Ryan Xavier D’Souza was a visiting fellow with the Oxford Programme on International Peace and Security at the Blavatnik School of Government’s Institute for Ethics, Law, and Armed Conflict between 2019-2020. Prior to joining Oxford, he served with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia, working in the Rule of Law and Security Institutions section. During his assignment, he established a platform through which the UN mission could engage Somali women groups on security and justice reform issues.

Before deploying to Somalia, he led advocacy and policy at the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect in New York. During his time with the Centre, he managed major campaigns at the UN on the Kigali Principles on the Protection of Civilians and UN Security Council veto restraint. He also supported efforts to establish an accountability mechanism to bring Da’esh to justice for crimes in northern Iraq against the Yazidis. His commentary and analysis have been disseminated on major outlets, including the New York Times, Association Press and Al Jazeera.

At ELAC, Ryan’s research focussed on atrocity prevention, the protection of civilians, and UN Peacekeeping. In particular, he looked at the operational compatibility of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine and the Protection of Civilians agenda, and how to improve implementation of the doctrine by UN Peace Operations.

Ryan is a graduate of New York University and the University of Edinburgh. He has previously also worked for a UK parliamentarian and the British Council in London, UK, and as a teacher in Beirut, Lebanon.