Claude Maon, Knut Dörmann, Günther Barnet & Shoura Zehetner-Hashemi: HUMANITARIANS UNDER ATTACK

Irene Horejs in conversation with Claude Maon, Knut Dörmann,
Günther Barnet and Shoura Zehetner-Hashemi





HUMANITARIANS UNDER ATTACK
Does the “Zeitenwende” threaten International
Humanitarian Law and humanitarian action?


 


Since WWI and WWII, the international community has established a
series of legal and institutional instruments to reduce the
horrors of war and put efforts of prevention and peaceful
resolution of conflicts in the centre of multilateral policy. The
Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols
constitute the core of International humanitarian law (IHL) – the
“ius in bello” – whose purpose is to protect the lives and
dignity of civilians, civilian infrastructure, access to food,
water, medicine and humanitarian support – to allow for UN aid
agencies, the Red Cross and Red Crescent and humanitarian NGOs to
alleviate the suffering of civilians in warfare.





After decades of Western leadership in strengthening the
humanitarian system and in establishing mediation capacities and
enforcement procedures of human rights by reinforcing
international institutions (like the UN High Commission for Human
Rights, the special UN rapporteurs, the International Criminal
Court etc), the same Western nations suddenly seem to accept a
world in which armament and war are again the means of first
choice to deal with conflicts. Today´s wars in Gaza, Sudan and
Ukraine are marked by the ferocity of killing, blatant disregard
for international humanitarian law and the deliberate obstruction
of humanitarian aid. And while humanitarian needs are
multiplying, funding is being cut, not only by the US but also by
EU member states. Today the humanitarian system is under-funded,
overstretched and constantly under assault. Humanitarian workers
face indiscriminate hostilities, deadly attacks and incessant
obstruction of their work.





This event is the first one under the focus on “Humanity in der
Zeitenwende”. We will discuss the implications of the permanent
violations of IHL and the reduction of finance on humanitarian
action and affected populations in current conflicts. What are
the implications of EU double standards in the interpretation of
IHL on future political developments, in particular in the
context of rearmament policies in Europe? How to give humanity a
stronger voice in this period of the “Zeitenwende”?





Knut Dörmann, former Head of the Delegation to
the EU, NATO and the Kingdom of Belgium and former Chief Legal
Officer and head of the ICRC’s Legal Division,



Claude Maon, Director of the International Legal
Department at Médecins Sans Frontières, Brussels



Günther Barnet, Department for Regional
Cooperation with Africa and the Middle East, Austrian Ministry of
Defence






Shoura Zehetner-Hashemi,Lawyer, Executive
Director Amnesty International Austria





Moderator:
Irene Horejs, Former Director of DG ECHO and
former EU Ambassador to Peru, Mali and Niger