GEOFFREY SKILLEN
Geoff Skillen served as a legal officer in the Australian Defence Force from 1975 to
1998. From 1995 to 1998, he occupied the position of Director-General of Defence
Force Legal Services, the senior position for a legal officer in the Defence Force,
holding the rank of Air Commodore. From 1998 to 2010, he served as a Legal
Officer, Senior Legal Officer and Principal Legal Officer in the Attorney-General’s
Department. From 2003 to 2010, he was the Principal Legal Officer in the Office of
International Law, International Human Rights section.
He is now the Chair of Australian Red Cross’s national committee on International
Humanitarian Law.
He has attended numerous international conferences, notably the Rome Diplomatic
Conference in 1998 that adopted the Statute of the International Criminal Court.
He has authored published works in the field of international humanitarian law, and
was a member of the International Committee of the Red Cross’s group of Academic
and Governmental Experts who contributed to ICRC’s customary study on
international humanitarian law.