During its annual meeting, held in Geneva march 14 to 16, the IHFFC drew a balance of the efforts made to the respect of international humanitarian law by means of enquiries into alleged grave breaches of these rules.
The Lebanon and Darfur crises are the most recent examples of allegations of horrendous violations of the rules of international law protecting the victims of armed conflicts. In both cases, the measures undertaken to clarify the facts in a reliable way have been the object of sharp political controversy.
The IHFFC, discussing the lessons to be learned from these conflicts, concluded that impartiality and independence are a necessary condition for fact-finding which is credible and acceptable for the parties to a conflict. It repeated its ability and willingness to engage in inquiries meeting these high standards. Experience shows that inquiries of this kind are important contributions to the re-establishment of peace in a conflict area.
This was the first meeting of the IHFFC members since their election, held last December, by the 69 States parties to the First Protocol additional to the Geneva Conventions which have recognised the Commission's competence. The IHFFC has the task to enquire into any fact allegedly constituting a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols. It also has the competence to facilitate, through its good offices, the return to a situation of respect of the Conventions and the Protocol. For that purpose, the IHFFC updated its contingency planning.
The IHFFC is composed of 15 members: experts of international humanitarian law, medical doctors and military officers. It is lead by a bureau, newly elected as follows: Prof. Michael Bothe (Germany), President: Prof. Ghalib Djilali (Algeria), 1st Vice-President; Prof. Jeannette Irigoin Barenne (Chile), 2nd Vice-President; Prof. Elzbieta Mikos-Skuza (Poland), 3rd Vice-President.
