Douglas Guilfoyle
About/Bio
Douglas Guilfoyle is Professor of International Law and Security at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of New South Wales Canberra. He blogs in a personal capacity and his views do not represent those of his employer or any other organisation.
Recently Published
Command responsibility for Australian war crimes in Afghanistan
January 19, 2021
Douglas Guilfoyle
Introduction On 4 January 2021 the Australian Office of the Special Investigator officially commenced work (“OSI”). Its task is to conduct criminal investigations into Australian war crimes in Afghanistan, as revealed in the Brereton Report (discussed here). The report focusses on the killing of persons hors de combat or under Australian control by…
Australian war crimes in Afghanistan: The Brereton Report
November 23, 2020
Douglas Guilfoyle
On Thursday 19 November Australia faced a reckoning with its recent past in Afghanistan.* Australian political culture approaches our armed forces with a great degree of deference and respect. Three of our last four Governors General have been, for example, senior military leaders. The Australian Defence Force support operations in respect of the January 2020 bushfires and the…
The International Criminal Court Independent Expert Review: questions of trust and tenure
November 20, 2020
Douglas Guilfoyle
I have previously written on the Independent Expert Review (IER) of the International Criminal Court and its findings on questions of governance structure and culture. In this blog post I’d like to turn to two other running themes through the report: trust and tenure.* The problem of trust My previous post noted the…
Popular articles by Douglas Guilfoyle
So, you want to do a PhD in international law?
August 22, 2012
Douglas Guilfoyle
I’ve become frustrated recently at the lack of practical information for those contemplating PhD level study, especially in my own field. Information about the practical pitfalls, perils and joys of further study. So I decided to write a series of blog posts on the topic, pointing to relevant resources. (This is aimed at graduate students in the English…
Part I- This is not fine: The International Criminal Court in Trouble
March 21, 2019
Douglas Guilfoyle
Editor's note: This is Part I of a three-part series. There is now a real sense that the International Criminal Court is in trouble. The questions are: how much, why and what is to be done? The UK pulled no punches in its statement to the 17th International Criminal Court Assembly…
The Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union Treaty: Security in the face of climate change … and China?
On 9 November 2023, Australia and the Tuvalu signed the world’s first climate resettlement treaty. Tuvalu is a Pacific Island State of only 26 square kilometres in area, with over half its population living on the atoll of Funafuti. It has a mean elevation of less than 2 metres above sea level and is profoundly threatened by climate…