PhD Thesis
Provisional PhD Thesis Title: Torture: who can be criminally responsible?
PhD Supervisor: Paola Gaeta, Andrew Clapham (second reader)
Expected completion date: 2024
The thesis look at the separate offence of torture as provided for in Article 1(1) of the UN Convention of 1984. More specifically, the analysis aims at exploring who can be held criminally responsible for torture as a separate offence. In doing so, the thesis examines the interpretations of the expressions public official and other person acting in an official capacity. By understanding who can be held criminally responsible for the discrete crime of torture under the UNCAT’s legal framework, the thesis tries to understand to what degree the discrete crime of torture can be privatised.
Profile
Victoria Priori is a fifth-year PhD Candidate at the Geneva Graduate Institute. She is working as a Teaching Assistant at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. As an Assistant, she works mostly on Public International Law, International Criminal Law and International Criminal Justice. Previously to become a Teaching Assistant at the Geneva Academy, Victoria was a Teaching Assistant at the Geneva Graduate Institute and a Research Associate for the project entitled ‘Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems and War Crimes: Who is to Bear Criminal Responsibility for Commission?’ led by Paola Gaeta. She also assisted Professor Claudio Grossman at the International Law Commission and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Freedom of Expression and Opinion Irene Khan.
Academic Work Experience
Teaching Experience
Teaching Assistant for the Interdisciplinary Masters at the Graduate Institute
Research Experience
Research Associate for the project entitled ‘Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems and War Crimes: Who is to Bear Criminal Responsibility for Commission?’ led by Paola Gaeta
Research Interests
- Torture
- International Criminal Law
- Individual Responsibility
- International Criminal Justice
Relevant Publications and Works
- Priori V., 2021. Artificial Intelligence, A Technology in Need of Answers, The Graduate Institute of Geneva
- Priori V., 2021. The UK Supreme Court in R v Reeves Taylor: A Missed Opportunity to Bridge State and Individual Responsibility, Opinio Juris
- Priori, V., 2021. Objective 8 at the Crossroads between Human Rights and National Sovereignty, Amsterdam Law Forum 13(2). [Peer Reviewed]
- Priori, V., 2021. Why the UK Supreme Court may have got R v Reeves Taylor wrong?, Annual Report Civitas Maxima
- Priori, V., 2022 To what extent is international criminal law still primarily concerned with prosecuting crimes connected to the state?, Armed Groups and International Law
- Priori, V., 2023. Italy’s Difficult Relationship with the Domestic Crime of Torture, Opinio Juris
- Gaeta, Paola and Bo, Marta and George Jain, Abhimanyu and Priori, Victoria, 2019. Bibliography of Resources Relating to Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems, SSRN
- Priori, V., 2024, Domestic Violence Plus State Acquiescence Equals Torture: A Good Idea but a Complex Reality, MenschenRechtsMagazin 29(1).
Other Work Experience
- Research Assistant for UN Special Rapporteur on the Freedom of Expression and Opinion Irene Khan (May – September 2022)
- Legal Assistant at the ILC for Professor Claudio Grossman (April – August 2022)
- Teaching Assistant at IHEID (September 2020 – September 2022)
- Research Associate for the project entitled ‘Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems and War Crimes: Who is to Bear Criminal Responsibility for Commission?’ led by Paola Gaeta
Affiliations
- Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, Geneva Graduate Institute