Melanie O'Brien

Guest Author

Dr. Melanie O’Brien (@DrMelOB) is Associate Professor of International Law at the University of Western Australia and President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS). She was a 2023-24 Visiting Professor at the Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies, University of Minnesota, USA; and is a Visiting Scholar with the Human Rights Center at the University of Minnesota Law School.

The International Criminal Court has cited Dr O’Brien’s work on forced marriage, and she has been an amica curia before the ICC. She has been an expert consultant for multiple UN bodies and is widely consulted by global media for her expertise on international criminal law and international humanitarian law. She has conducted fieldwork and research across six continents. Dr. O’Brien is a member of the WA International Humanitarian Law Committee of the Australian Red Cross, and an award-winning teacher of IHL and ICL.

Dr. O’Brien recent book is From Discrimination to Death: Genocide Process through a Human Rights Lens (Routledge, 2023). She is also on LinkedIn.