OAU, ICRC Call for Respect of International Humanitarian Law

The Organization of African Unity held a joint seminar here Monday with the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), urging African countries to enhance the awareness and respect of international humanitarian law (IHL) in the 21st century.

Assistant Secretary General of the OAU Said Djinnit said the OAU has committed itself to the humanitarian agenda in Africa and pledged to promote the awareness and respect of the fundamental principles of IHL.

Jacques Forster, vice president of the ICRC, said that IHL action targets the consequences and not the cause of the conflicts, and is not aimed at resolving conflict. The only objective of IHL is to protect life and human dignity, he said. ICRC head of mission to the OAU Dominique Buff said in his statement that dramatic situation of conflicts, the grave breaches of the law of war and the difficulties caused in dealing with humanitarian activities in African continent would be addressed by the joint seminar.

Besides the current one, the OAU and ICRC have jointly organized five seminars since 1994 on various major humanitarian concerns in Africa.

The seminars, focusing on the implementation of IHL, were designed to strengthen the relationship between the OAU and ICRC, and to better address in a coordinated manner humanitarian concerns through mobilizing political and diplomatic support for humanitarian actions, OAU officials said.

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