Lauri Hannikainen

Education information

Lauri Hannikainen graduated from the Faculty of Law of University of Helsinki in 1966 (LL.M) and received Licenciate of Law degree from the same University in 1971. He studied in 1971-1974 in the United States and received Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy degree from Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, which is a joint institution of Tufts University and Harvard University in Boston, in 1974.

His Doctorate in Law (LL.D) he received from University of Lapland (Finland) in 1989. The title of his dissertation was Peremptory Norms (Jus Cogens) in International Law - Historical Development, Criteria, Present Status, 1988, 781 p.

Curriculum vitae

(a)    Present positions

Lauri Hannikainen retired from his job as Professor of International Law at the University of Turku in 2009 and is, thus, an Emeritus Professor. He is currently affiliated with the Eric Castren Institute for International Law and Human Rights, Helsinki University, as a research fellow.

b)    Work at national level

Lauri Hannikainen was in the Foreign Service of Finland in1966-1973. After that until 1999 he was researcher at the Academy of Finland and researcher and teacher at various Finnish universities. In 1999-2001 he acted as Director of the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law, University of Lapland. In 2003 he was appointed as Professor of International Law at Turku University.

He was Vice-chairperson of the Finnish League for Human Rights in 1982-93 and a member of its Governing Board between 1979-82 and 1994-1999. From1994 until 2007 he was Chairperson of the Finnish Branch of Minority Rights Group International and after that a member (even now). In 2000-2 he served as legal expert of the National Advisory Board for International Human Rights Affairs and the National Board against Racism. He is continuously member of the Governing Board of the Finnish Branch of International Law Association.

c)   International Work

Lauri Hannikainen was a member of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance at Council of Europe in 2000-2014. He is member of the Editorial Boards of Nordic Journal of International Law and of Polar Law Review, and member of the Advisory Board of the Finnish Yearbook of International Law and between 2001 and 2011 he was member of the Editorial Board of Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe (ECMI, Flensburg). In the 1990’s he served the Finnish correspondent of the Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law. He has been used as an expert of minority rights by the Council of Europe and the OSCE.

Description of research and teaching

Title: Finland's Continuation War of 1941-1944 from the Perspective of International Law

- War of Aggression, of Defence and/or of Alliance (with Nazi Germany)

- Finland's Occupation of Eastern Carelia in 1941-1944