Leaning on international law during armed conflict - with Dr Helen Durham AO

Dr Helen Durham AO is CEO of international humanitarian response agency RedR Australia, and an Honorary Professorial Fellow at Melbourne Law School.

As an international humanitarian lawyer, Dr Durham has worked in crisis and conflict zones from Mozambique to Mogadishu.

She says translating international law into on-the-ground applications remains necessary to change the behaviour of armed groups or authorities during conflict.

With faster visibility of the reality on the battlefield and more intense exposures to the brutal consequences of war, there is an amplification of a simple narrative involving ‘good’ and ‘bad’ without space for wider reflections. Concurrently, we are witnessing stronger questioning of the relevance and impact of international law

Catch Dr Durham at Melbourne Law School, Thursday March 7, as she reflects on 30 years working in international conflicts zones.

In her lecture, Searching for Our Shared Humanity, Dr Durham reminds us for the need for a common humanity.