David Donat-Cattin (Ph.D., Law) is an Adjunct Associate Professor of International Law at New York University (NYU) Center for Global Affairs (2012 to present). Since 2023, he is Research Fellow of the Center for International Law Research and Policy (CILRAP) in Florence, Italy, and Senior Fellow of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.

Over the last three decades, Dr. Donat Cattin has made innovative research and publications on pivotal matters of International Law, such as victims’ rights, crimes against humanity, applicable law before the International Criminal Court and jurisdictional issues, the Rwandan genocide and the crime of aggression in and against Ukraine. In 2016, he co-authored a book entitled “International Law and the Protection of Humanity”.

Dr. Donat Cattin’s academic work has been running parallel to a career in the civil society/non-profit sector, which led to his election for three consecutive terms as Secretary-General (2014-22) of Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), the largest international network of individual lawmakers from all regions of the world, where he had been Senior Director, Legal Advisor and European Coordinator (2000-13). At PGA, he informed, sensitized and helped to mobilize parliamentarians who promoted the universality and effectiveness of the Rome Statute system in more than 120 countries, contributing to the ratification process of 78 out of the current 123 States Parties to the Statute while assisting the domestic implementing legislation processes of 37 States. He participated in the entire ICC process since 1995 as member of the Coalition for the ICC (CICC) and the European Law Students’ Association (ELSA), as well as consultant for REDRESS. One of his drafting-proposals was tabled by New Zealand in 1997 and led to the incorporation of victims’ participation in the ICC procedural law. David is currently serving pro-bono causa in the Advisory Councils of the Global Institute for the Prevention of Aggression (GIPA, NY) and the International Center for Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma (ICMGLT, NY), where he co-chairs the working group on reparative justice.

Publications

• The Unique Function of the Crime Against Humanity of Other Inhumane Acts in the Progressive Development and Codification of International Criminal Law By Cardozo International & Comparative Law Journal (Jul 23 2025)
• The ICC at 20 from the Rome Statuteâ¿¿s entry into force: looking backwards and forward, or learning from mistakes and building on achievementsâ¿¿, in THE ICC IN ITS THIRD DECADE: REFLECTING ON LAW AND PRACTISES, C. Stahn ed. By Brill/Nijhoff Publishers (Nov 07 2023)
• Making the Case for a Hybrid Chamber at the ICC Part II: The Low-Hanging Fruit for the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC [co-author with Philippa Greer] By Harvard International Law Journal (Nov 06 2023)
• Making the Case for a Hybrid Chamber at the ICC [co-author with Philippa Greer] (online ed: https://harvardilj.org/2021/05/making-the-case-for-a-hybrid-chamber-at-the-icc/) By Harvard International Law Journal (May 15 2022)
• Article 68 (Protection of Victims and Witnesses and Their Participation in the Proceedings); Article 75 (Reparations for Victims), in COMMENTARY ON THE ROME STATUTE OF THE ICC, K.AMBOS ed By Beck/Hart Publishers (Feb 01 2021)
• Victims Rights in the International Criminal Court, in INT. AND TRANSNATIONAL CRIME AND JUSTICE, M. NATARAJAN ed. By Cambridge Univ. Press (Jun 01 2019)
• What Reparations for the Descendants of the Victims of the Armenian Genocide?, in THE ARMENIAN MASSACRES OF 1915-1916 A HUNDRED YEARS LATER - OPEN QUESTIONS AND TENTATIVE ANSWERS IN INT LAW, F. LATTANZI/E. PISTOIA eds. By Springer (Jun 06 2018)
• International Law and the Protection of Humanity (co-editor) By Brill/Martinus Nijhoff Publishers (Dec 15 2016)
• Intervention of Humanity or the Use of Force to Halt Mass Atrocities, the Peremptory Prohibition of Aggression and the Interplay between Jus ad Bellum, Jus in Bello and Individual Criminal Responsibility on the Crime of Aggression By Brill/Martinus Nijhoff Publishers (Dec 15 2016)
• The Politics of Impunity and the purported Yemen model By Il Sirente/Peace Processes & Human Dignity Review (Sep 30 2015)
• Approximation and harmonization as a result of the implementation of the Rome Statute, in FRAGMENTATION AND DIVERSIFICATION OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW, L. VAN DEN HERIK & C. STAHN eds. By T.M.C. Asser Press-Cambridge Univ Press (May 01 2012)