Dr. Michael Riepl LL.M. (Genf)
Michael Riepl is a specialist in international law, humanitarian practitioner, and author. He studied law at the University of Passau and passed his bar exam at the Higher Regional Court of Nuremberg. During his LL.M. at the Geneva Academy he specialized in international humanitarian law and human rights.
He completed his PhD in 2021 under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Angelika Nußberger, exploring Russia's contradictory role in the development of international humanitarian law. The dissertation was awarded the Jost-Delbrück Prize (Walther-Schücking-Institut) as well as the Osborne Clarke Prize (University of Cologne) and was selected as one of the ten best legal books of 2022 by JuristenZeitung.
Since 2015, Michael has been working for various humanitarian organizations. Notably, he was an associate in the legal department of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva. As an ICRC field delegate he spent four years in Ukraine, Armenia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In this role, Michael dealt, among other things, with the affairs of prisoners of war, the search for missing persons, the repatriation of human remains, the delivery of humanitarian aid, and the practical application of international humanitarian law during armed conflict.
Currently, Michael is a post-doctoral researcher (Habilitand) with Prof. Dr. Angelika Nußberger at the Academy for European Human Rights Protection. He is researching the development of the right to self-determination, funded by a multi-year scholarship of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. In addition, Michael regularly gives lectures and workshops on international law for students and practitioners in Germany and abroad. He is a member of the Cologne Center for Advanced Studies in International History and Law and part of the editorial board of the Armenian Journal of International Law.
Michael’s research interests include international humanitarian law, human rights, international legal history and regional studies in Eastern Europe, Russia, and the South Caucasus. He is fluent in German, English, French, Russian, Armenian and Spanish and has intermediate knowledge of Turkish and Italian.
Michael‘s first nonfiction book, Ferne Heimat Altmontal (C.H. Beck), is forthcoming in 2026. The book retraces the eventful life of his grandmother, who grew up between the Black Sea and the Caucasus, and complements it with dispatches from the author’s humanitarian missions in these very regions.
Areas of Research
- International law
- International humanitarian law
- Human rights
- History of international law
- Regional history (Eastern Europe, Russia, Caucasus)
Current teaching obligations
- Moot Courts: Judge/organizer of various Armenian Moot Courts in international law (ICRC Moot Court on IHL; Slavonic University)
- Lectures and workshops for students and practitioners in international law: Amnesty International, Clingendael, ICRC, American University Yerevan, European University Yerevan, University of Cologne etc.
Current Research Project
As part of his habilitation, Michael Riepl is currently researching how the principle of self-determination developed in the South Caucasus during the 20th century.
Exposé
The right to self-determination of peoples remains among the most quoted, but also the most contested legal principles in the world. Entire libraries have been written about its scope and limitations. It has been called “subversive and radical” (Antonio Cassese).My research aims to show how self-determination developed in the 20th century in a highly diverse region, a “land in-between” (Thomas de Waal) where different peoples have been intermingling for millennia: the South Caucasus.
What role did self-determination play in the political and legal discourse during the First World War and its aftermath? How did it evolve in the Soviet Union? And can this explain, why at least five wars have been fought since the early nineties over disputed territories in the South Caucasus that all claim the right to self-determination?
The research will draw on literature as well as interviews and archival research in the region.