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The Auxiliary ChamberAuthor: Bram Burger
A bi-monthly International Law Podcast with your host Bram Burger, covering current events within the field of international law and providing an educational platform for specific topics and cases. Join us for two different types of podcasts, Inter Alia a casual conversation about international law & De facto, a formal interview/expose with experts in the field. Language: en Genres: Education, News, Politics Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Understanding Conflicts: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka and the positionality of a PhD researcher
Episode 44
Friday, 28 November, 2025
The Auxiliary Chamber is thrilled to present the third and final episode of its mini-series with the brilliant Shreya Shankar on her Leiden master's thesis exploring: why do non-state armed groups comply with international law - An identity based approach. In this episode, we are going to be assembling all we talked about, and present Understanding Conflicts, The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka and look at the positionality of a PhD researcher. In the three-episode series we will have dived into how and why rebel groups around the world comply with international law and human rights law, not only from a legal perspective, but also by exploring the impacts of psychology and language on law. Today, we are finishing this journey by applying the Case Study of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka. Further, looking at how international law could improve and the positionality of being an academic Shreya Shankar is a Tamil woman of colour, a migrant, whose journey weaves together academia, activism, and the corporate world. She has been working on a PhD that explores how identity shapes compliance with international law, and she has spent years tracing the ways stories influence justice and accountability. Her work has taken her from grassroots communities and indigenous voices to global research and teaching. Alongside this, she is building a career in the corporate sector, where she focuses on compliance and risk management with the same rigor and ethical lens. She brings to her work a deep commitment to equity, compassion, and the recognition of overlooked narratives. Her story is one of bridging worlds that often seem far apart, showing how identity and expertise can come together in transformative ways. She hopes to continue to carve spaces where human stories and institutional frameworks meet, challenging both to grow.
