President Spoljaric called on all UN member states to join a global initiative launched by the ICRC, together with Brazil, China, France, Jordan, Kazakhstan, and South Africa, aimed at reinvigorating political commitment to IHL.
“This is an exceptional measure because the current situation demands it,” President Spoljaric said. “Future wars will be fought based on the standards set by conflicts today, and for the sake of civilians, we cannot afford the bar to be lowered any further. We welcome the support expressed by states around the critical importance that wars have rules.”
She addressed the U.N. General Assembly following visits this month to Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. “The evidence is clear: hospitals reduced to rubble, civilian neighbourhoods destroyed, and innocent lives lost,” President Spoljaric said. “This is not an abstract issue. It is one that impacts millions of lives every day, and one that costs hundreds of billions of dollars to recover from.”
All states are invited to join the global initiative, which will work over the next two years to find concrete recommendations for improving respect for IHL. This work will culminate in global meeting in 2026 to reaffirm shared commitment to the rules of war and their critical role in preserving human dignity.
About the ICRC
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a neutral, impartial, and independent organization with an exclusively humanitarian mandate that stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It helps people around the world affected by armed conflict and other violence, doing everything it can to protect their lives and dignity and to relieve their suffering, often alongside its Red Cross and Red Crescent partners.
For more information, please contact:
Yuriy Shafarenko, ICRC New York, e-mail: yshafarenko@icrc.org
We acknowledge Source link for the information.
