8th Avril McDonald Lecture by Jan Tijmen Ninck Blok on The Law of Humanitarian Assistance

As two major armed conflicts — in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and Ukraine — dominate today’s headlines and many more conflicts are unseen or unheard of by the general public, the annual Avril McDonald International Humanitarian Law Public Lecture proves to be more than relevant. This year, the lecture will focus on the very important and timely topic of: ‘The Law of Humanitarian Assistance – A Framework for Relief in Armed Conflict’.

Our speaker this year is Jan Tijmen Ninck Blok. Mr. Ninck Blok serves as the senior legal advisor for international humanitarian law at the Netherlands Red Cross. Before this, he worked as a researcher on protection and conduct of hostilities with the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva. Prior to joining the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, he served in a protection capacity in several United Nations peacekeeping missions. Ninck Blok holds post-graduate degrees in international law and political sciences from Aberystwyth University in the United Kingdom.

The lecture will be preceded by an online introduction by Dr Christophe Paulussen, Acting Chair Executive Board and Academic Director T.M.C. Asser Instituut .

The annual Avril McDonald lecture is organized by the Department Transboundary Legal Studies of the Faculty of Law. This lecture is dedicated to Avril McDonald, a scholar in the fields of international humanitarian law and international criminal law, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 44.