On Tuesday, 28 September 2004, during its 111^th Assembly, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) will hold a panel discussion on respect for international humanihumanitarian law. The participants will include a number of speakers of parliaments, and among the panelists will be the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mr. Jakob Kellenberger, Mr. Marco Sassoli, Professor at the University of Geneva, and Mrs. Elizabeth Wilmshurst, former Deputy Legal Adviser at the British Foreign Office and current head of the International Law Programme at Chatham House.

This event will take place at the Geneva International Conference Centre (CICG), Room 2, from 4.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m., and will be open to journalists. A press conference will be held with the participation of the panellists before the beginning of the event, at 3.30 p.m. In 1999, the IPU and the ICRC jointly published a handbook for parliamentarians entitled Respect for international humanitarian law, which has since been translated into several languages.

Respecting and ensuring respect for international humanitarian law requires extensive political mobilisation based on both knowledge and a certain know-how. Parliamentarians not only oversee the executive's action in applying the law, but also have the capability and authority to transmit the rules of international humanitarian law to the population and to ensure that the competent institutions, including the army and security forces, receive adequate instruction in them.

Humanitarian law addresses such critical issues as the treatment in conflicts of civilians, prisoners and vulnerable groups and the need to avoid the use of indiscriminate and disproportional force in warfare. The public and the executive branch must understand this body of law as a universal set of values that is in the interest of all, and they must be reminded that it has to be supported by everyone, everywhere. Legislative enactments and resolutions are critical in securing such support, and in outlawing and forestalling violations of this unique body of law.

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Established in 1889 and with its Headquarters in Geneva, the IPU, the oldest multilateral organisation, currently has 140 affiliated national parliaments and seven regional assemblies as associate members. The organisation of the world's parliaments also has an office as Permanent Observer with the United Nations in New York.
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Contact for additional information or interviews:

Mrs. Luisa Ballin, IPU Information Officer 5, ch. du Pommier, CH - 1218 Le Grand-Saconnex / Geneva Tel. +4122 919 41 16/27 Fax: +4122 919 41 60 E-mail: lb@mail.ipu.org or cbl@mail.ipu.org