

The Mandate
For whom international law matters
"If international law […] is not respected then the alternative in the long run will be chaos..."
Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh, former ICJ Judge.
Researched and filmed over eight years, with unprecedented access to judges from the International Court of Justice as well as leading experts in international law, diplomacy and politics, The Mandate takes us on a deeply personal and philosophical journey into the battle of relevancy for international law. As lawful borders are invaded, cries of dissent are stamped out and fake news goes viral, the film poses the question ‘who holds the right and responsibility – the mandate – to act’?
Stefan Ziegler
Director and Producer
Stefan Ziegler was born in 1966 in Zürich, Switzerland. He graduated with a BA from University College Cork (1996-99), an MA in International Studies from University of Limerick (1999-00), and an International Postgraduate Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance from Fordham University (2007).
Fluent in English, French and German, Stefan has had a long career centered on humanitarian action. He worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross (2001-5) in Jenin, Abkhazia, Western Georgia, Geneva, Serbia and Montenegro; for the United Nations Relief and Workers Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (2005-13) in Gaza, Jerusalem and Ramallah; for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (2014-15) in Eastern Ukraine, and as an election observer for the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and for the EU (since 2017) in over sixteen countries.
He is currently working as an independent humanitarian trainer and lecturer with international clients and has been a featured speaker at panels and conferences worldwide. He is an Associate Professor (2014 to present) at the Geneva School of Diplomacy. He is now also a member of faculty at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights.
Throughout his career, Stefan has witnessed firsthand the urgent need to strengthen democratic and judicial institutions and in 2015 he founded AdvocacyProductions in Geneva to create films with impact that focus on issues of international justice.
He is the producer of the 2018 film BROKEN – A Palestinian Journey Through International Law, winner of seven international film festival awards. AdvocacyProductions’ series of testimonies by international law experts have been his first experiences as a film director. THE MANDATE is his second feature documentary project.
