Hilde Sagon ¦ Legal Adviser and Protection Delegate, ICRC
Hilde Sagon will explain how counterterrorism legislation and policies can have adverse effects on humanitarian action. Such action, guided inter alia by the principle of impartiality, which is recognized in IHL and one of the Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, requires humanitarian engagement with all relevant actors and parties to a conflict, including non-State armed groups, even when they are designated as terrorists. Solutions can be found in international and regional instruments, as for instance in the recently adopted EU Directive on Combating Terrorism, where the provision of humanitarian activities by impartial humanitarian organisations are explicitly excluded from the scope of action of the Directive.
Hilde Sagon is Legal Adviser and Protection Delegate with the Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to the EU, NATO and the Kingdom of Belgium in Brussels, working on European Justice and Home Affairs issues with a specific focus on terrorism and related protection issues. Previously she worked as ICRC Restoring Family Links Delegate in Nepal in the aftermath of the April 2015 earthquake and as Teaching Assistant in International Law, also with a specific focus on terrorism, at the KULeuven. She has also worked as ICRC Detention Delegate in the Democratic Republic of Congo (2013-2014), and as Legal Adviser for the ICRC Brussels delegation (2009-2013) on migration, asylum and data protection issues. Hilde holds a law degree (KULeuven) that included an exchange to the Stellenbosch University in South Africa and a Masters (LL.M.) of Advanced Studies in International Humanitarian Law (ADH, Geneva).
