Dr Conrad Nyamutata

Conrad is a senior lecturer in international law, with specialisation in international child law, rights and international humanitarian law.  He joined the university as a doctoral student in 2011, earning his PhD (without amendments) in 2015. 

He has worked for the British Red Cross and Leicester Racial Equality Council. Previously, Conrad worked as a senior journalist in Zimbabwe.

Conrad’s interdisciplinary work focuses on the intersection between childhood, cultures and international law. His research examines law within the context of critical geographies of childhood and rights. His PhD focused on children and armed conflict and the philosophy of international law. 

He has published on international child law in leading journals, including the International Journal of Children's Rights and the Journal of Conflict and Security Law. He is co-author of International Child Law (Routledge, 2020)

He also researches on terrorism. His paper on children and terrorism has been cited in the UN Report (2021) ‘Position of United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism on the human rights of adolescents/juveniles being detained in North-East Syria.’ 

Conrad has also researched and published on the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic on rights, culture and law.

He teaches and supervises both undergraduates and postgraduates. His teaching areas include International Child Law, International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law. 

He was head of research students for the Centre for Law, Justice and Society at DMU (2020-2024).

1. Centre for Law, Justice and Society (DMU)
2. Childhood, Law and Policy Network (CLPN)

1.  Book chapter ‘Article 18: Protection of the family’ in Sloth-Nielsen, J, Fokala, E & Odongo, G (eds) The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child: A Commentary (Pretoria University Law Press, 2024)
2. Book Review: Childhoods of the Global South: Children’s Rights and Resistance, Liebel, M et al, Child  and Family Law Quarterly 36 (3) p. 271 (2024)
3. Colonialism and Human Rights Oxford Bibliographies, Childhood Studies, 2024 (with E. Faulkner)
4. Critically-Ill Children and the International Human Rights System: Assessing the Status and Role of the UNCRPD in the Case of Archie Battersbee. European Journal of Health Law (published online ahead of print 2024). https://doi.org/10.1163/15718093-bja10118
5. Decolonising and decriminalising child marriage in Africa’. Sociology Compass, e13131 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.13131
6. Funerary Rites and Rights of the Dead: Jurisprudence on covid-19 Deaths in Kenya, India and Sri Lanka, Global Journal of Comparative Law 12 (2023) 36–69
7. International Child Law - 4th Edition Routledge (2020) (with Rajnaara C. Akhtar)
8. Do Civil Liberties Really Matter During Pandemics? 9 (1) International Human Rights Law Review (2020) 
9. ‘The ideological construction of Western ISIS-associated females’ Journal of Language and Politics (2020)
10. The Decolonisation of Children’s Rights and the Colonial Contours of the Convention on the Rights of the Child’ 28 (1) The International Journal of Children’s Rights (2020) (with E. Faulkner)
11. Young Terrorists or Child Soldiers? ISIS Children, International Law and Victimhood’ Journal of Conflict and Security Law (2020)
12. Children in Daesh: a discourse and legal analysis:  “Gender and Counterterrorism: Enhancing Women’s Role and Empowering Women”, NATO, 22-24 September 2020 COE-DAT, Ankara, Turkey, p. 23-25.
13. Childhood in the digital age: a socio-cultural and legal analysis of the UK’s proposed virtual legal duty of care’ International Journal of Law and Information Technology, 27, Issue 4, 2019.
14.   ‘Commentary: Prosecutor v Lubanga’ in Helen Stalford, Kathryn Hollingsworth, Stephen Gilmore (eds) Rewriting Children’s Rights Judgments, From Academic Vision to New Practice, Hart Publishing 2017
15.  From Heroes to Victims: An Analysis of the Mutation of the Social Meaning of Child Soldiering,  International Criminal Law Review - Volume 14, Issue 3 (2014) pp.619 - 640
16. Engaging or Shaming? An Analysis of UN’s Naming and Shaming of Child Abusers in Armed Conflict, Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies - Volume 4, Issue 1 (2014) pp.151–173
17. Self-Referrals Contra Objectives of International Criminal Justice Journal of Philosophy of International Law - Volume 4, Issue 1 (2013) pp.30-55
18. Electoral Conflict and Justice: The Case of Zimbabwe African Journal of Legal Studies - Volume 5, Number 1 (2012) pp. 63-89

1. International child law
2. Children's rights and critical geographies of childhood
3. International humanitarian law (law of armed conflict)
4. Armed conflict, child soldiery and terrorism
5. International criminal law 
6. International human rights law 
7. Media, discourse analysis and law

1. International Child Law
2. International Law
3. International Humanitarian Law
4. International Human Rights Law
5. Constitutional and Administrative Law
6. English and European Legal Systems

1. PhD, International Law (De Montfort University)
2. LLM, International Human Rights & International Humanitarian Law (Lancaster University)
3. MA, Mass Communications (University of Leicester)
4. Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice  (PGCAP)
5. Diploma, Mass Communications (Harare Polytechnic)

1. International Child Law
2. International Humanitarian Law
3. International Human Rights Law

1. Business & Law (BAL) Research Oscar (DMU, 2020)
2. Investigative journalism award in Southern Africa (Media Institute of Southern Africa/NiZa, 2002)

External Examiner, Birmingham City University Law School

1. Childhood, Law and Policy Network (CLPN - 2022- present)

CLPN brings together scholars and practitioners researching social, political, and legal issues relating to children and childhood 

1. Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP)

1. “Are clinical guidelines a proxy for the standard to care in clinical negligence?” (British Academy Leverhulme Grant): Senior research assistant to Professor Jo Samanta (2017-2018).
2. ‘Children’s Rights Judgments Project’ (Arts and Humanities Research Council): Contributor/Author (2015-2017)

Annual postgraduate conferences: Centre for Law, Justice and Society

1. Conference paper: ‘Children in Daesh: a discourse and legal analysis’ at “Gender and Counterterrorism: Enhancing Women’s Role and Empowering Women”, NATO, 22-24 September 2020 COE-DAT, Ankara, Turkey.
2. Seminar presentation: ‘The Decolonisation of Children’s Rights ’at Oxford University Seminar Series - ‘UNCRC: Roles and Effectiveness’ 24 January 2022
3. Workshop presentation: United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) SDGs Workshop "International Justice and Goal 16: Beyond the Targets" – Children & young people: the role of academia in international criminal justice and pedagogy - 8 September, 2022
4. International Conference: ‘’20 Years Since The Rome Statute Of The International Criminal Court (ICC) – The Status Of International Rule Of Law, And Access To International Criminal Justice In Africa.’’” Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya: 20-21 September 2018

1. Funerary Rites and Rights of the Dead: Jurisprudence on covid-19 Deaths in Kenya, India and Sri Lanka, Global Journal of Comparative Law 12 (2023) 36–69
2. International Child Law - 4th Edition Routledge (2020) (with Rajnaara C. Akhtar)
3. ‘Do Civil Liberties Really Matter During Pandemics?’ 9 (1) International Human Rights Law Review (2020) 
4. ‘The ideological construction of Western ISIS-associated females’ Journal of Language and Politics (2020)The Decolonisation of Children’s Rights and the Colonial Contours of the Convention on the Rights of the Child’ 28 (1) The International Journal of Children’s Rights (2020) (with E. Faulkner)
5. Young Terrorists or Child Soldiers? ISIS Children, International Law and Victimhood’ Journal of Conflict and Security Law (2020)

British Red Cross, Leicester  - media and communication

Abduljawad Sheriff Kaunde: ‘Implementation of socio-economic rights as a solution to poverty and inequality: A case of Malawi’ (2nd supervisor) 

1.  ‘Are clinical guidelines a proxy for the standard to care in clinical negligence?’ (British Academy Leverhulme Grant (2017-2018)

This was a collaborative interdisciplinary empirical study exploring how evidence-based clinical guidelines are used by defendant doctors, the courts and lawyers, and the extent and manner in which they are used as a proxy for the standard of care expected by law in clinical negligence litigation.

Responsibilities of designing questionnaire; identifying clinical negligence lawyers, collection and analysis of data and presenting the findings.

1.  ‘Children’s Rights Judgments Project’ (AHRC)

The project was a collaboration between 56 experts from jurisdictions across the world to develop the emerging methodology of judgment (re)writing, adopting a children’s rights approach. Participants revisited an existing case, drawn from a range of legal sub-disciplines (such as health, education, immigration, family, child protection and criminal justice) and jurisdictions (including supra-national courts), with a view to redrafting the judgment from a children’s rights perspective. Conrad and Emeritus Professor Trevor Buck worked on the case of Thomas Lubanga, convicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the conscription, enlistment and use of child soldiers (Prosecutor v Thomas Lubanga Dyilo ICC Case No ICC-01/04-01/06, 14 March 2012). Both contributed chapters to an edited collection from the project, ‘Rewriting Children’s Rights Judgments: From Academic Vision to New Practice’. The book was launched at the Supreme Court on 27 November 2017 by the President of the UK Supreme Court, Baroness Hale.  

Reviewer for:

1. Grant application: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2023)
2. Journal of Child and Family Law Quarterly (2021)
3. Journal of International Children's Rights (2017)
4. The Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly  (2023)

Impact:

1. Cited  in UN   Report 2021 ‘Position of United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism on the human rights of adolescents/juveniles being detained in North-East Syria’ (p.6, May 2021).
2. Interviewed by USA newspaper, Newsday, on Covid-19 litigation: 'Challenges to public-health mandates escalate as LI, nation face fights over COVID-19 rules' (26 September, 2021)