International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has brought about 70 lecturers of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) to Abuja to work on reducing war crimes.
A statement on Wednesday by ICRC, said: Close to 70 lecturers of international humanitarian law (IHL) gather in a three-day workshop in Abuja.
The workshop, organised by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in collaboration with the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), aims at further enhancing knowledge of the law among participants and contributing to IHL academic discourse in Nigeria.
The statement, quoting Eloi Fillion, the ICRC head of delegation in Nigeria, read: “As we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions this year, we need to remind all stakeholders that there are indeed rules that set limits to suffering in armed conflict and that more needs to be done to fully implement them.”
He called on academics to continue contributing to better compliance by making the rules better known and understood.
In an opening keynote address, Maj.-Gen. YI Shalangwa, Director of the Nigerian Army Legal Services, also underlined the importance of IHL teaching and research in civil and military schools.
He highlighted the importance of doctrine for the integration of the IHL into military operations and presented practical measures taken by the Army to ensure conformity with the law.
The ICRC has been working on disseminating IHL among academics, federal authorities and the Armed Forces of Nigeria. A 20-year partnership between the ICRC and Nigerian universities has led to the teaching of IHL at both undergraduate and postgraduate level in 28 institutions of high education.
In 2018 alone, over 450 lecturers and students received ICRC support for the teaching, research and study of IHL in Nigeria.