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JUDr. František Tóth

Doctoral project

Legal Status of Private Military and Security Companies under International Humanitarian Law

Description

František focuses especially on the legal status of private military and security companies under international humanitarian law. His doctoral research project also deals with various issues connected to their corporate nature. He does not want to analyze them only through the individual status of their employees. Rather, he focuses on PMSCs as collective entities, which actively participate in armed conflict as well as post-conflict situations.

Education and professional experience

František graduated from Pan – European University, Faculty of Law in Bratislava, Slovakia (2018).  He completed his master’s degree with a thesis on International Law Aspects of Combating Terrorism. In 2021, he defended his rigorosum thesis on Foreign Terrorist Fighters in International Law at the Faculty of Law, Palacký University in Olomouc, thereby earning the title Doctor Iuris (JUDr). Currently, he is a PhD. Candidate with specialization in International and European Law at the same Faculty.

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His first real-life experience with international law was in 2018 when he did an internship at the Centre for International Law at the Institute of International Relations, Prague. Subsequently (in 2020) he completed an internship at the European Parliament in Brussels.

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Professionally, since 2020 he works as a Legal Advisor at the International Law Division of the Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic. As a Legal Advisor, he conducted various lectures for members of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic on topics related to international law. Besides, he had the opportunity to attend various courses and trainings in public international law. These include courses on international humanitarian law, organized by the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in Sanremo, Italy.

Research fields and expertise

Frantisek’s research interests include international humanitarian law, international law on the use of force, international criminal law and issues connected to UN peacekeeping. He publishes regularly professional articles from this thematic area and actively participates in conferences.  He has also conducted a short research stay at Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public and International Law in Heidelberg, Germany.

Last contributions comprise

  • Dissertation Thesis: Status of Private Military and Security Companies under International Humanitarian Law. Palacký University in Olomouc, Faculty of Law (2024). Available here.

  • TÓTH, František. The Legal Status of Private Military and Security Companies under International Humanitarian Law (original in Slovak: Právny status súkromných vojenských a bezpečnostných spoločností podľa medzinárodného humanitárneho práva). In: ŠMIGOVÁ, K. (ed.) a kol. Medzinárodné humanitárne právo v  ozbrojených konfliktoch a právnom poriadku Slovenskej republiky, Slovak Society of International Law (2022).

  • TÓTH, František. Command Responsibility for Crimes Committed by Private Military and Security Companies, Czech Yearbook of Public and Private International Law, 2022, Vol. 13, p. 207 – 222

  • TÓTH, František. Private Military and Security Companies and International Responsibility: Examining the Attributability of PMCS’s Conduct to State and International Organizations during United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, Slovak Yearbook of International Law, 2022, Vol. XI.

  • Rigorosum Thesis: Foreign Terrorist Fighters in Public International Law. Palacký University in Olomouc, Faculty of Law (2021). Available here.

  • TÓTH, František. United Nations Use of Private Military and Security Companies In the Context of Peacekeeping Operations, Slovak Yearbook of International Law, 2021, Vol. X, p. 45 - 66

  • TÓTH, František. The United Nations Peacekeeping Operations and International Law – Is There a Legal Basis? Slovak Journal of International Law, Volume X (2021).

  • TÓTH, František. Deprivation of citizenship of foreign terrorist fighters (original in Slovak: Odnímanie štátneho občianstva zahraničným teroristickým bojovníkom). In: ONDŘEJ, J. (ed.): Postavení jednotlivce v mezinárodním právu. Proměny (vývoj) právního postavení jednotlivce v mezinárodním právu, Charles University in Prague (2020).

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