Alannah Travers

I'm a British-German PhD researcher at the School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast, focusing on algorithmic warfare and civilian harm. My work connects international humanitarian law and the impact of emerging technologies. Before this, I was based in Iraq, where I remain interested in politics, personal stories and the human impact of a heating climate.

Spotify •

Islamic law and the right to life in armed conflict (Audio on Spotify)

Islamic legal traditions and the modern framework of international humanitarian law (IHL) emerged from different contexts and traditions, but they share many underlying values – such as restraint, humanity, and the protection of those not (or no longer) participating in hostilities. Islamic law therefore offers a distinct but complementary perspective to IHL on the sanctity of life (ḥurmat al-nafs), particularly in contexts where international legal frameworks lack traction, understanding, or perceived legitimacy.
Humanitarian Law & Policy Blog •

Islamic law and the right to life in armed conflict

In this post, and as part of our Emerging Voices series, legal researcher Alannah Travers explores how Islamic law, as its own coherent and longstanding legal tradition, offers a parallel framework of moral constraint during armed conflict. She argues that better understanding these Islamic legal norms can provide stronger grounds for compliance with protective norms, deepening our collective understanding of the right to life in war.
LSE Middle East Centre •

ELEVATE: Early Career Researchers’ Initiative for Strengthening Women's Climate Resilience

Thanks to the support from the British Council's Researcher Challenges Grant and in collaboration with Moja Iraq, the ELEVATE Initiative awarded funding to four teams of early-career researchers in the UK and Iraq to explore the main challenges and weaknesses in women’s resilience, and the most urgent areas for resilience-building, to then develop and implement research projects addressing these challenges.
JusticeInfo.net •

Rendez-vous à Bagdad

Entre 2013 et 2019, environ 40 000 citoyens de pays autres que l'Irak et la Syrie ont rejoint le groupe armé État islamique (EI), en provenance d'Europe, d'Afrique subsaharienne, d'Asie du Sud-Est et d'Asie centrale, et même des États-Unis et d'Australie. Lorsque des milliers d'entre eux ont été capturés sur le dernier territoire du califat vaincu, un cauchemar juridictionnel a été créé, que les États ont pour la plupart passé des années à essayer d'ignorer. Mais au moment où le Commandement...
The Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights •

Twenty years after the Haditha massacre, why are militaries no more accountable?

On the twentieth anniversary of the Haditha massacre, justice for the victims is still out of reach. The way wars are fought may be changing, but the evasion of accountability remains a defining feature of modern conflict. This post remembers the victims of Haditha and reflects on the enduring failure to deliver justice, at a time when technological advances risk deepening the same patterns of dehumanisation and impunity.
موجة Moja •

LSE and Moja round-table on Women, Law and Climate Resilience event in Baghdad overview.

The event marked the culmination of a project and report, Closing the Gap in Iraq’s Legal Framework, written by Alannah Travers with research by Sama Yas, Ahang Habib Hawrami and Yahya Ihsan Jaber. Our findings, based on interviews and fieldwork across ten provinces, shows how Iraq’s accelerating climate crisis is experienced first and foremost as a social crisis of justice and governance.
Ng Teng Fong · Sino Group Belt and Road Research I •

Fragmented Justice and Accountability in Iraq and Syria in a Multipolar World

Drawing on the contrasting trajectories of Iraq and Syria, this paper demonstrates how transitional justice itself is the contested arena shaped by power politics, legal pluralism, and selective engagement. In tracing these dynamics, and by situating these cases within a shifting geopolitical landscape, the paper shows how transitional justice is being redefined not only by domestic politics but by global power realignments, and it asks whether a universal vision of justice is still viable, or whether it will be determined by fragmented sovereignties and rival legal orders.
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