The Scientific Council
Les membres
2025 - 2026
The Scientific Council supports the Board and, more broadly, JURDI Association in its activities and strategic thinking. It also provides guidance on governance and direction by offering legal opinions and expert advice on international law.
Doctor Rony BRAUMAN
Rony Brauman is a medical doctor with a degree in epidemiology and tropical medicine. After working for several years as a field doctor, mainly in conflict situations and refugee camps, he became President of MSF in 1982 and held this position until 1994. He was a lecturer (1992-2000) and then an associate professor at Sciences Po Paris, and a professor at the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute (HCRI), University of Manchester (UK) (2003-2015). He is currently Director of Studies at the Médecins Sans Frontières Foundation. He is the author of several books, documentary films, and numerous articles on humanitarian action and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Books
• La médecine humanitaire, Que Sais-je?, PUF, 2009. 3ème édition en 2018.
• Humanitaire, diplomatie et droits de l'homme, préface de Tzvetan Todorov, Editions du Cygne, 2009
• Manifeste pour les Palestiniens, Éditions Autrement, 2014.
• Guerres humanitaires ? Mensonges et intox, Editions Textuel, 2018.
Monique CHEMILLIER-GENDREAU
Monique Chemillier-Gendreau, PhD in public law and political science, is professor emeritus at the University Paris-Cité. She focused her academic research on international law and the theory of the state. She is also a practice of legal advice before international courts.
Her recent analysis focus on the crisis of international law. She has published among various works:
“From war to universal community. Between law and politics”, Paris Fayard, 2013,
“Another law for another world. How can we break the deadlock of international law?”, Ed. Pedone, Paris, 2019,
“Democracy’s regression, unleashing violence, interviews with Régis Meyran, Editions Textuel, Paris, 2019,
“For a World Council of Resistance”, Editions Textuel, Paris, 2020,
“Ending sovereignty”, Georges Scelle / Monique Chemillier-Gendreau, Coll. Tiré à part, Lefèvre, Dalloz, Paris 2024,
“Making a Palestinian State impossible. Israël’s goal since its creation”, Editions Textuel, Paris, 2025.
Olivier CORTEN
Olivier Corten is professor of international law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Director of its Centre of International Law and member of the Institute of International Law. He has taught in a variety of universities in Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, ,Portugal, Italy, Brazil and Japan as well as at the UN and at the Academy of International law. Olivier Corten has been counsel and lawyer to the International Court of Justice. He is the author or co-author of numerous publications, especially in the field of law and international security.
François DUBUISSON
François DUBUISSON is a Professor of International Law and Researcher at the Centre de Droit International at the Université libre de Bruxelles ULB (Belgium). He has published extensively on the legal aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. François has been heard as an expert by the United Nations Security Council on the subject of ‘Illegal Israeli Settlements: Obstacles to Peace and the Two-State Solution’ (Arria-formula Meeting, 14 October 2016). He also participated, on behalf of the State of Djibouti, in the written procedure in the case of the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem - a request for an Advisory Opinion submitted to the International Court of Justice by the United Nations General Assembly (2023). François is a regular contributor to legal journals and books specialising in international law and the Middle East.
Julian FERNANDEZ
Julian FERNANDEZ is a Professor of Public Law (PREX) at the University Paris Panthéon-Assas (France), on secondment to Galatasaray University in Istanbul (Turkey). Founder of the International Law Clinic at Assas, co-director of the Human Rights and International Justice Master's and of the International Criminal Justice Days, Julian has published some twenty works, including a textbook on International Criminal Law (LGDJ, 3rd edition published in September 2024) and an article-by-article commentary of the Rome Statute (2 editions, Pedone, co-edited collective work).
Julian also edits the biannual column ʺL'activité des juridictions pénales internationalesʺ of the Annuaire français de droit international. He regularly collaborates with the Academy of International Law, notably as a member of the Scientific Council of the ICC Moot Court (French version). Among his institutional responsibilities, Julian Fernandez was elected Vice-Chairman of the Advisory Committee on nominations of judges of the International Criminal Court.
Habib GHERARI
Professor Emeritus of International Law
After writing his thesis on maritime borders at the University of Paris 1, H. Gherari went on to teach and research at the University of Paris Ouest-la Défense, the University of Le Havre (Faculty of International Affairs), the Lyon Institute of Political Studies (IEP) and, finally, the University of Aix-Marseille.
He has been a member of the Paris Bar, and his research has focused on various areas of international law and international relations. International economic law, especially international trade law, has been the focus of many of his publications, both in the form of articles in various legal journals and books, notably on regional trade agreements and the WTO (published by Larcier and Bruylant respectively).
Latest book: “Le conflit israélo-palestinien : que dit le droit?”, published by L'Harmattan.
Lyna MAAZIZ
Lyna MAAZIZ holds a PhD in Public Law, is a Lecturer and Researcher at the Centre Thucydide of the University Paris-Panthéon-Assas, and scholar in residence at Galatasaray University in Istanbul (Turkey). She specialises in international litigation law, mainly in inter-State disputes. She defended her PhD in 2022 at the University Paris-Panthéon-Assis on the topic 'Jurisdiction of the ad hoc arbitral tribunals under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea' (Permanent Court of Arbitration ‘PCA’). Lyna has published in several journals and collective works on a variety of subjects, including public international law, international space law, sports law and international human rights law.
Mustapha MEKKI
Mustapha MEKKI is an associate professor of law at the Sorbonne Law School, University of Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne. He is the Director of International Relations at the Sorbonne Law School and Director General of the National School of Notaries (INFN). He specializes in private law, environmental law, and digital law. He is the author of several books and around a hundred articles. He is the scientific editor of several legal journals (contracts, liability, notaries). He is a regular visiting professor at numerous foreign universities (Quebec, Chile, Argentina, China, Cambodia, Japan, Vietnam, Tunisia, Algeria)
Alain PELLET
Alain PELLET is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Paris Nanterre (France), where he directed the Centre de Droit International (CEDIN) for ten years.
From 1990 to 2011, he was a member of the United Nations International Law Commission, which he chaired in 1997. Alain is a member and former chairman of the Institut de droit international and Honorary Chairman of the Société française pour le droit international.
He has acted as counsel and advocate in more than sixty cases before the International Court of Justice and has participated as arbitrator or advocate in several arbitration proceedings concerning investment disputes. He has authored and co-authored numerous articles and books on international law, including a treatise on Public International Law (9th edition published in 2022).
Raphaël PORTEILLA
Raphaël Porteilla is professor of political science at the Université de Bourgogne-Europe since 2003. He was previously professor of public law at the Université de Reims where he started his career of professor-researcher in September 1997. His PhD research focused on the study and analysis of the transformation of the Republic of South Africa from the regime of apartheid to democracy. He has also been working and studying on the Israël /Palestine conflict for the past 25 years when the Oslo Agreements began to folter. Since then, he has had the opportunity to travel frequently to Palestine where he taught constitutional law and international relations at Birzeit University as part of a scientific cooperation agreement
Sarah SAMEUR
Sarah SAMEUR is a French lawyer, member of the Paris Bar since 2019. Sarah intervient comme conseil juridique auprès de nombreuses organisations internationales de développement en matière de financement de projets internationaux à impact en Europe et en Afrique. Sarah assists numerous development finance institutions and international organizations on the financing of international impact projects in Europe and Africa. Sarah also advises and litigates on human rights issues on behalf of NGOs and individuals (international law and asylum law) In February 2024, she represented a group of Palestinians from the West Bank who were victims of international crimes in proceedings before the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Sarah holds two Masters degrees in Public International and European law from the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne (France), graduated the Diploma from the Institut des Hautes Etudes Internationales de Paris from the University of Paris Panthéon-Assas (France) and a triple certificate in International Criminal Law and International Humanitarian Law from the René Cassin-IIDH Foundation in Strasbourg (France). Sarah is also a member of the French legal NGO Alliance des Avocats pour les Droits de l'Homme.
Damien SCALIA
Damien SCALIA is a Professor of Criminal Law, Prison Law and International Law at the Université libre de Bruxelles (Belgium), as well as a Visiting Professor at the Geneva Academy. Damien has worked with several international defence teams. His main research focuses on the experience of criminal law at the international level. For the past 12 years, he has met with people on trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide to analyse how international criminal justice operates. This led him to publish, in 2022, the book 'Génocidaire(s) Au cœur de la justice internationale pénale'.
Johann SOUFI
Johann Soufi has been practicing as a lawyer and prosecutor specializing in international criminal justice since 2007. He has participated in various capacities, in the trials of senior political and military leaders before several international criminal courts and tribunals, including the ICTR, the SCSL and the STL. He has also conducted numerous investigation into international crimes in Rwanda, East Timor, Côte d’Ivoire, Lebanon, the Central African Republic, Mali and Ukraine, notably for the United Nations. He has also conducted numerous investigation into international crimes in Rwanda, East Timor, Côte d’Ivoire, Lebanon, the Central African Republic, Mali and Ukraine, notably for the United Nations.
Johann Soufi is admitted to practice as both Defense and Victims’ Counsel before the International Criminal Court (ICC). Il est le fondateur et directeur stratégique du centre de formation IILAT, qui dispense des formations en plaidoirie, en droit international et en techniques d'enquête aux avocats et procureurs exerçant devant les juridictions internationales.
Il est également chercheur et doctorant en droit pénal international à l'Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas (France) et à l'Université Laval (Canada) et intervient régulièrement en tant qu'expert en droit international auprès de divers médias, ainsi que d'institutions nationales et internationales. He has authored numerous publications in both English and French on issues related to international criminal justice and the enforcement of international law, particularly in the context of the Middle East.
Akila Taleb-Karlsson
Akila Taleb-Karlsson is a Senior lecturer in criminal law and criminal justice as well as the delegated vice-dean of international relations and the co-director of studies of the criminal justice and criminal law LLM programme at the law School of the University of Toulon (France). Her papers published in various legal journals particularly focus on comparative criminal law and criminal justice. She has also worked for several years as a caseworker and a legal consultant in both domestic and international criminal courts, at the Prosecution Department, of the Court of appeal of Lyon & at the pre-trial Chamber of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the Netherlands.
Hélène TIGROUDJA
Hélène Tigroudja is a Professor of International Law at Aix-Marseille University, where she co-directs the Master 2 in Humanitarian Action and Law, and a Visiting Professor at the Centre for International Law at the National University of Singapore. She is also a member and Vice-President of the United Nations Human Rights Committee. Hélène Tigroudja has published numerous articles and books on international human rights law, international humanitarian law, and international criminal law. She is notably the co-author of the recently updated International Human Rights Law. A Treatise (Cambridge University Press, 2025) (Pédone, 2018). She combines her research and academic activities with a broad experience as a practitioner of international law, serving the United Nations, UNESCO, the European Union, and the Council of Europe, among others