IPU logoThe Journal of the IPU
MONTHLY WEB PUBLICATION20 August 1999, Number 3
  Event of the month

Celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions

I N T E R V I E W
Cornelio Sommaruga
President of the ICRC
By Luisa Ballin

Cornelio Sommaruga On 12 August 1949 in Geneva, 58 countries signed four Conventions in the hope of limiting the horrors of war and strengthening the necessary protection of civilians, during both international and internal conflicts.

Fifty years later, the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Swiss Cornelio Sommaruga (67), explains the determining role of parliamentarians in implementing these instruments of international humanitarian law (ratified by 188 States), as well as the importance of the Manual for parliamentarians to be published jointly by IPU and ICRC at the 102nd Inter-Parliamentary Conference in Berlin.

Q: As President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), you have expressed a desire to work with MPs. What role can they play with regard to international humanitarian law?

Cornelio Sommaruga: Parliaments are important for the ICRC. First, they are the bodies which adopt and ratify international texts, and second, they legislate on the national level to apply these texts. We absolutely need their co-operation. Moreover, in the democratic countries, parliaments are the key to political authority. Accordingly, parliamentarians must know what international humanitarian law consists of and what the Geneva Conventions represent, in order to lobby their governments.

Q: August 12th will mark the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions. Do they command greater respect or less respect than before?

CS: That is a difficult question to answer. There are very positive elements to which the media devote little coverage, such as, for example, an awareness that even in wartime, there are limits. And these limits are spelled out in international humanitarian law, in the Geneva Conventions. But we also know that the Geneva Conventions are violated daily. Should this come as a surprise? We have to be realistic, we live in societies where national laws are violated, which is why criminal courts continue to operate and prisons remain full in almost all countries. We also know that several other international conventions are not respected. Thus, the Geneva Conventions are no exception, but such violations are more visible because they endanger human life and dignity. We must combat such violations, and parliaments are also essential in this respect. If national parliaments are aware of the need to respect the Geneva Conventions, they will pass the message on to the appropriate officials: the police and the armed forces.

Q: Granted, but the nature of war has changed…

CS: Indeed, one hears today that wars are primarily internal conflicts. I would say that education and training, not only for specialised forces but also for the public at large, must promote acceptance of the fact that, even in internal conflicts, there are minimum rules which have to be respected.

There are three categories of persons who are protected by the Geneva Conventions and who therefore need to be respected. First of all are civilians who, in a war, may not become a target for belligerents. This implies a series of provisions protecting children and women which pertain to methods of combat. For example, belligerents are not authorised to use weapons with indiscriminate effects. The second category of persons to be protected is prisoners of war, who are no longer fighting because they have laid down their weapons. The Geneva Conventions do not say that they must be sent home, but specify that they must be detained and treated humanely. One of the important provisions of these Geneva Conventions is ICRC delegates' access to prisoners, to check on their conditions of detention, not to alert the press but to advise the authorities on how to treat prisoners. The third category is the war wounded and the sick. Moreover, the Red Cross came into being because of the soldiers wounded at the battle of Solferino, in the north of Italy, where the French fought the Austrians in 1851. A Geneva businessman, Henri Dunant, who was looking for Napoleon the Third, was so upset at the sight of the havoc wrought by this battle, which claimed 40,000 victims in 24 hours, that he took steps to care for these wounded. It should be noted that it was the Lombard women who cared for the wounded, in all impartiality. Such impartiality is the real message of the Geneva Conventions.

Q: The ICRC and the Inter-Parliamentary Union have prepared a manual for MPs, due for launching at the 102nd statutory Conference to be held in Berlin from 10 to 16 October. What is the aim of this manual?

C.S.: This manual is essential because it will help MPs the world over to understand better the content of the Geneva Conventions. Its importance transcends parliaments, because these texts, well written and couched in simple language, will help to facilitate the dissemination of international humanitarian law, a priority task for the ICRC. I am very pleased that the ICRC and the Inter-Parliamentary Union have joined forces to achieve this goal. This dissemination is first and foremost the responsibility of States, because it is States which must apply the Geneva Conventions.

Q: So you are asking MPs to be the messengers of international humanitarian law…

C.S.: Exactly. And to be responsible messengers. In this period of globalisation, we get the impression that what is lacking is a globalisation of responsibilities, which have now diminished. The State has lost power to other circles, especially economic ones. MPs can therefore recall the importance of the State, which is capable of introducing safeguards so that people may live in harmony. There are limits to war and limits to be respected within society.

Q: As the guest of honour of the 102nd Inter-Parliamentary Conference in Berlin, what message would you like to send to the delegates, given your long experience at the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross?

C.S.: I have not written my speech yet, but it will run along the lines I have just mentioned: respect for the Geneva Conventions, individual responsibility of parliamentarians and depoliticisation of humanitarian law. I am very pleased to be one of the guests of honour of this inter-parliamentary assembly.

Q: You are going to leave the ICRC at the end of the year, after 12 years as its President. What are your plans?

C.S.: It is true that I am coming to the end of my third term. I have put a lot into this institution and I know that I will miss it a great deal. I have had many offers but have not yet decided what I would do next…

Q: Maybe enter politics?

C.S.: You know me well enough to understand that even if someone told me that I was cut out for politics, I wouldn't become a politician!

  Flashes

  Presidents of Parliaments at Preparatory Meeting in Rabat

The Inter-Parliamentary Union is organising on 8 and 9 September in Rabat the IInd meeting of the Preparatory Committee of the Conference of Presiding Officers of National Parliaments (to be held in New York from 30 August to 1 September 2000, on the occasion of the Millennium General Assembly), at the invitation of the President of the House of Representatives of Morocco, Mr. Abdelwahed Radi. The participants at the Rabat meeting will be received by the Prime Minister of Morocco, Mr. Abderrahmane Youssoufi.

Material delivered to National Assembly of Burundi

The IPU Secretary General, Mr. Anders B. Johnsson, visited Bujumbura from 19 to 21 July. One of the high points of his visit was the delivery of material acquired within the framework of the project involving assistance to the National Assembly of Burundi. The aim of this project, set up jointly with the European Union, is to enable the National Assembly to play fully its role of main actor in the peace process under way in Burundi, to legislate and to oversee government action.

MPs from "Asia-Pacific" Group meet in Ulan Bator

MPs from the "Asia-Pacific" Group held their first meeting in the capital of Mongolia, Ulan Bator, under the auspices of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. From 26 to 31 July, 70 representatives of 15 national parliaments looked into regional co-operation, following the financial crisis.

Secretary General's visit to China

The IPU Secretary General, Mr. Anders B. Johnsson, paid an official visit to China, where he met with senior political figures and officials from the National People's Congress. The discussions covered inter alia the preparation of the Conference of Presiding Officers of National Parliaments, to be held at UN Headquarters in New York from 30 August to 1 September 2000, UN-IPU cooperation and the participation of the Chinese People's Congress in the activities of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

READ IN THE PRESS

African MPs meeting in Libreville on the occasion of an international seminar organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) adopted "draft guidelines for the opposition in Africa", without failing to condemn "energetically" military coups on the continent. Approved by the representatives of some 40 African parliaments, these guidelines aim to determine the "rights of the opposition in Parliament". "Respect for freedom of expression and information is essential for MPs, particularly opposition MPs, so as to enable them to fulfil their parliamentary responsibilities", state the guidelines, to be submitted to the IPU Council in Berlin from 10 to 16 October.
Afrique Express - No 191 June 1999-08-19

A Sri Lankan MP of Singhalese origin, Mahinda Samarasinghe, with his mobile phone and his laid-back look, comes across like a dynamic young entrepreneur. Yet he is one of the five members of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)… Mahinda Samarasinghe was in Geneva for the 86th session of the Human Rights Committee, which examines violations of MPs' rights all over the world. Confidential and public cases concerning 200 MPs in 33 countries were taken up. Interview (editor's note excerpt).
Q: "Isn't it hard for MPs from very different countries and leanings to agree on complex cases of a political nature?
A: No, because our references are the fundamental rights of democracy. The principles to which we are committed are freedom of expression and movement for MPs, safety in the exercise of our functions… principles which, if respected, benefit all of us. In addition, cases are examined in depth, without hasty judgments.
Q: What do you do with States which have parliaments but are far from being democratic?
A:Our role is not so much to criticise the form of a regime as to find solutions to concrete violations. Of course, we can display our concern as to a government's failure to respect a given international norm. But we primarily seek to establish a constructive dialogue in connection with specific situations with the governments concerned. In an initial phase, the cases which have been laid before us and which we have taken up are examined on a confidential basis. They are made public if no satisfactory solution has been found. This way of proceeding has proved its worth"…
Le Courrier (Switzerland), 17 July 1999-08-19

Chilean MP Juan Pablo Letelier told the EFE news agency that the declassification, by the US, of documents containing detailed information on the events that marked Chile from 1973 to 1978, "could change the legal context on this subject in Chilean society".
Letelier, who was in Geneva in connection with the meeting of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, pointed out that "even though the opening of these files is partial, because it includes neither the 1968-1973 period or the Letelier case, access to this information is important to resituate history". The documents, which represent more than 5,800 pages, "will give a different vision of our reality, and will invalidate certain hypotheses, such as the existence of the "Z" plan and the 15,000 guerrillas who wanted to destroy the country", stated Juan Pablo Letelier, son of Chilean Foreign Affairs Minister Orlando Letelier, assassinated during Salvador Allende's presidency.
EFE Agency (Spain), 9 July 1999-08-19

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