S.J.D. Candidate
Graduate Fellow, LL.M. Advisor
aameer at sjd.law.harvard.edu
Dissertation
Waging Peace: A Reimagination of War-Time Remedies and Reparations, and Lessons from Private Law
At the end of war, remedies and reparations mechanisms perform the function of delivering justice to a diversity of victims, claimants and survivors of internationally wrongful acts. Contemporary debates on post-war reparations and remedies combine various frames – ranging from viewing reparations as revenge, restitution, rehabilitation or distributive justice. My dissertation explores the question of who gets what, who is held accountable, and the principles that determine these decisions. To address the complexities of modern warfare, reparations models can benefit from a re-examination of lex lata, to derive clear rules and principles governing how to efficiently attribute responsibility for international law violations, allocate resources among diverse claimants, and rationalize the choice of one mode of reparations over another. I propose to extrapolate analogies from private law to respond to these questions. In case of mass tort claims for large-scale civil wrongs, private law rights and obligations address collective issues such as negotiation with and compensation of diverse claimants with conflicting interests, and the fair distribution of insufficient assets.
My project focuses on three elements: First, exploring grounds for a doctrinal argument to reconceptualize existing mechanisms for reparations and remedies, rooted in international law and ethics. Second, gleaning insights from mass tort compensation models and remedies under private law, to inform war-time reparations. Third, analyzing transitional justice mechanisms to devise international legal principles governing the fair and proportionate assignment of State responsibility for post-conflict peacebuilding.
Fields of Research and Supervisors
- Remedies and Reparations under International Law with Professor Gabriella Blum, Harvard Law School, Principal Faculty Supervisor
- Mass-Scale Remedies and Compensation Models with Professor John Goldberg, Harvard Law School
- Transitional Justice with Professor Martha Minow, Harvard Law School
Additional Research Interests
- Technology and Artificial Intelligence in Warfare
- U.S.- China Relations
- International Trade Law
- Law and Gender
- Law and Religion
Education
- Harvard Law School, S.J.D. Candidate 2024 – Present
- Harvard Law School, LL.M. Program 2022-2023 (requirements fulfilled, degree waived)
- Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights; the Graduate Institute of Geneva and Faculté de Droit UNIGE; LL.M. in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights 2021-2022
- Tsinghua University, Schwarzman College, Master in Global Affairs 2019-2020
- Gujarat National Law University, B.S.W., LL.B. 2013-2018
Academic Appointments and Fellowships
- Harvard Law School, 2024-2025, Graduate Program Fellow, LL.M. Advisor
- Harvard Law School, 2023-2024, Kaufman Public Service Venture Fellow
- Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, 2021-2022, Hans Wilsdorf Scholar
- Tsinghua University, 2019-2020, Schwarzman Scholar
Representative Publications
- Ameer, Arnaaz. Whose War is it Anyway?: Proportionate Reparations in Wars of Aggression. International Review of the Red Cross (2024).
Additional Information
- Languages: English, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati (native fluency), French (professional working fluency), Mandarin (elementary fluency)
Last updated: June 17, 2024