When we talk about an international organization that concerns itself with responding to international emergencies, then its the International Committee of the Red cross (ICRC). Such emergencies as we’re talking about here are emergencies arising from armed conflicts or situations of violence between states, they also ensure that the laws of war, International Humanitarian Law (IHL) are respected and implemented into the national laws of states.

The ICRC derives its mandate from the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their additional protocols and from the statutes of the Geneva Conventions and the international red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

It is an independent organization whose mission is exclusively humanitarian and they carry out this mission by protecting the lives and dignity of people who are victims of armed conflicts and by preventing suffering through the promotion of humanitarian law and principles.

The ICRC works to ensure compliance with IHL. It fulfils its mandate by making sure that authorities respect the rights of the people and fulfil their legal obligations under the IHL. Since every country in the world is now party to the Geneva Conventions, governments are obliged to train their armed forces to comply with the laws but it has been observed that this does not always happen. Hence, the ICRC works to incorporate the relevant rules of IHL into the training and operation of the armed forces.

It also has the mandate to disseminate the contents of the Geneva Conventions by virtue of Articles 47, 48, 127, and 144 common to the Geneva Conventions 1949. It stated that the parties to the convention should include the study of the contents of the Geneva Conventions in their medium of military and civil instruction so that its principles can widely spread throughout the entire population.

Thus, beginning from the 1980s, the ICRC has been systematically instrumental to the teaching of IHL in definitive circles but disseminating IHL for Academics began in the 1990s at the creation of the ICRCs advisory services in IHL in CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries. The ICRC’s Advisory Services also had a hand in the establishment and functioning of national IHL committees comprising of representatives and experts of various ministries who advise their various governments. Each of these committees comprised of academics who are versed in IHL and representatives of education ministries of universities.

•  In the US and Canada, IHL courses are being offered to army officers in the military law schools so that they can advise their commander accordingly on operational matters.
• Recently, the Geneva academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights have put in place some executive education programmes on IHL and related matters to develop professionals working in humanitarian fields.

The mandate of the ICRC on Preventive activities which is not very familiar to an average person is summarized in Article 5 of the Statutes of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement adopted in 1986. It is what I refer to as its inconspicuous agenda. It provides among other things that the ICRC has the responsibility to disseminate, and ensure the dissemination of international Humanitarian law, in particular by states. In confirmation of this, the president of the ICRC Mirjana Spoljaric stated in her speech in February 2023 at the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva that ‘My goal as president of the ICRC is to make Humanitarian law a political priority again for all parties to the Geneva Convention’. She states further that she believes in the preventive character of IHL  because it reduces the human cost and suffering caused by armed conflicts. The question I will like to ask now is what steps is she determining to take this year in order to increase awareness of IHL in states?

In previous years, apart from training the armed forces and the police of states and passing legislation, one of the ways by which the ICRC carries out its preventive activities is by promoting IHL at universities and among young people.

I am aware that the ICRC has supported various universities in ether integrating or inserting elements  of IHL into their curriculum. It visited the Alkahairaat University, an Islamic University in Eastern Indonesia in November 3 to 4, 2021 and partook in discussions on how Islamic Law connected with armed conflicts and IHL  and how IHL and Islamic law could be integrated into their curriculum. The draft syllabus of a newly proposed course titled ‘Fiqh and IHL’, was presented by the Dean and made compulsory for all students in the faculty of Islamic studies. This brings me to the question of why the ICRC should not make IHL a compulsory course which must be offered in certain degrees in the universities such as Law and Political Science,  just like it was made compulsory for Islamic Studies Student in the Alkahairaat University?

In the University of Ilorin, a government owned university in north central Nigeria, IHL was introduced to the law students postgraduate syllabus some years back but it was just an elective course which many students chose not to do obviously because other courses such as business law seem to have more prospects than IHL. Students who chose the IHL course would of course be exposed to the laws of armed conflict but what about those who did not choose it and who will not? I was opportune to take IHL in the university during my postgraduate degree in Law and that is why I am aware of the International Law on conflicts and war and the more reason why I am taking my second masters in International Conflict and Cooperation.

Humanitarian operations in the field and alleviating of suffering of victims of armed conflict are the most popular function of the ICRC known to many but it is worthy of note that one of its foremost activities after it came to being in 1863 was dissemination of IHL to universities. The ICRC after World War I, when it took on operational functions in armed conflicts continued and heightened its activities towards dissemination of IHL to universities and it did this through publications and courses. The basis of ICRC’s effort to increase the study of IHL in universities is based on Articles 47, 48, 127, and 144 common to the Geneva Conventions 1949. It stated that the parties to the convention should include the study of the contents of the Geneva Conventions in their medium of military and civil instruction so that its principles can widely spread throughout the entire population. And in Article 83(1) of the Additional Protocol 1, the parties(states) promised to encourage the study by the civilian population so that everybody can be aware of the law.

Though these sections of the law speak generally on the mode of dissemination and did not specifically mention universities, it could be inferred from their content. The 1952 and 2016 Commentaries to the Geneva Convention provides that every one must have a good knowledge of the convention and University is one major means by which ‘civilian authorities, members of the executive, legislature and judiciary as well as law enforcement officers could be impacted with the knowledge of the rules of IHL. Universities are at the center of this role of dissemination because IHL is a field of Public International Law and Universities are in the best position to teach because their function is to empower students to impact their world and generation positively.

It was the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movements ‘Guidelines for the 1990s’ which gave an official guidance to dissemination. It defined the scope, target audience, approaches and the means for meaningful IHL dissemination, thus, dissemination was more organized from 1995 to 2005. One of the laid down approaches is by integrating IHL into the Academia Curricula. The ICRC liaised with education authorities majorly ministries of universities to promote the inclusion of IHL in the curricula of leading universities.

As of 1990, over 40 universities in the Commonwealth of Independent States, Central Europe and the Balkans have IHL integrated into their curricula. Only that the issues of whether the course should be for undergraduate or postgraduate, or a stand-alone or part of another course, or the number of hours to be used, or whether it should be an elective or compulsory course was left open for the universities to decide. The success of this approach made it to be carried out in five other continents as from the 1990s.

• In India for example, IHL was integrated in 1998 into the curricula of undergraduate Law programmes carried out by the 550 law colleges which were affiliated to it, while 20 universities had IHL as a full optional course.
• 35 universities had IHL as an optional course in their masters in Defence and Strategic Studies Programme.
• 42 Schools in the US were offering IHL as a stand-alone course
• South Africans as at 2009, had 10 universities offering IHL as part of their Public International Law Programme
• China as at 2006 had most of its university textbooks on Public International containing a brief module on IHL.
• In 2006, Columbia completed the integration of IHL into its curricula and it was being taught in nine universities at undergraduate level and one at postgraduate.

The above details shows how IHL integration efforts in the Universities increased in the 1990s though it does not represent all the efforts.

 

Regarding governance of the ICRC, no organization can function without appropriate governance and thus the ICRC has 6 governing bodies known as the Assembly, The Assembly Council, The office of the President, The Directorate, The Internal Audit Unit and the Data Protection Commission or DPC. The Assembly is the highest governing body consisting of the President and Vice President of the ICRC and saddled with the responsibilities of formulating policies, objectives and strategies while the Assembly Council prepares the the Assembly’s activities and takes decisions. The office of the president is made up of the president and Vice-president but while the President is responsible for the ICRC’s external relations, the Vice-President assists and substitutes the President when necessary.

Moving on to the issue of how the ICRC gets funding for the fulfilment of its mandate and mission. It is the states that are party to the Geneva Convention that make voluntary contributions. Contributions are also made by the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Supranational Organizations such as the European Commission and other Public and Private Agencies. What happens then if the funding of the ICRC falls short of the need at hand? It simply puts up an additional plea. The ICRC is currently making a global appeal for its operation in 2023, there are records as well of its appeals in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively. The question now is how does the ICRC cope in a situation of lack of fund to aid the wounded in conflict, offer assistance to the displaced, helping to bring families back together and performing its general humanitarian functions which are mostly emergencies. How does it attend to emergencies with lack of funds?

A little bit of history in conclusion

Borne out of a meeting of 5 members held in Switzerland, Geneva in 1863. One of the participants of the meeting that became the ICRC today, Henry Dunant had published a book in the previous year known as ‘A souvenir of Solferino’ where he advocated that the care of soldiers wounded during war should be improved. So the Committee worked on Henry Dunant’s proposal and succeeded in persuading the governments to establish National Relief Societies to assist military medical services. In August 1864, they succeeded again in making governments adopt the first Geneva Convention in which Armies were mandated to take care of wounded Soldiers regardless of whose loyalist they were. The Treaty also introduced a common symbol for the medical services which is a red cross on a white background. Initially, the ICRC’s major function was that of coordination but it grew into having to participate in field operations as there was increasing demand for a fair middleman between warring parties(belligerents). It improved in the fifty years that followed by establishing national societies and the Geneva convention was adjusted to include warfare at sea.

The committee has since then been active during the first and second world wars and in the civil wars in Ethiopia, South America and Spain by

• opening a prisoner of war agency in Geneva.
• restoring broken links between captured soldiers and their families.
•  prohibiting the use of arms causing extreme suffering.
• visiting political prisoners.
• running ambulance service across the battlefield.
• making relief supplies available for both prisoners of war and civilians.
• encouraging the governments to uphold and implement the principles of International Humanitarian Law. This it has done by encouraging its teaching in universities, organizing student competitions, supporting the establishment of IHL academic centers and lots more.