icrc-annual-report-2013

USE OF FORCE IN ARMED CONFLICTSPublished in November 2013, a report entitled The Use of Force inArmed Conflicts: Interplay between the Conduct of Hostilities andLaw Enforcement Paradigms provides an account of the debatesthat took place during an expert meeting organized by the ICRCin 2012.PRIVATE MILITARY AND SECURITY COMPANIESThe ICRC continued to promote the Montreux document on privatemilitary and security companies, which has been signed by49 States and 3 international organizations as of end-2013. At theMontreux+5 Conference, organized jointly by the government ofSwitzerland and the ICRC in December, participating States tookstock of the progress made in terms of regulation in this area,identified remaining challenges in the national implementationof the document and expressed interest in institutionalizing thedialogue among signatory States.UPDATE OF THE COMMENTARIES ON THE 1949 GENEVACONVENTIONS AND THEIR 1977 ADDITIONAL PROTOCOLSThroughout the year, various authors from inside and outside theorganization contributed to the project to update the commentarieson the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their 1977 AdditionalProtocols. Research has been carried out on some 100 topics sincethe project started. By the end of 2013, commentaries on morethan 120 articles had been drafted and 70 of these draft texts hadbeen reviewed by the Editorial Committee. As a result, the updatedCommentary on the First Geneva Convention will be submittedfor peer review in 2014 and is on track for publication in 2015.LANDMINES, CLUSTER MUNITIONS AND EXPLOSIVEREMNANTS OF WARICRC expert contributions regarding the implementation of theAnti-personnel Mine Ban Convention and the Convention onCluster Munitions helped ensure that the States Parties were makingprogress on their commitments under these Conventions.These included clearance and stockpile destruction, the adoptionof national implementing legislation and victim assistance. Insupport of the implementation of the Anti-personnel Mine BanConvention, the ICRC commented on several requests for extensionsof clearance deadlines, which led to improvements in theinformation provided in the requests and contributed to the StatesParties’ analysis and decision-making.The ICRC also continued to promote universal adherence toand implementation of the Protocol on Explosive Remnants ofWar (Protocol V) of the Convention on Certain ConventionalWeapons. It published and disseminated a report on an expertmeeting convened in November 2012 to identify and addresschallenges related to the establishment of responsibilities for therecording, retention and transmission of information regardingthe use or abandonment of explosive ordnance.ARMS TRADE TREATYAfter eight years of efforts by civil society actors and the ICRC topromote an international treaty as a means of protecting civiliansfrom the effects of unregulated or poorly regulated arms transfers,the Arms Trade Treaty was adopted by the UN General Assemblyon 2 April 2013. The ICRC actively engaged governments in therun-up to and during the final Diplomatic Conference on thistreaty, particularly to ensure that it would contain strong IHLbasedcriteria for arms transfers. The treaty’s adoption representeda historic advance and a significant response to the global humanitarianconcerns related to this issue, and the ICRC actively promotedits ratification and implementation.NUCLEAR WEAPONSIn international discussions on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament,a growing number of States are echoing the concernsexpressed by the Movement in Resolution 1 adopted by the 2011Council of Delegates, which appealed to States to begin negotiationsto prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons and encouraged NationalSocieties to take up the issue with their governments. Progress wasmade on the resolution’s implementation, thanks to collaborativeefforts by National Societies and the ICRC, including the developmentof an action plan adopted by the 2013 Council of Delegates.The ICRC actively participated in an intergovernmental conferenceon the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons, hosted byNorway, and continued to communicate the Movement’s concernsabout these weapons in a variety of intergovernmental fora, includingmeetings of States party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferationof Nuclear Weapons and of the UN General Assembly.USE OF TOXIC CHEMICALS AS WEAPONS FOR LAWENFORCEMENTIn February, after two expert meetings on the implications for life,health and international law of the use of so-called “incapacitatingchemical agents”, the ICRC published its position on the matter.The ICRC considers that the use of toxic chemicals as weaponsfor law enforcement purposes should be limited exclusively toriot control agents, which have long been accepted as a legitimatemeans of law enforcement. The ICRC widely disseminated itsposition, notably among the States party to the Chemical WeaponsConvention, including through a statement to the Convention’sReview Conference in April.OTHER MATTERSOther key issues receiving special legal attention included theinterplay between IHL and human rights, the protection of healthcare workers and facilities in emergencies, the protection of particularlyvulnerable groups in armed conflicts, the legal basis forhumanitarian assistance, the protection of journalists, legal andhumanitarian concerns related to operations by multinationalforces, and international criminal law.The 68th Session of the UN General Assembly and the deliberationsof the Human Rights Council gave the ICRC the opportunityto promote IHL and its proper implementation, and to follow IHLdevelopments and related issues, such as the protection of childrenand women in armed conflicts, counter-terrorism, torture, IDPs,arbitrary detention, the protection of human rights during peacefuldemonstrations, transitional justice, enforced disappearancesand the protection of journalists.INTEGRATION AND PROMOTION OF THE LAWPROMOTING THE UNIVERSALITY OF IHL INSTRUMENTSAND THEIR NATIONAL IMPLEMENTATIONThe Advisory Service on IHL provided legal and technical inputsto governments and international and regional organizationsthrough its network of legal advisers, in the field and at headquarters.It facilitated the ratification of/accession to and implementationof IHL-related treaties, including in such areas as the use offorce, the repression of war crimes, the rights of the missing and oftheir families, the prohibition and regulation of certain weapons,and the protection of cultural property in armed conflict.66 | ICRC ANNUAL REPORT 2013