Qatar stresses need to comply with international humanitarian law

Geneva: The State of Qatar, as a party to the four Geneva Conventions and the two Additional Protocols of 1977, emphasized its firm belief in the nece...

Geneva: The State of Qatar, as a party to the four Geneva Conventions and the two Additional Protocols of 1977, emphasized its firm belief in the necessity of compliance with international humanitarian law as the most appropriate framework for regulating the conduct of parties to armed conflict and providing protection to affected persons if there is political will to adhere to it and to common humanitarian values.

During her delivering of the State of Qatar's statement before the 34th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Geneva, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent Delegation of the State of Qatar in Geneva Jawhara bint Abdulaziz Al Suwaidi said that this year, the world celebrates the 75th anniversary of the four Geneva Conventions of 1949, which set modern international legal standards for protection and humane treatment in times of war.

Despite the major role played by these conventions and their additional protocols in alleviating the scourge of war and protecting those affected by it, several obstacles and challenges still stand in the way of full compliance with their provisions.

She noted that more than a year has passed since the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and its extension to Lebanon, and its forces have committed crimes of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and serious violations of international law, with the number of civilian victims reaching more than 45,000 martyrs, and the number of wounded and injured exceeding 100,000 persons, in addition to millions of displaced and homeless persons, most of whom are children and women.

Israel's crimes also included the massive and deliberate destruction of civilian facilities, especially homes, schools, and hospitals, and the targeting of humanitarian relief workers, UN employees and international humanitarian organizations, in addition to the use of starvation as a weapon of war and the burning of camps for the displaced with the civilians inside them while they were alive, she added.