Naz K. Modirzadeh is the founding Director of the Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict (HLS PILAC). She is responsible for overall direction of the program, contributing to its cutting-edge research initiatives, briefing senior decision-makers, and advising governments, United Nations agencies, international humanitarian organizations, and NGOs.
Naz K. Modirzadeh, HLS Professor of Practice and HLS PILAC Founding Director. Photo credit: CRISISGROUP/Kevin Abosch.
Modirzadeh is a Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School. She writes and teaches primarily in the field of public international law, with a focus on non-use of force, armed conflict, the U.N. Security Council, and counterterrorism issues. In the Fall 2023 term, Modirzadeh is teaching Public International Law as well as a reading group; in the Spring 2024 term, she is teaching Laws of War.
Modirzadeh is on the Board of Trustees of the International Crisis Group and has served on a number of advisory boards for high-level U.N. and other initiatives. She is a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Lieber Institute for Law and Land Warfare at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Modirzadeh co-hosts ICG’s Hold Your Fire! podcast. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley and her J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Biography last updated: October 2023.
Contact
Publications
SSRN author page
Journals
“A conversation between Pablo Arrocha Olabuenaga and Naz Khatoon Modirzadeh on the origins, objectives, and context of the 24 February 2021 ‘Arria-formula’ meeting convened by Mexico,” 8 Journal on the Use of Force and International Law 291 (2021) (co-author)
“Cut These Words: Passion and International Law of War Scholarship,” 61 Harvard International Law Journal 1 (Winter 2020)
“Protecting health care in armed conflict: action towards accountability,” 391 The Lancet 1477 (Apr. 14, 2018) (co-author)
“International law and armed conflict in dark times: A call for engagement,” International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 96, No. 895/896, pp. 737–749 (2014)
“Folk International Law: 9/11 Lawyering and the Transformation of the Law of Armed Conflict to Human Rights Policy and Human Rights Law to War Governance,” Harvard National Security Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 225–304 (2014)
“Ambivalent Universalism? Jus ad bellum in Modern Islamic Legal Discourse,” European Journal of International Law, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 367–89 (2013) (co-author)
“Humanitarian engagement under counter-terrorism: a conflict of norms and the emerging policy landscape,” International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 93, No. 883, pp. 623–47 (Sept. 2011) (co-author)
“The Dark Sides of Convergence: A Pro-Civilian Critique of the Extraterritorial Application of Human Rights Law in Armed Conflict,” 86 International Law Studies 349 (Naval War College, Blue Book) (2010) (recipient of the Lieber Prize of the American Society of International Law)
“Taking Islamic Law Seriously: INGOs and the Battle for Muslim Hearts and Minds,” 19 Harvard Human Rights Journal 191 (2006)
HLS PILAC Reports and Briefings
“Resolution 2664 (2022) and Counterterrorism Measures: An Analytical Frame for States,” Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict, March 2024 (co-author with Dustin A. Lewis and Radhika Kapoor)
“An Interpretive Note for U.N. Member States on Security Council Resolution 2664 (2022),” Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict, March 2023 (co-author with Radhika Kapoor and Dustin A. Lewis)
“Advancing Humanitarian Commitments in Connection with Countering Terrorism: Exploring a Foundational Reframing concerning the Security Council,” A Guide for States, HLS PILAC, December 2021 (co-author with Dustin A. Lewis and Radhika Kapoor)
“Taking into Account the Potential Effects of Counterterrorism Measures on Humanitarian and Medical Activities: Elements of an Analytical Framework for States Grounded in Respect for International Law,” Legal Briefing, HLS PILAC, May 2021 (co-author with Dustin A. Lewis)
“Preparing for a Twenty-Four-Month Sprint: A Primer for Prospective and New Elected Members of the United Nations Security Council,” HLS PILAC, December 2020 (with Will Ossoff and Dustin A. Lewis)
“Quantum of Silence: Inaction and Jus ad Bellum,” HLS PILAC, 2019 (co-author with Dustin A. Lewis and Gabriella Blum)
“The Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate and International Humanitarian Law: Preliminary Considerations for States,” Legal Briefing, HLS PILAC, March 2020 (co-author with Dustin A. Lewis and Jessica S. Burniske). See a related blog entry on Lawfare.
“Armed Non-State Actors and International Human Rights Law: An Analysis of the Practice of the U.N. Security Council and the U.N. General Assembly,” Briefing Report, HLS PILAC, June 2017 (co-author with Jessica S. Burniske and Dustin A. Lewis)
“Pilot Empirical Survey Study on the Impact of Counterterrorism Measures on Humanitarian Action,” Counterterrorism and Humanitarian Engagement Project at HLS PILAC, March 2017 (co-author with Jessica S. Burniske). See also Comment on the Study, March 2017 [link].
“Indefinite War: Unsettled International Law on the End of Armed Conflict,” Legal Briefing, HLS PILAC, February 2017 (co-author with Dustin A. Lewis and Gabriella Blum). See also a related Lawfare post [link].
“War-Algorithm Accountability,” Research Briefing, HLS PILAC, August 2016 (co-author with Dustin A. Lewis and Gabriella Blum). See also a related Lawfare post [link].
“Suppressing Foreign Terrorist Fighters and Supporting Principled Humanitarian Action: A Provisional Framework for Analyzing State Practice,” Briefing Report, HLS PILAC, October 2015 (by Jessica Burniske and Dustin A. Lewis with Naz K. Modirzadeh).
“Medical Care in Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law and State Responses to Terrorism,” Legal Briefing, HLS PILAC, September 2015 (co-author with Dustin A. Lewis and Gabriella Blum). See also related Lawfare post [link].
Opinion Note
“Humanitarian values in a counterterrorism era,” 103 International Review of the Red Cross 401 (2021) (co-author with Dustin A. Lewis).
Humanitarian Practice Network Papers
“Counter-terrorism laws and regulations: what aid agencies need to know,” Humanitarian Practice Network Paper, Overseas Development Institute, No. 79, November 2014 (co-author)
Harvard Law School Case-Study Simulation Exercises
“Civilian Protection in Partnered Conflicts: Case-Study Simulation Exercise,” Harvard Law School Case Studies Program, October 2018 (co-author)
“Somalia in Crisis: Famine, Counterterrorism, and Humanitarian Aid: Case-Study Simulation Exercises,” Harvard Law School Case Studies Program, February 2015 (co-author):
Part A: General Background Document
Part B1: The National Security Council Dilemma
Part B2: The NGO General Counsel Dilemma
Working Group Briefing Memoranda
Katie King with Naz K. Modirzadeh and Dustin A. Lewis, “Understanding Humanitarian Exemptions: U.N. Security Council Practice and Principled Humanitarian Action,” Working Group Briefing Memorandum, Counterterrorism and Humanitarian Engagement Project, April 2016.
Security Council Briefing
Remarks to the U.N. Security Council, Briefing on the Promotion and Strengthening of the Rule of Law in the Maintenance of International Peace and Security: International Humanitarian Law, 8499th Meeting, April 1, 2019, United Nations Headquarters, New York, U.N. doc. S/PV.8499, pp. 6–7
Select Blog Posts
“The U.N. Security Council Adopts a Standing Humanitarian ‘Carve-out’,” Lawfare, December 13, 2022 (co-author)
“Counterterrorism and Humanitarian Action: Will 2020 Be a Turning Point for International Humanitarian Law at the United Nations?,” Lawfare, March 31, 2020 (co-author)
“Expert views on the frontiers of artificial intelligence and conflict,” Humanitarian Law and Policy Blog, March 19, 2019 (co-author)
“The Pentagon’s New Algorithmic-Warfare Team,” Lawfare, June 26, 2017 (co-author)
“Indefinite War,” Lawfare, February 27, 2017 (co-author)
“Accountability for Algorithmic Autonomy in War,” Lawfare, September 12, 2016 (co-author)
“Amid Investigations of Hospital Bombings, Don’t Lose Sight of Key Principles,” Lawfare, October 30, 2015 (co-author)
“Medical Care in Armed Conflict: IHL and State Responses to Terrorism,” Lawfare, September 8, 2015 (co-author)
“Folk Law and Obama Administration Mythology,” Lawfare, October 26, 2014
“A Reply to Marty Lederman,” Lawfare, October 3, 2014
“Folk International Law and Syrian Airstrikes,” Lawfare, October 2, 2014
“Guest Post: Strong Words, Weak Arguments – A Response to the Open Letter to the UN on Humanitarian Access to Syria (Part 2),” Opiniojuris.com, May 12, 2014
“Guest Post: Strong Words, Weak Arguments – A Response to the Open Letter to the UN on Humanitarian Access to Syria (Part 1),” Opiniojuris.com, May 12, 2014
“Guest Post: How International Law Could Work in Transnational Non-International Armed Conflicts: Part II of a Two-Part Series,” Opiniojuris.com, April 11, 2013 (with Jonathan Horowitz)
“Guest Post: How International Law Could Work in Transnational Non-International Armed Conflicts: Part I of a Two-Part Series,” Opiniojuris.com, April 11, 2013 (with Jonathan Horowitz)
Briefing to the U.N. Security Council
Safeguarding Humanitarian Action in Counter-terrorism Contexts, U.N. Security Council Briefing (2019)
Recent Events
Select Audio Recordings
Humanity in War, Episode 1: Humanitarian Values in a Counterterrorism Era, International Review of the Red Cross (May 18, 2022), https://soundcloud.com/user-134233261/humanitarian-values-in-a-counterterrorism-era (with Naz Modirzadeh and Dustin Lewis).
Partnering for Comprehensive Protection: National Implementation of Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflicts, Center for Civilians in Conflict (Jan. 26, 2022), https://civiliansinconflict.org/partnering-for-comprehensive-protection/ (with Naz Modirzadeh).
Jus Cogens: The International Law Podcast, Implications of State Silence concerning the Right to Self-Defense, Jus Cogens (Nov. 23, 2021), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBYvlqnjz28&ab_channel=JusCogens (with Naz Modirzadeh).
Implications of the Diversity of the Rules on the Use of Force for Change in Law, American Society of International Law (Sept. 27, 2021), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhKJZpEM73s&ab_channel=asil1906 (with Naz Modirzadeh).
Richard Atwood and Naz Modirzadeh, Hold Your Fire!, International Crisis Group (Sept. 3, 2020), https://www.crisisgroup.org/hold-your-fire-podcast (with Naz Modirzadeh).
Episodes with Naz Modirzadeh:
Season 1
Episode 1: Israel, the UAE, and Normalisation
Episode 2: Afghan Peace Talks: Dealing with the Taliban
Episode 3: Ethiopia's Political Crisis
Episode 4: Libya's Proxy War
Episode 5: President Trump’s Off-the-Rails Foreign Policy
Episode 6: What’s Behind the Fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh
Episode 7: Turkey Flexes Its Foreign Policy Muscles
Episode 8: What Makes Peace? Colombia’s Ex-President Santos Says It’s Harder than War
Episode 17: 10 Conflicts to Watch in 2021
Episode 18: Social Media and the U.S. Capitol Events
Episode 19: U.S. Sanctions: An Overused Foreign Policy Tool?
Episode 20: Syria’s Frozen Conflict
Episode 21: Africa in 2021
Episode 22: Latin America’s Tough Year Ahead
Episode 24: The War in the Sahel
Episode 25: A Dangerous New Turn in Yemen’s War
Special Episode: Gender and Conflict
Episode 26: The War on Drugs in Colombia’s Countryside
Episode 27: Good News in Libya?
Episode 29: Tshisekedi Consolidates Power in DR Congo
Episode 30: How Afghanistan Views the U.S. Troop Drawdown
Episode 31: Is the Gulf Dispute Actually Over?
Episode 32: Rising Russia-Ukraine Tensions and the West
Episode 33: What Déby’s Death Means for Chad and the Region
Episode 34: Delayed Palestinian Polls, Israeli Politics and U.S. Middle East Policy
Episode 35: UN Security Council Crankiness and Antonio Guterres' Re-election
Episode 39: COVID-19, Inequality and Protests in Colombia
Episode 40: Iran: the Vote and the Bomb
Episode 41: Biden in Europe
Episode 42: A Dramatic Turn in Ethiopia’s Tigray War
Episode 43: Ten Years of South Sudanese Statehood
Episode 46: Iraq: Protests, Iran’s Role and an End to U.S. Combat Operations
Season 2
Episode 1: Afghanistan: the Islamic State, Still No Taliban Government and a Looming Humanitarian Catastrophe
Episode 2: Al-Qaeda and ISIS Twenty Years after 9/11
Episode 3: License to Kill: Lawyering in the War on Terror
Episode 4: Avoiding Another Afghanistan: Could Al-Shabaab Seize Power in Somalia?
Episode 5: Could Talking to Mali's Jihadists Bring Peace?
Episode 6: Lebanon is Falling Apart
Episode 7: Cameroon's Forgotten Anglophone Conflict
Episode 9: The Military’s Dangerous Power Grab in Sudan
Episode 11: Bosnia Unravelling?
Episode 12: Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte: Populist or Peacemaker?
Episode 13: Western Policy and Afghanistan’s Humanitarian Devastation.
Episode 16: Can the U.S. Address Migration’s “Root Causes” in Central America?
Episode 17: Will the Iran Nuclear Deal Survive and What Happens if Not?
International Women’s Day Special Episode: Can War Be Feminist?
Episode 24: France’s Troop Withdrawal from Mali
Episode 27: Can a “Humanitarian Truce” Help End Ethiopia’s Civil War?
Episode 28: Can a Truce and New Government Help End Yemen’s War?
Episode 32: Taliban Rule in Afghanistan
Advanced Practitioner Series, Counterterrorism Laws and Their Impact on Humanitarian Action, Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (May 12, 2017), https://phap.org/PHAP/Events/OEV2017/OEV170512.aspx?EventKey=OEV170512 (with Naz Modirzadeh).
Online Expert Briefing, War Algorithms and International Law: Accountability for Technical Autonomy in Armed Conflict, Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (Nov. 1, 2016), https://phap.org/PHAP/Events/OEV2016/OEV161101.aspx?EventKey=OEV161101 (with Naz Modirzadeh and Dustin Lewis).
Up Close, Twisting the Law on the Way to the Battlefield: How the US Stretches International and Domestic Laws to Wage War on Non-State Islamist Forces, and How Those Forces Invoke Islamic Law to Justify Their Own Actions, Pursuit (Sept. 9, 2016), https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/podcasts/twisting-the-law-on-the-way-to-the-battlefield (with Naz Modirzadeh).
Online Expert Briefing, The Humanitarian Exemptions Debate, Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (July 19, 2016), https://phap.org/PHAP/Events/OEV2016/OEV160719.aspx?EventKey=OEV160719 (with Naz Modirzadeh and Dustin Lewis).
PHAP Expert IHL Briefing, International Law at the Vanishing Point of War, Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (Feb. 23, 2016), https://phap.org/PHAP/Events/OEV2016/OEV160223.aspx?EventKey=OEV160223 (with Naz Modirzadeh and Dustin Lewis).
PHAP Expert IHL Briefing, Suppressing Foreign Terrorist Fighters and Supporting Principled Humanitarian Action, Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (Dec. 17, 2015), https://phap.org/PHAP/Events/OEV2015/OEV151217.aspx?WebsiteKey=8052120b-9239-4731-a3ab-1336a529e920 (with Naz Modirzadeh and Dustin Lewis).
Online Expert Briefing, Medical Care in Armed Conflict: IHL and State Responses to Terrorism, Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (Nov. 3, 2015), https://phap.org/PHAP/Events/OEV2015/OEV151103.aspx?WebsiteKey=8052120b-9239-4731-a3ab-1336a529e920 (with Naz Modirzadeh and Dustin Lewis).
PHAP Online Briefing, Islamic Law, Terrorism, and Counterterrorism, Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (Dec. 16, 2014), https://phap.org/PHAP/Events/OEV2014/OEV141216.aspx?WebsiteKey=8052120b-9239-4731-a3ab-1336a529e920 (with Naz Modirzadeh) (recording available to members only).
GISF Webinar: The Impact of Counter-terrorism Legislation on Humanitarian Operations and Security Risk Management, Global Interagency Security Forum (Nov. 20, 2014), https://gisf.ngo/eisf-webcast-the-impact-of-counter-terrorism-legislation-on-humanitarian-operations-and-security-risk-management/ (with Naz Modirzadeh).