Maynooth University Department of Law cordially invites you to a public lecture on ‘The Gaza Strip: Military & Legal Perspectives’, to be delivered by Col. Desmond Travers.

When: Monday, March 23, 2015 – 18:30 to 20:00

Where: Renehan Hall, South Campus, Maynooth University

Desmond Travers is a retired Irish army colonel who served with various UN peacekeeping missions in the Middle East and the Balkans. He is now a director of the Institute for International Criminal Investigations in the Hague, where he trains and supports teams involved in the investigation and prosecution of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

Colonel Travers was a member of the Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict that was deployed by the United Nations in 2009, following Israel’s ‘Operation Cast Lead’ in the Gaza Strip. A similar independent international investigative mechanism, the Commission of Inquiry on the Gaza Conflict, was created by the UN following Israel’s ‘Operation Protective Edge’ in the summer of 2014, with a mandate to investigate all violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. This commission is scheduled to present its report to the UN Human Rights Council on 23 March 2015.

Drawing on his experiences as a military investigator and legal-political analyst in the context of the Middle East, Col. Travers will provide his reflections on this latest investigative process and on Israel’s use of force in the Gaza Strip last summer, as well as his analysis of current and future developments in Palestine/Israel.

Attendance is free and all are welcome; please email law@nuim.ie to register.

Organised by Maynooth University Department of Law