Brigadier General Karl Edlinger is a retired military officer with forty-seven years' service in the Infantry Corps and the Armed Forces Legal Service. Commissioned in 1978 he served in a number of operational appointments in the Infantry finally as commander of a headquarters battalion. After completing a law degree at the University of Vienna, he was posted to the Austrian Ministry of Defence, responsible for administrative and military law. From 1998 to 2002 he was responsible for the legal training of senior officers at the National Defence Academy in Vienna.
In 2002 he was appointed head of Human Resources Management in the Command Staff of the Austrian Armed Forces and promoted to Brigadier General. Since 2008 he was serving as legal adviser for commanders on different levels and as legal expert for various project teams or inquiry boards. Fom 2012 to 2015 he continued his studies with a doctorate in law from the University in Vienna.
BrigGen Edlinger developed and directed regularly courses on Law of Armed Conflict at the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in Sanremo, where he is a member of the Council. BrigGen Edlinger is also after his retirement in 2021 working as guest lecturer at various institutions.
In 2024 he was awarded the title of Honorary Professor.
Guest lecturer at the following institutions:
- Militärakademie Wr. Neustadt und Landesverteidigungsakademie Wien
- Military Academies in Nyakimana (Rwanda), Lisbon (Portugal), Turino (Italy), Athens (Greece);
- Donau Universität in Krems;
- Mother Theresa University in Skopje (North Macedonia)
- Peacekeeping Operations Centre (Belgrade/Serbia);
- Partnership for Peace Training Center in Ankara (Türkiye);
- Geneva Centre for Security Policy (Switzerland);
- Geneva Call in Kiew (Ukraine);
- National Defence University in Bagdad (Iraq)
- International Institute of Humanitarian Law in Sanremo (Italy)