Zones

Books

• John-Hopkins M, The Rule of Law in Crisis and Conflict Grey Zones, Routledge (2017)
  ISBN: 9781472486950‏ eISBN: 9781315276564
  Abstract

  This book responds to ongoing calls for clarification and consensus regarding the meaning, scope and interplay of humanitarian law and human rights law in the ‘grey zones’ of unconventional operational environments such as counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations. It contributes to the debate in this area by developing objective criteria for determining where the shift from the legal framework of law enforcement to that of non-international armed conflict occurs in relation to targeting law and weaponry law; by developing improved objective criteria for determining what constitutes direct participation in hostilities and de facto membership in an organised armed group; by taking stock of how existing targeting and weaponry rules are being applied to unconventional conflicts within civilian populated areas by key state players as well as by international and regional human rights mechanisms; by arguing for the progressive realisation of targeting and weaponry law so that they are more fitting for operational environments that are increasingly urbanised and civilianised; by seeking to understand how global networked connectivity may affect our understanding of the operational theatre of war and the geographical reach of the legal framework of non-international armed conflict.
  

  Website 

Journal articles

• Esterling SE, John-Hopkins M, 'The Creation and Protection of History through the Prism of International Criminal Justice in Al Mahdi'
  Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies 9 (1/2) (2018) pp.1-60
  ISSN: 1878-1373 eISSN: 1878-1527
  Abstract This article examines the role that international criminal justice plays, firstly in creating history, and secondly in protecting history. With regards to the former function, history, in terms of historical truths and narratives are frequent casualties of war and so the first major thread of this discussion outlines the historiography of international criminal law through the prism of the illustrative case of Al Mahdi before the International Criminal Court. In other words this paper aims to set out an overview of the methods, processes and policies by which international criminal justice develops historico-legal narratives that attempt to get at the truth and protect the past from false or distorted narratives. With regards to the latter function, history, in terms of cultural heritage may often be destroyed in order to destroy the identity and even the existence of a people. Accordingly, the second major thread of this discussion is that when it comes to memorialising the significance of cultural property and the impact of its destruction for the benefit of our collective memory as a basis for punishing criminal acts of destroying cultural property, deterring future criminal acts, and providing victims with reparations, Al Mahdi represents a careful balance between legal pragmatism and legal principle, and furthermore that international criminal justice is an important stakeholder in the reparations and restorations process. Website 
• John-Hopkins M, 'Mapping War, Peace and Terrorism in the Global Information Environment'
  Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies 8 (1/2) (2017) pp.202-233
  ISSN: 1878-1373 eISSN: 1878-1527
  Abstract This article outlines in general terms how the environment of 21^st century transnational organised crime, terrorism and unconventional conflict is being shaped by information-related capabilities (IRCs) that foster global networked connectivity and asymmetric responses to conventional military supremacy. This article explores how the conceptual apparatus regarding the distinction between wartime and peacetime, as well as war zones and peace zones, which has been developed within the framework of international criminal law and humanitarian law, can contribute to military-strategic operational and capability concepts.  Integration of these conceptual frameworks within strategic analysis can serve to promote the effective use of force within a full spectrum operational environment in which information, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance thresholds are being raised and where deeper understandings of the social dynamic that sustains ongoing fighting within a global information environment become increasingly feasible. In this context, this article suggests that law enforcement frameworks and approaches have a high threshold of applicability if the strategic failures associated with conventional military operations are to be avoided.
  Website 
• John-Hopkins M, 'Extrapolation of Criminal Law Modes of Liability to Target Analysis under International Humanitarian Law: Developing the Framework for Understanding Direct Participation in Hostilities and Membership in Organized Armed Groups in Non-International Armed Conflict.'
  Journal of Conflict and Security Law 22 (2) (2017) pp.275-310
  ISSN: 1467-7954 eISSN: 1467-7962
  Abstract Direct participation in hostilities and membership in an organized armed group are contested and controversial concepts. Recent developments in military and legal doctrine suggest that a more practicable account may supplement the valuable work of the ICRC in its Interpretive Guidance on Direct Participation in Hostilities in order to guide target analysis in the unconventional and civilianized operational environment of contemporary non-international conflicts. The purpose of this article is to extrapolate criminal law models of accessorial liability and co-perpetration in order to elucidate the concepts of direct participation in hostilities and membership in an organized armed group. What is proposed is an intelligence-led framework for target analysis that is grounded in military doctrine and based on a mixture of objective and subjective criteria derived from criminal law. This can foster a better understanding of the social dynamic that sustains on-going fighting which limits the scope for arbitrary and erroneous targeting decisions in doubtful situations.Website 
• John-Hopkins M, 'Regulating the conduct of urban warfare: lessons from contemporary asymmetric armed conflicts'
  International Review of the Red Cross 92 (878) (2010) pp.469-493
  ISSN: 1816-3831
  Abstract A survey of contemporary armed conflicts indicates that major military powers are increasingly facing militarily weaker adversaries and being drawn into unconventional engagements in cities, towns, and villages. Given the asymmetry of military capabilities in such conflicts, it is submitted that higher standards of reasonableness be imposed upon military commanders of major military powers to ensure constant care for civilian populations, and furthermore that civilian populations be spared more effectively from the effects of urban warfare by applying customary law ab initio, in order to avoid gaps in protection that may arise from the premature classification of armed conflicts.Website 
• John-Hopkins, M, 'The emperor's new safe country concepts: a UK perspective on sacrificing fairness on the altar of efficiency'
  International Journal of Refugee Law 21 (2) (2009) pp.218-255
  ISSN: 0953-8186
  Abstract The adoption and implementation of Council Directive 2005/85/EC1 (the ‘Procedures Directive'), marks the end of the legislative stage of a nascent Common European Asylum System (CEAS) by establishing minimum standards on ‘fair and efficient asylum procedures in the Member States'. These minimum standards broadly relate to matters such as access to procedures, the right to remain pending decisions, examination requirements, the right to legal assistance, the right to an effective remedy and the application of the ‘safe country' concepts. The Procedures Directive sets out harmonized criteria for the application of the safe third country and the safe country of origin concepts. Nevertheless, various provisions of UK law and the Procedures Directive itself indicate gaps in harmonization. This state of affairs creates the potential for diverse safe country designations, undermines the rights due to refugees in similar circumstances and could, therefore, result in the failure to uphold properly the principle of non-refoulement. In particular, by rendering a range of minimum standards ‘subject to certain exceptions',2 the application of the safe country concepts within the Procedures Directive can be seen as an integral part of the drive towards more efficient asylum procedures within EU Member States. For example, the administrative regime created by the UK's ‘New Asylum Model' (NAM) allows procedural safeguards to be lowered at the front end of the process before a substantive examination of safe country applications has taken place; applicants from countries the UK considers to be safe third countries or safe countries of origin are allocated to ‘fast track' procedures reducing the amount of time available to prepare and present a case; in some cases, applications can be declared inadmissible without any substantive examination. This article focuses on the harmonized criteria relating to these two concepts and their inclusion within the UK asylum system, before exploring whether, and if so, to what extent, the application of such criteria reduces the level of procedural and concomitant substantive protection available to asylum seekers.Website 

Book chapters

• John-Hopkins M, Esterling S, 'Reflections on International Justice as a Commemorative Process' in On Commemoration, Peter Lang ()
  

• Review for Académie de droit international humanitaire et de droits humains a Genéve: Avril McDonald, Jann K. Kleffner and Brigit C.A. Toebes (eds), 'Depleted Uranium Weapons and International Law: A Precautionary Approach', Asser Press, 2008.
• ‘A Premature Kosovo in the Cradle?’ Journal of Critical Perspectives, 1(1) 2008.
• Review for Cambrian Law Review: Yifat Holzman-Gazit, 'Land Expropriation in Israel', Ashgate Publishing Company, 2007.
• ‘Lex Specialis’, Prom (Aberystwyth University Alumni Magazine), December 2007.
• 'Older Refugees: Barriers to Integration and Service Provision', Refugee Council and Age Concern Joint Programme on Older Refugees, Carrs Lane Church, Birmingham, July 2007.
• Carla Del Ponte, Philippe Vallières-Roland and Michael John-Hopkins, ‘Les défenses de l'exécution d'un ordre d'un supérieur hiérarchique et de la contrainte en droit pénal international’, ‘Le militaire, la paix, la guerre: fractures, changements?’, Ministère de la défense Français, 2006.
• The Prosecutor v. Slobodan Milosevic, Appeal of Decision of Contempt of the Tribunal Kosta Bulatovic, ‘Prosecution's Response to Appellant's Appeal Brief’ (Part IV & V), IT-02-54-A-R77.4, A116 - A79. Published by the Registry of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Republic of Yugoslavia, 30th June 2005.
• The Prosecutor v. Slobodan Milosevic, Contempt Proceedings Against Kosta Bulatovic, ‘Prosecution’s Application to Strike Appellant's Brief’, IT-02-54-A-R77.4, A61-A59. Published by the Registry of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Republic of Yugoslavia, 21st June 2005.

Areas of expertise

Areas of research and expertise:

• International Humanitarian Law (with focus on targeting law; weaponry law; housing, land and property in conflict and post-conflict situations: access to land, the right to return, decontamination, mediating and supervising competing private and public interests in land; the sociology of war and other situations of violence; military and strategic studies: counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism doctrine).
• International Human Rights Law (with focus on human rights, terrorism and counter-terrrorism; housing, land, property and human rights (landlord and tenant issues & adverse possession); human rights law fact-finding).
• Refugee Law (with focus on refugee qualification; refugee status determination procedures; refugee protection; safe country of origin and third country determination procedures).
• Land Law (with focus on landlord and tenant law; land law and human rights; adverse possession).

Other experience

United Nations ICTY, Office of the Prosecutor, Den Haag, The Netherlands (2005).

Soutre-Bousquet-Pejoine, Cabinet des Avocats, Bordeaux, France (2006).

UK Refugee Council (2007).

Aberystwyth University, Tutor in Law (2007 - 2012). Peer reviewer for the International Journal of Transitional Justice.

Utrecht University, The Netherlands, Visiting LL.M Lecturer in International Humanitarian Law & International Criminal Law (2011).

Oxford Brookes University, Lecturer in Law, academic adviser and module coordinator for International Humanitarian Law (2012-present). Peer reviewer and adviser for Oxford University Press and Pearson Publishing (Tort Law and Land Law) as well as Palgrave MacMillan (Graduate Diploma in Law).

Press, publicity and reviews

The Rule of Law in Crisis and Conflict Grey Zones

"This book is an innovative, yet pragmatic, approach to cutting the Gordian knot caused by the increasing overlap of jurisdiction between international human rights law and international humanitarian law, in particular, tackling head on the differences relating to the use of force in targeting operations".

Professor Charles Garraway, Human Rights Centre, University of Essex.

The Rule of Law in Crisis and Conflict Grey Zones reviewed in the Journal of Conflict and Security Law.

Other publicity

Book Launch at Ashmolean Museum

Law Summer Schools in Oxford

Widening Participation in Higher Education

Further information

The Changing Character of War Programme

The Oxford Institute for Ethics and Law in Armed Conflict