Professor Toni Pfanner - St. Thomas University

Professor Toni Pfanner
Nationality
Country of Residence
Languages
Swiss
Singapore
English, French, German
Knowledge in Indonesian, Italian and Spanish
Education
Doctorate in Economics, Dr. oec., University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) (1984)
Master in Law, LLM, University of Bern (Switzerland) (1980)
Master of Business Administration, MBA, University of St. Gallen (1978)
Work History
Directed several important ICRC operations in complex emergency situations.
Supervised up to hundred expatriates and managed annual budgets of several
tens of millions of US dollars;
Special representative and ad-interim director of the International Tracing
Service in Bad Arolsen (Germany), a treaty-based intergovernmental body,
instrumental in opening the archives of the victims of the Nazi persecution and
in reorienting the Service with its more than 300 staff members;
Directed the Legal Division of the ICRC with close to 30 international lawyers
and several International Conferences with State representatives and/or
Independent Experts (e.g. on implementation mechanisms of international
humanitarian law, conventional weapons, parts of the International Red Cross
Conferences) and was participating and instrumental in numerous others (e.g.
International Criminal Court, Ottawa Conference on mines, peacekeeping);
Wrote and edited numerous books and articles on international law,
humanitarian action and policy;
Teaches international law, in particular international humanitarian law and use
of force, in several universities and academies.

Academia
Adjunct Professor at University of Lausanne, Switzerland (French), University
of Fribourg (German) and Academy for International Humanitarian Law and
Human Rights (English/French), Geneva (since 2010) (semester courses on
international humanitarian law, the use of force, law implementation; human
rights in emergency situation)
Adjunct Professor Federal Polytechnical School Lausanne (International
Diplomacy and Immunities) (English) (since 2011);
Invited Professor College of Europe (Bruges and Warsaw, International
Humanitarian Law) (English/French)(since 2011);
President of the Henry Dunant Prize;
Member of the Commission of the Paul Reuter Prize;
Jury member of numerous international law competitions;
Numerous presentations and speeches on various subjects on international
law, international humanitarian law and humanitarian action in academies,
universities and (inter-) governmental meetings, in all parts of the world.
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
2002-2010 Editor-in-Chief, International Review of the Red Cross, and
Senior Legal Advisor at the Directorate, Geneva (ICRC
headquarters, Geneva)
2006 Director and Special Representative, International Tracing
Service (Bad Arolsen, Germany)
1998-2002 Head of Regional Delegation for South-East-Asia, Jakarta
(Indonesia)
1992-1998 Head of Legal Division (ICRC Headquarters, Geneva)
1990-1992 Head of Regional Delegation for Southern Africa, (Pretoria)
1989-1990 Head of Delegation in Afghanistan (Kabul)
1988-1989 Head of Legal Advisers to the Operations (ICRC Headquarters,
Geneva)
1986-1988 Head of Delegation in Chad (N'Djaména)
1985-1986 Deputy Head and Head of Delegation in Iraq (Baghdad)
1985 Delegate in Lebanon (Tyre)
1984-1985 Delegate and Head of Sub-delegation in Israel and Occupied
Territories (Jerusalem)
Main Publications
Edited books on humanitarian law and humanitarian action:
The following books have been published in the International Review of the Red
Cross, a quarterly published by ICRC and Cambridge University Press. It is a peer

eviewed journal and covers a wide range of articles on international humanitarian
law and humanitarian policy and action, during armed conflict and other situations of
violence. It is dedicated to governments, international governmental and nongovernmental
organisations, universities, the media and all those interested in
humanitarian issues at large. They are available under
http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/international-review/index.jsp
These issues, each one about 300 pages, have been published under my
responsibility as editor-in-chief, in cooperation with an international board of editors:
“Impunity” (2002), “Terrorism” (2002), “Missing Persons” (2002), “New Types of
Conflict” (2002), “Interpretation of international humanitarian law by the Tribunals”
(2003), “Victims after the war” (2003), “Africa and humanitarian action” (2003),
“Protection of Cultural Property in Armed Conflict” (2004), “Contemporary Challenges
to Humanitarian Action” (2004), “Detention” (2005), “Religion” (2005), “Means of
warfare” (2005), “Communication in war” (2005), “International Criminal Courts”
(2006), “Truth and Reconciliation” (2006), “Private Military Companies” (2006),
“Methods of Warfare” (2006), “Humanitarian actors” (2007), “Catastrophic Events”
(2007), “Torture “(2007), “Iraq” (2007/8), “Sanctions” (2008), “Human Rights” (2008),
“Direct Participation in Hostilities” (2009), “Typology of Conflicts” (2009), “Victims of
Armed Conflicts” (2009), “Displacement” (2009), “International Conferences of the
Red Cross and Red Crescent” (2010), “Woman” (2010), “Urban Violence” (2010),
“Environment” (2010), “Afghanistan” (2010).
Other books:
“The Empress Shôken Fund: Supporting Red Cross Red Crescent Work for
Hundred Years“, Tokyo 2012 (120 pages).
“Die Aufenthaltsbewilligung erwerbstätiger Ausländer“, (The authorization for
residence of working foreigners in Switzerland), PhD thesis, St. Gallen 1984 (340
pages);
Articles:
“Gustave Moynier et les premiers pas vers la justice pénale internationale”, dans
Henry Dunant et Gustave Moynier, destins croisés – vies parallèles. Coédition
avec la Société Henry Dunant, Genève 2012, pp. 213-256;
“Various mechanisms and approaches to implement international humanitarian
law and protect and assist war victims”, International Review of the Red Cross,
Vol. 91 No. 874 June 2009, pp. 279-328 (translated and published in Arabic,
Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, Turkish);
“Scope of Application, perpetrators of terror and international humanitarian law”,
International Legal Dimension of Terrorism, Pablo Antonio Fernández-Sánchez
(ed.), Martin Nijhoff Publishers, Nijhoff 2009, pp. 170-193;
“Principled humanitarian action in the East Timor crisis”, Humanitarian Diplomacy:
Practitioners and their Craft, Larry Minear & Hazel Smith (eds.), United Nations
University Press, Tokyo, 2007, pp. 174-193;
“Die Anwendbarkeit des humanitären Völkerrechts im Irakkrieg“ (51. Tagung der
Justitiare and Konventionsbeauftragten des Deutschen Roten Kreuzes, (20-27
September 2007, Fachtagung Essen) accessible at
http://www.drk.de/alt/intern/berichte/071008_tagung_justitiare/bericht.html;

“Cooperation between Truth Commissions and the International Committee of the
Red Cross”, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 88 No. 862 June 2006,
pp. 363-375 (together with Laura Olson);
“The Challenge of Dealing with the Past: Truth Commissions and the International
Committee of the Red Cross”, pp. 67-77, published at
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Digital-Library/Publications/Detail/?ots591=0C54E3B3-
1E9C-BE1E-2C24-A6A8C7060233&lng=en&id=25784;
“David gegen Goliath oder asymmetrische Kriegsführung”, Journal of International
Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, Vol. 18 3/2005 pp.165-176;
“Asymmetric Warfare from the Perspective of Humanitarian Law and
Humanitarian Action”, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 87, No. 857
December 2004 pp. 149-174 (translated and published in Arabic, Chinese,
French, Russian, Spanish, Turkish);
“Military Uniforms and the Law of War”, International Review of the Red Cross,
Vol. 86 No. 855 March 2004, pp. 93-130 (translated and published in Arabic,
Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, Turkish);
“Lessons to be learnt for Kosovo and East Timor”, The nexus between
peacekeeping and peace-building: debriefing and lessons. Report of the 1999
Singapore Conference, United Nations Institute for Training and Research,
Institute of Policy Studies of Singapore and Japanese Institute of International
Affairs (Nassrine Azimi & Chang Li Lin (eds.), pp. 201-207;
“The Establishment of a Permanent International Criminal Court”, International
Review of the Red Cross, No. 322 March 1998, pp. 21-27 (translated and
published in Arabic, Chinese, French, Italian Russian, Spanish, Turkish);
"The new ICRC plan of action and the creation of the advisory services”, Cour
Criminelle Internationale, 1998, pp. 67-73;
“Die Rolle des Roten Kreuzes im Rahmen von Peace-keeping-Operationen”,
Journal of International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, Vol. 10 1/1997 pp. 3-7;
"Le Rôle du CICR dans la Mise en Oeuvre du Droit International Humanitaire", Le
droit face aux crises humanitaires/Law in Humanitarian Crisis, Vol. I, Office des
publications officielles des Communautés européennes, Bruxelles/Luxembourg,
1995, pp. 147-248.
“The Application of International Humanitarian Law and Military Operations
undertaken under the United Nations Charter”, Symposium on Humanitarian
Action and Peace-keeping-operations, (Umesh Palwankar, ed.), Geneva 1994;
“Meeting of inter-governmental experts for the protection of war victims (Geneva,
January 23 to 27, 1995): Synthesis of responses to the Swiss authorities and list
of possible measures to promote respect for international humanitarian law.” The
proceedings of the sixth annual conference of the African Society of International
and Comparative Law, Kampala, 5 - 8 September 1994, ASICL Proc. 6 (1994), p.
1-15.
Geneva, December 2012