60th Anniversary of the Geneva Conventions – Ministerial Working Session, 26 September 2009, address by Dr Jakob Kellenberger, President of the ICRC.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, in co-operation with other institutions and organizations, organized a series of regional expert seminars on the topic "Improving Compliance with International Humanitarian Law." The seminars were organized as part of the preparation for the 28th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. Five seminars were held: in Cairo (23-24 April 2003), Pretoria (2-3 June 2003), Kuala Lumpur (9-10 June 2003), Mexico City (15-16 July 2003), and Bruges, Belgium (11-12 September 2003).

Committee of legal advisers on public international law (CADHI), 28th meeting Lausanne, 13-14 September 2004 - Intervention by Dr. Jakob Kellenberger, President of the ICRC

The purpose of the Guidelines is to set out operational tools for the European Union and its institutions and bodies to promote compliance with international humanitarian law (IHL). They underline the European Union's commitment to promote such compliance in a visible and consistent manner.

The most widely prevalent type of armed conflict today is non-international in nature. It involves hostilities between government armed forces and organized non-State armed groups or is carried on among members of such groups themselves. A major challenge has always been how to make the rules of IHL known to the opposing sides and how to ensure they are applied.

There are several aspects to reviewing the role of punishment in ensuring greater respect for international humanitarian law. First, the question of improving compliance with the law; second, focus on the punishment itself; and third, characteristics of the perpetrators.

This article assesses the impact of disciplinary military sanctions on respect for international humanitarian law. Whereas the armed forces rely on a strong principle of obedience, respect for international humanitarian law depends essentially on the superior officer whose responsibility is subject to sanctions imposed by international criminal judges within a judicial system which aims to make sanctions an effective means of ensuring respect for international humanitarian law.

This article examines the obligations of armed groups to impose sanctions and their possibilities for doing so. It discusses characteristics of armed groups that influence their willingness and ability to comply with IHL and to punish those of their members who commit violations and it analyses the different methods of punishment, including disciplinary sanctions, penal sanctions imposed by the State and penal sanctions imposed by the group itself.

Background Paper prepared for Informal High-Level Expert Meeting on Current Challenges to International Humanitarian Law, Cambridge, June 25-27, 2004

Speaking notes of Dr Jakob Kellenberger, President of the ICRC, European Parliament, Brussels, 16 September 2008

Statement by Angelo Gnaedinger, director general of the ICRC, United Nations Security Council, New York, 20 November 2007

This article was first published in (2006) African Yearbook on International Humanitarian Law, pp 1 – 16 and reproduced with the kind authorization of the editors.

Official working document of the 30th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, Geneva, 26 to 30 November 2007.

Extract from ICRC publication "International humanitarian law: answers to your questions"