Thompson Chengeta

Dr. Thompson Chengeta studied law at Harvard Law School, University of Pretoria (UP) and Midlands State University (MSU). He is a Fellow at the South African Research Chair in International Law, University of Johannesburg (UJ), Adjunct Senior Lecturer at MSU and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Institute of International and Comparative Law in Africa, UP.

Thompson has lectured and presented seminars in public international law, international humanitarian law, international human rights law and international criminal law at institutions such as MSU, Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, Emory Law School, UJ and UP. He has published in the above-mentioned fields in peer-reviewed journals such as the Harvard International Law Journal, Brooklyn Journal of International Law and the New York University Journal of International Law and Policy. He is also the author of the hypothetical cases of the Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot Court Competition that is organised by the Centre for Human Rights and the United Nations (UN) Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Thompson currently serves as an expert member of the International Panel on the Regulation of Autonomous Weapons (www.ipraw.org) – an independent and interdisciplinary panel of international experts working in the framework of the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. He also serves as an international law expert for the International Committee for Robots Arms Control (icrac.net/). He is also the Lead Campaigner (Africa) for the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots (www.stopkillerrobots.org) that comprises of NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

Previously, Thompson has worked on the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial killings and has experience with the OHCHR and the International Criminal Court.

Thompson’s current research project is on populism, constitutionalism, rule of law, elections and democracy.