Role
Dr. Luigi Daniele (Ph.D. Nottingham Trent University and University of the Studies of Naples Federico II) is Senior Lecturer and Module Leader in Laws of Armed Conflict (LLB), Public International and Humanitarian Law (LLM), and International, European and Comparative Law (DL) at Nottingham Law School. He is a member of the NLS Centre for Rights and Justice , and of the ESIL (European Society of International Law).
Career overview
Luigi teaches and researches in International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Law at Nottingham Trent University. He holds a joint Ph.D. awarded by Nottingham Trent University and the University of Naples Federico II.
He has convened at NTU the first European webinar on the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, and world leading initiatives on various themes, including the 'Women, Life, Freedom' protests in Iran, and the evolutions of the situation in Palestine before the International Criminal Court.
He is a qualified barrister in Italy, specialized in Criminal Law and Human Rights.
Luigi holds qualifications from the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, the Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights, the Irish Centre for Human Rights and Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI).
Research areas
Luigi’s research interests focus on International Humanitarian Law (IHL), International Criminal Law (ICL), International Legal Theory, and Penal Theory.
He has completed his joint Ph.D. (in co-tutelle with the University of Naples Federico II) with a thesis titled 'Indiscriminate Attacks as Jus in Bello Violations' comparing the ICL and IHL legal frameworks and enquiring into the existing gaps existing between IHL targeting prescriptions and the conduct of hostilities war crimes enshrined in Art.8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
He has published contributions in Italian and English about the proposal to codify an international crime of ecocide, the international criminal relevance of the conduct of hostilities in various armed conflicts, the frictions between the human right to freedom of expression and domestic criminal laws of genocide denial, and about the right to campaign for sanctions against widespread and systematic violations of human rights and humanitarian law.
External activity
Luigi consulted as expert in international humanitarian law and international criminal law for NGOs, Government, and UN bodies.
He has co-established a collaborative research network involving academics from several European and Middle-Eastern Universities, practitioners, directors of prestigious NGOs, and field research in Palestine and Israel, focusing on military law enforcement systems in militarily occupied territories and arbitrary deprivation of liberty.
He is member of the editorial board of 'Diritti Umani e Diritto Internazionale', established in 2007 and published by 'Il Mulino', and part of various global collaborative networks uniting scholars, practitioners, and civil society actors in the prevention of civilian victimization in armed conflicts.
Publications
L. Daniele, Incidentally Capsized. Incidental Civilian Harm in International Humanitarian Law and its Contra Legem Antonyms in Recent Discourses on the Laws of War, Oxford Journal of Conflict and Security Law, 29, 1, 2024 (forthcoming).
R. Segal - L. Daniele, Gaza as Twilight of Israel Exceptionalism: Holocaust and Genocide Studies from Unprecedented Crisis to Unprecedented Change, Journal of Genocide Research, forum on 'Israel-Palestine: Atrocity Crimes and the Crisis of Holocaust and Genocide Studies,' 5 March 2024.
L. Daniele, A lethal misconception, in Gaza and beyond: disguising indiscriminate attacks as potentially proportionate in discourses on the laws of war, EJILTalk! - Blog of the European Journal of International Law, 7 November 2023.
L. Daniele, Denying the Cornerstone of Jus in Bello in Palestines: Bedouin Communities and the War Crimes of Extensive Destruction and Appropriation of Property Not Justified by Military Necessity, in AA. VV., Ending Impunity for International Law Violations: Palestinian Bedouins and the Risk of Forced Displacement, A. Panepinto – T. Mariniello (eds), Hart Publishing, forthcoming 2025.
L. Daniele - D. Spizzichino (tr.), Legal Definition of Ecocide, and Commentary [Definizione legale di Ecocidio e Commentario], Stop Ecocide Earth - Italy, official Italian translation of the proposed definition of Ecocide as 5th International Crime.
H. Alberro - L. Daniele, Ecocide: Why Establishing a New International Crime Would be a Step Towards Interspecies Justice, 29 June 2021, The Conversation. The editorial offers a summary of the issues surrounding the proposal to adopt a new international crime of Ecocide within the framework of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
L. Daniele - T. Mariniello, L’operazione militare israeliana ‘Guardiano delle mura’ tra cicli di violenza armata e antinomie giuridiche. Note per una reinterpretazione sistematica del crimine di guerra di attacco diretto a strutture civili, Quaderni di SIDIBlog 8, 2021, 91 -116
Expanded and updated journal article on the Israel-Gaza hostilities of May 2021, proposing a critical re-framing of the notion of 'incidental' civilian harm as crucial dividing line to discern between indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks.
L. Daniele - T. Mariniello, Note a Margine dell'Operazione 'Guardiano delle Mura', Parte II. La Costruzione Contra Legem delle Strutture Civili di Gaza Come Obiettivi Militari, 29 June 2021, Italian Society of International Law (blog).
Second part of the commentary on the Israel-Gaza hostilities of May 2021, analysing some of the major international humanitarian and criminal law controversies over the conduct of hostilities and aerial bombings of the military escalation under scrutiny.
L. Daniele - T. Mariniello, Note a Margine dell'Operazione 'Guardiano delle Mura', Parte I. Le Ombre del Dibattito Italiano su Gaza e Sheikh Jarrah, alla Luce del Diritto Internazionale, 25 June 2021, Italian Society of International Law (blog).
First part of the commentary on the Israel-Gaza hostilities of May 2021, analysing the international legal issues surrounding recent developments of the conflict in West Bank and East Jerusalem.
L. Daniele, La CPI Autorizza in Appello l'Indagine sui Possibili Crimini Commessi in Afghanistan (e in Europa) Durante la 'War on Terror', 28 April 2020, Italian Society of International Law (blog, and Journal).
The article presents a critical examination of the historic ICC Appeals Chamber authorisation of the opening of the investigation concerning the situation in Afghanistan, reverting the highly debated previous decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber II of the Court.
L. Daniele, ‘Imprisoning’ Self-Determination–The Israeli Military Law Enforcement System in the West Bank and Its Relevance for the ICC, Opinio Juris, ICC and Palestine Symposium, 7 February 2020.
The paper, part of the 2020 Opinio Juris ICC and Palestine Symposium, examines the authoritarian features of the Israeli military law enforcement system in the West Bank. By analysing some of the security offences and their sentencing frameworks, the paper argues that the ICC should investigate the potential commission of the war crime of ‘wilfully depriving protected persons of the rights of fair and regular trial’ (articles 8(2)(a)(vi) or 8(2)(c)(iv) ICC St.).
L. Daniele, The International Criminal Court between Human Rights and Realpolitik in G. Oberleitner (Ed.), International Human Rights Institutions, Tribunals and Courts, Springer (October 2018), 355 - 376.
The Chapter offers an introduction of the International Criminal Court substantive legal framework, an overview of the most significant developments of its first 15 years of operation, and a summary of the critical debate about the selectivity of international criminal law enforcement on the basis of political power relations.
L. Daniele, Enforcing Illegality: Israel's Military Justice in the West Bank, 29 Nov 2017, Questions of International Law - Zoom-in 44 (2017), 21-40.
The article presents a critical overview of the main legal questions arising from the Israeli military justice system in the West Bank. It examines the inception of the system, its legal sources (characterised the distinctive concentration of powers underlying its structure, in which legislative, executive and judicial prerogatives are entrusted to the Israeli military), and investigates its substantive law. The analysis of the concrete operation of the system, through comparison with Israeli domestic law and its impact on the human rights of the Palestinian population, reveals a significant degree of incompatibility with the fundamental principles of the liberal-democratic models of justice governed by the Rule of law.
L. Daniele, Negazionismo e libertà di espressione: dalla sentenza Perinçek c. Svizzera alla nuova aggravante prevista nell'ordinamento Italiano, 12 October 2017, Diritto Penale Contemporaneo, 10/2017, 79 -104.
The article proposes critical considerations on the relationship between criminal law, genocide denial and freedom of expression. After a brief survey of the genesis of the notion of 'genocide' in international criminal law and the scholarly voices discussing its applicability to the Armenian case, the analysis - starting from the decision of the Grand Chamber of the ECHR on the Perinçek v. Case. Switzerland - focuses on some unforeseen consequences of the aggravating circumstance of genocide denial introduced in Italian criminal law.
L. Daniele, Penal populism and the BDS movement after Security Council Resolution 2334, 29 gen 2017, openDemocracy (French version, Spanish version, German version).
The article examines the ‘Boycott Divestment and Sanctions’ (BDS) movement's claims, and the anti-BDS legislations adopted in many countries, as examples of domestic criminalisation of civil society movements advocating international legality. It presents a critical analysis scoping horizons and contradictions of the human rights discourses in the world, the decline of their emancipatory potential and the emergence of a “dark side” in their hegemonic translations, capable of altering, and even capsizing, their protective functions.
L. Daniele, Disputing the Indisputable. Genocide Denial and Freedom of Expression in the Perinçek v. Switzerland (Grand Chamber) Judgement of the European Court of Human Rights, September 2016, Nottingham Law Journal, Vol. 25, 2016, 141 - 152.
The article examines the Grand Chamber Judgment of the ECtHR in the Perinçek v Switzerland case, first ever in which the Court deals with the criminalisation of the denial or gross minimisation of a genocide other than the Shoah. In contrast with its previous case law on Holocaust denial, the Court disentangles the conflict between the criminal protection of the dignity of victims and the freedom of expression of the applicant striking the balance in favour of the second. The paper analyses this jurisprudential landmark in light of a critique of the notion of 'militant democracy' in the fight against racism and xenophobia.
L. Daniele, La Palestina aderisce alla Corte Penale Internazionale: e ora? 9 Jan 2015, Italian Society of International Law (Blog, and Journal, 393 - 401).
The article presents first instance reflections on Palestine's adhesion to the International Criminal Court and unpacks its implications on future chances of prosecution of potential international crimes committed in the conduct of hostilities by the parties to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Press expertise
- International Humanitarian Law
- International Criminal Law
- War Crimes
- Ecocide (international crime proposal)
- Israel/Palestine issues and International Law
- Politics of International Law
Luigi's research aims to policy changes and legal reform enhancing the effectiveness and equal enforcement of war crimes law, the protection for civilians and civilian objects in armed conflicts, and the international criminal prevention of severe environmental harm.
