S1 EP1: Engaging Armed Groups

5 September 2024
Guests: Matthew Bamber-Zryd and Tilman Rodenhäuser

In this episode of Beyond Compliance: In Conversation, Katharine and Florian talk to two experts from the International Committee of the Red Cross about armed groups, civilian agency and international law.

Almost 200 million people live in areas controlled or influenced by armed groups, finds the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). How do armed groups govern these areas? What does the relationship between civilians and armed groups look like? And what are the obligations of armed groups under international law? To tackle such questions, Katharine and Florian are joined by two experts from the ICRC in this episode of Beyond Compliance: In Conversation. Matthew Bamber-Zryd is the advisor for armed groups located in the operations divisions at the HQ of the ICRC in Geneva. Tilman Rodenhäuser is a legal expert in the ICRC’s Legal Division, focusing on armed groups.

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Cited documents

ICRC engagement with armed groups in 2023, Humanitarian Law & Policy, ICRC, 10 October 2023, Matthew Zryd-Bamber

Speaker information

Matthew Bamber-Zryd is the ICRC’s Adviser on Armed Groups, based in the Geneva headquarters. Prior to joining the ICRC, Matthew conducted research on armed groups in the Middle East and North Africa for a variety of governments and international organizations including the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Swedish MFA, UN and International Alert.

Matthew’s academic research on the organization and rebel governance of armed groups, particularly those of Islamist armed groups, has been published in academic journals including Small Wars and Insurgencies, Terrorism and Political Violence and the CTC Sentinel.

Matthew is completing his PhD at the Graduate Institute, Geneva, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. He holds fellowships at both the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding at the Graduate Institute, Geneva and the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University. He is an appointed member of the Expert Research Group at the Swedish Agency for Peace, Security and Development (Folke Bernadotteakademin).

Dr Tilman Rodenhäuser is a thematic legal adviser at the International Committee of the Red Cross’ headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.Prior to joining the ICRC in 2016, Tilman has worked with the German Red Cross, DCAF, the NGO Geneva Call, and the United Nations, with missions in Africa and the Middle East.Tilman holds a PhD from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and recently published the monograph ‘Organizing Rebellion: Non-state armed groups under international humanitarian law, human rights law, and international criminal law’ (OUP, 2018). He has also published various articles in renowned international journals and received different awards for his work.