On the initiative of Kazakhstan, key areas of the Global Initiative to Strengthen Political Commitment to International Humanitarian Law were presented during the UN High-Level Week in Geneva, El.kz cites Kazakh MFA.
The high-level event was organized on behalf of the six initiating countries – Brazil, Jordan, China, Kazakhstan, France and South Africa – and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
In their statements, the permanent representatives of the six initiating countries shared their priorities for work on the humanitarian track and called on the international community to join forces and the Global Initiative. They noted that the platform for action was aimed at rallying states around the shared responsibility to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law.
Yerlan Alimbayev, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the United Nations in Geneva, shared the country’s experience in promoting various peace and confidence-building initiatives and providing humanitarian assistance, and noted the importance of involving all countries in peace-building and taking preventive measures to create a culture of compliance with international humanitarian law.
Speaking at the high-level event, the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, stressed that a firm commitment to respect international humanitarian law is crucial to reduce human casualties and the consequences of war. She shared information on the work plans for implementing this initiative over the next two years, with the ultimate aim of raising awareness of how to improve compliance with the rules of warfare.
Addressing the diplomatic community of Geneva, Mirjana Spoljaric recalled that the Geneva Conventions were adopted in this city more than 75 years ago and that the whole world has a collective responsibility to uphold them now and to preserve them for future generations.
About 200 representatives of more than 80 UN member states attended the event and showed great interest in working together on the Global Initiative as well as in supporting the six initiating countries.