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Resolution 1623 (2008) Final version
Activities of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
1. The International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC) was established in 1863; it is at the origin
of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (the Movement).
2. It is an impartial, neutral and independent organisation with
an exclusively humanitarian mandate to protect the lives and dignity
of victims of war, armed conflict and internal violence and to provide
them with assistance. It directs and co-ordinates international
relief activities conducted by the Movement in situations of conflict.
It also seeks to prevent suffering by promoting and strengthening
humanitarian law and universal humanitarian principles.
3. The ICRC has an international legal mandate under the 1949
Geneva Conventions and the 1977 additional protocols to visit prisoners,
organise relief operations, reunite separated families and to undertake other
humanitarian activities during armed conflicts. It also has a mandate
under its statutes to undertake similar work in situations of internal
violence where the Geneva Conventions do not apply.
4. The ICRC has a dedicated staff of over 12 000 worldwide, maintaining
a presence in 80 countries and helping millions of persons affected
by armed conflict or other situations of violence. It is generously
supported by European states, in particular by Belgium, Denmark,
France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
5. International humanitarian law (IHL) remains just as relevant
today in international and other armed conflicts, and it remains
imperative to protect all victims of armed conflict, whatever side
they are on.
6. The Parliamentary Assembly welcomes the universal ratification
of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the entry into force of Protocol
III additional to these conventions on 14 January 2007. It also
expresses the hope that all IHL treaties will achieve universal
acceptance.
7. Furthermore, the Assembly welcomes the progress made in the
implementation of IHL and acknowledges the importance of taking
measures at all levels to achieve its effective implementation, dissemination
and enforcement. Therefore, the Assembly recommends to the Council
of Europe member states to:
7.1. actively
support the work of the ICRC and its Advisory Service on IHL aimed
at assisting states to accede to and implement IHL treaties;
7.2. encourage partnerships and synergies in the implementation,
dissemination and development of IHL with other countries, international
and regional organisations, the ICRC, Red Cross and Red Crescent
National Societies and their international federation, academic
institutions and non-governmental organisations;
7.3. strengthen the efforts to enforce IHL at the domestic
and international levels, bearing in mind that impunity for crimes
under international law is not acceptable and that victims’ rights
must be addressed in accordance with international law;
7.4. translate IHL in relation to the conduct of military operations
and integrate them into military regulations and mechanisms;
7.5. provide ongoing in-depth training for armed and security
forces personnel at all levels on the rules of IHL and their concrete
application, including in the context of multinational peacekeeping
operations.
8. The Assembly fully supports the ICRC’s institutional objective
for the period 2007-10 aimed at adapting the ICRC’s operational
framework and activities in order to respond to the needs of the
victims of armed conflicts and other forms of armed violence in
the most timely and effective way possible. The Assembly encourages
the ICRC to:
8.1. further increase
its focus on protection activities, which can best be done by improving
its financing;
8.2. continue its efforts to prevent enforced disappearances;
8.3. provide more support to governments to resolve the issue
of persons unaccounted for as a result of armed conflict or internal
violence, especially in the countries of the former Yugoslavia and
of the Caucasus;
8.4. further contribute to building and maintaining the capacity
of National Red Cross Societies to promote IHL, the principles and
humanitarian values of the Movement and to consolidate the National Red
Cross Societies’ capacity to restore family links;
8.5. continue to participate in institutional and operational
humanitarian co-ordination with other humanitarian organisations
and adapt to new forms of co-ordination developed within the current
United Nations’ humanitarian reform, while upholding the neutral
and independent approach of the ICRC;
8.6. further promote IHL through education and, in particular,
through the implementation of the Exploring Humanitarian Law (EHL)
programme aimed at integrating IHL into the formal curricula of secondary
schools around the world, as part of the basic education given to
students;
8.7. pursue work aimed at minimising the suffering of civilians
due to landmines, cluster munitions and other explosive remnants
of war;
8.8. continue its work on protection of migrants, refugees
and internally displaced persons.
9. The Assembly recommends to member states of the Council of
Europe and to the states whose parliaments enjoy observer status
with the Parliamentary Assembly to:
9.1. ratify, if they have not done so, and fully implement, inter alia, the 1977 and 2005 Additional Protocols
to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, the 2003 Protocol on Explosive Remnants
of War, the 2000 Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights
of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, the
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced Disappearance, and the Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition
of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel
Mines and on their Destruction;
9.2. create a domestic legal framework for the investigation
and prosecution of crimes under international law, in particular
war crimes, and for those states that have not yet done so, ratify
the Statute of the International Criminal Court;
9.3. sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions when it is opened
for signature on 2 December 2008 in Oslo, Norway, and take the necessary
steps to ratify it as soon as possible;
9.4. enact the necessary legislation implementing international
humanitarian norms and allocate the necessary financial resources
for their implementation;
9.5. accord ICRC personnel unconditional access to persons
deprived of their freedom in order to monitor the well-being of
detainees;
9.6. solve the problem of missing persons by using the good
offices and experience of the ICRC;
9.7. protect cultural property from the effects of armed conflicts;
9.8. provide the ICRC with financial support for its ongoing
activities and its future monetary appeals;
9.9. integrate education on IHL in the formal curricula of
secondary schools as part of the basic education of students;
9.10. promote knowledge of the ICRC and its activities;
9.11. promote the independence and auxiliary role of the National
Red Cross and the Red Crescent Societies;
9.12. adopt measures on the use and protection of the distinctive
emblems and signs of the Movement recognised under the Geneva Conventions
and their protocols.