Geert-Jan G. Knoops is a Professor of International Criminal Law at Utrecht University. He also practices in (International) Criminal Law at Knoops & Partners Advocaten and has appeared, and continues to act, as defence counsel before several international bodies such as the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, the ICTR, ICTY and Special Court for Sierra Leone. Currently he is acting as lead counsel before the ICTY, ICTR and the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Mr. Knoops is also admitted as defence counsel to the bar of the International Criminal Court in the Hague, as well as to the defence bar of the Cambodia Tribunal.

His doctoral dissertation of 1998 was entitled “Duress and law-finding” (Leiden University) and relates to a comparative study on the (International) Criminal Law defence of duress and the mental dimension of this. Mr. Knoops was awarded a second PhD in international law on 11 October 2004 at the National University of Ireland and his thesis was titled: “The Prosecution and Defence of Peacekeepers under International Criminal Law.”

Furthermore, Mr. Knoops holds the rank of Major (Reserve) in the Royal Netherlands Marines Corps and has been assigned as military legal advisor in several international military exercises.

In his capacity as international criminal law expert, Knoops appeared as expert witness before the Dutch Parliamentary Commission on the ISAF  mission (Uruzgan, Afghanistan) in January 2006 as well as December 2007, and before the Parliamentary Commission on Combating Piracy in April 2009. On 29 April 2009 Dr. Knoops was decorated as an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands for his legal-political services to the country.

He is an active member of the advisory board of Sunsglow, a non-governmental organisation based in New York that was launched in 1999 for the purpose of fostering the globalisation of the Rule of Law. He is an associate editor for the International Studies Journal (ISJ) that is an academic journal that comprises of contributing professors from Iran and other locations.