Hans-Joachim Heintze is professor of International Law at the Ruhr University of Bochum. He studied law and published a doctoral thesis on the law of state succession. He joined the Ruhr University in 1990 and teaches at the Institute for International Law of peace and Armed Conflict and is the Bochum's Director of the European Master programme Network of Humanitarian Action (NOHA). He belongs to the Boards of the European Master Programme Human Rights and Democratization (Venice) and the European Regional Master Programme Human Rights and Democratization in South East Europe (Sarajevo). His research interests are human rights, international humanitarian law and disaster response law.