An Adelaide-based senior officer with a United Nations inter-agency protection project will give a group of Flinders University law students a first hand account of what it was like to be at the front line of the humanitarian disaster caused by Islamic State in Iraq.

Lawyer Paul White recently returned home from a deployment as Senior Protection Officer with UNHCR in the Kurdish Region of Iraq and will today visit Flinders University Law School to share his experiences with International Law students and staff.

Mr White – who has worked for various UN humanitarian agencies across the world – spent six months in Baghdad last year, until he was evacuated and relocated to the small city of Dohuk, located near the borders of Syria and Turkey.

An Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Law at Flinders University, Mr White spent the second half of 2014 leading a team of about 30 UN national and international protection staff to help more than 500,000 internally displaced people who had arrived in Dokuh to escape the Islamic State.

Associate Dean (International) of Flinders Law School Professor David Bamford said

Mr White’s work with the UN highlighted how legal skills and knowledge could assist in tragic situations across the world.

“When you think of how best to respond to humanitarian crises around the world, be it natural disasters or internal conflict, lawyers are not usually the first to come mind,” Professor Bamford said.

“The aim at Flinders Law School is to provide our students with the opportunities to learn about how legal skills and knowledge can make a valuable contribution to international crises.

“We are thrilled to have someone with this first-hand experience and insights into these situations share their personal knowledge with students and staff.”

Mr Bamford said that in keeping with the Flinders Law School’s emphasis on integrating theory and practice, Mr White would discuss both the legal issues and rules involved in these situations and how they work on the ground in real life situations.