Profile

Prof. Dr. Stefaan Smis is currently professor of international and human rights law at the Faculty of Law & Criminology of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. At the University of Westminster (UK - London) he also has a part-time position as a reader in International Law. He has a law degree from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), followed a LLM in International and Comparative Law at the Program of International Legal Co-operation (PILC - VUB) and defended a PhD on the right to self-determination. He has been invited as guest lecturer at various universities in Europe, Africa, Middle-East and USA.

His research focuses on international law, international protection of human rights, settlement of international disputes, states in transition, the prosecution of grave violations of human rights, the relationship between human rights and international humanitarian law, and regional integration in Africa. Stefaan Smis is secretary of the Belgian Branch of the International Law Association (ILA), was a member of the ILA Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and is currently alternate member of the Committee on Human Rights in Times of Emergency.