Minister of “Justice”: Raising Awareness of IHL is the Basis for its Enforcement to Alleviate the Scourge of Wars

The Minister of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments, Chairman of the National Committee for International Humanitarian Law (IHL), Sheikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa, affirmed that raising awareness of IHL is the main factor in achieving the goals of the Law that seeks to alleviate the scourge of wars and conflicts, and protect civilians from their devastating effects.

This came during a seminar this Wednesday morning (27 November 2019) on the “International Humanitarian Law” organized by IHL National Committee in the Kingdom of Bahrain in cooperation with the Legal Clinic and Human Rights Center at the University of Bahrain (UOB).

In addition to the Minister of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments, several speakers participated in the seminar that was held at the University campus in Sakhir, including the representative of the regional delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the State of Kuwait Omar Warda, the Deputy Chairman of IHL National Committee Mansour Ahmed Al-Mansour, and the President of Bahrain Red Crescent Society Dr. Fawzi Amin.

In a speech at the opening of the seminar, Sheikh Khalid bin Ali asked “Can hostilities and conflicts between armies be humanized? Will international agreements and protocols succeed in disciplining combat practices in order to spare civilians, the wounded and notables, the scourge of wars?”

Furthermore, he stated that “There has always been a need to regulate matters of wars, and the world was shocked by the destruction it suffered in the Second World War, which claimed the lives of 5% of humans, which made countries call for the legalization of wars, so the United Nations was established, and the Geneva Conventions were concluded.”

He continued saying that “Agreements and protocols continued to be concluded, but they could not stop the violations in wars that will always remain as human behavior, and we have witnessed heinous crimes in Rwanda and Yugoslavia in the nineties of the last century, despite the development of the rules and mechanisms of the International Law.”

Furthermore, the Minister stressed the importance of enforcing IHL through spreading awareness of it, educating combatants and civilians of its goals and contents, and informing them of its importance, noting that awareness and beliefs are what can reduce the flagrant violations that the world has witnessed, such as the use of weapons that cause bleeding to death, and the taking hostages as lab rats, hitting the drinking water tanks of civilians in wars, and granting safety before committing murder.

The director of the legal and human rights clinic at the University, Dr. Wafaa Yaqoob Janahi, gave a welcoming speech in which she said that the effective implementation of IHL and respecting its provisions requires the implementation of many measures, the most important of which are the need to activate the mechanisms for the enforcement of this Law and not to obstruct it.”

Also, she pointed out that “IHL was originally made in order to achieve balance between the military requirements of states during wars and the protection of civilian that are not participating in the hostilities in order to ensure that human beings are treated humanely in all circumstances without any discrimination on the basis that the human being has the right to enjoy his rights that are part of his humanity and human dignity during peace and war.”

For his part, the representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross mission in the State of Kuwait, Omar Warda, said that the humanization of wars is not an impossible matter because a person has good tendencies in himself, whether religious or not, stressing the importance of continuing international moves to legalize conflicts and organize them in a way that enables civilians to live their lives and save themselves and their notables.

Also, Warda stressed that moral values in conflicts must be a subject of discussion, especially in light of the emergence of new types of electronic wars in light of globalization and the convergence of distances between peoples.

While Deputy Chairman of IHL National Committee, Mansour Ahmed Al-Mansour, stressed the importance of deterrence and dealing with cases of abuse in all parts of the world in a similar manner.

Al-Mansour went on to talk about Bahrain’s accession to international agreements related to IHL, and the ratification of many treaties related to it.

Pointing out that the Kingdom promulgated the International Crimes Law, which is the second Arab country to issue such a law, and it included all the international crimes stipulated in the Rome Statute, stressing that the approval of this law is an implementation of the Rome Agreements and the additional agreements that were annexed to it.

Also, the President of the Bahrain Red Crescent Society talked about its efforts to promote implementing IHL, and taking interest in spreading the culture of volunteering and relief in schools, referring to the Society’s initiative to establish a network of Arab legal advisors on IHL.

During a discussion session, Professor of International Law at UOB, Dr. Ali Omar Al-Mesrati stressed the importance of spreading awareness on the law and raising awareness of its importance instead of imposing it by force, noting that violating laws in many cases results from lack of awareness of them and not the desire to violate them.

Furthermore, Dr. Al-Mesrati suggested the establishment of a specialized training center in Bahrain for IHL and its enforcement.

While the First Legal Advisor at the regional delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Dr. Moez Khalifa Al-Huthaili, said that international laws are able to accommodate the accelerating challenges regarding the manufacture of new weapons in light of the advancement of artificial intelligence, the emergence of armed robots, and cyber warfare.

Also, Al-Huthaili stated that “Legal texts explicitly affirm the need to respect international laws now and, in the future,” noting that those laws called for making sure that the manufacture of new weapons does not contradict the provisions of IHL.