Dr Robin McNeill Love, Vice President IHFFC, attended the Fifth Meeting of Representatives of Commonwealth National Committees on International Humanitarian Law (Online) following an invitation by the United Kingdom National Committee on International Humanitarian Law, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the British Red Cross.
The opening addresses were greatly appreciated and set the scene for a comprehensive meeting programme. They were delivered by Lord Ahmad, (Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, UK Government), Dr Helen Durham, Director of International Law and Policy, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Mr Michael Adamson, Chief Executive, British Red Cross. The comprehensive programme then progressed through the week with a series of highly relevant and varied presentations and working groups covering themes such as the Follow up from the 33rd International Conference; trends in the Commonwealth on treaty accession and suggestions for the work of National IHL Committees; the relevance of IHL in Southern African cultural and warfare traditions; traditional warfare practices in the Pacific; IHL and Islamic law; Commonwealth States’ National IHL committees and their voluntary reporting on IHL and national IHL implementation processes; IHL and its relevence to the protection of the national environment; IHL and sexual violence in armed conflict; starvation and famine in times of armed conflict and associated legal and policy issues.
At appropriate and relevant moments during the week, Dr McNeill Love had the opportunity to remind the meeting delegates of the relevance of the Additional Protocol I-mandated IHFFC in relation to International Humanitarian Law (IHL) both in its role to conduct enquiries into alleged violations of IHL but also in the area of using its good offices to enhance an attitude of respect for IHL.
In addition, Dr McNeill Love encouraged delegates of those States who had not yet ratified the competence of the IHFFC to discuss with, and encourage, their respective governments to recognise the competence of the IHFFC. He emphasised that recognising the competence of the IHFFC would not only provide tangible support for the IHFFC and hence IHL but it would also enable their States to submit candidates for future international elections to the IHFFC which includes the election later this year.
