The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) has unveiled a digital app to support the promotion and implementation of International Humanitarian Law(IHL).
Mr Yann Bonzon, ICRC Head of Delegation in Nigeria, said on Wednesday in Abuja that the law would help to minimise the suffering of innocent civilians during armed conflicts.
Bonzon spoke at the ICRC and IHL workshop with the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice Nigeria.
He said that the IHL digital app would help address armed conflicts cases.
According to him, the app is aimed to support the promotion and implementation of IHL by professionals worldwide.
He said it would also provide easy access to IHL treaties, customary rules and related documents and links in various languages.
Bonzon said that the IHL App 3.0, developed and updated by the ICRC, provided enhanced access, via tablet, desktop and smartphone, to more than 120 treaties and other documents relating to IHL.
“Most notably, the Geneva Conventions and their additional protocols as well as the ICRC’s original and updated commentaries on the conventions and additional protocols.
“Also, it provides the rules of customary IHL identified by the ICRC’s 2005 study on customary IHL.
“Version 3.0 also features enhanced offline search and optimised performance.’’
According to him, it adds historical IHL treaties and documents, and more than 320 law, policy documents and links, such as resolutions, political declarations and interpretive guidance documents.
“It adds challenges and expert meetings reports, legal positions, guidelines, publications, research papers and web pages on IHL topics of current interest.
“The ICRC hopes this updated app can help professionals use IHL in their humanitarian dialogue and negotiations, inform law and policy debates, support teaching and promotion of IHL and ultimately contribute,” he said.
Justice Ricardo Gonçalves, President of the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, Nigeria said that the collaboration would ensure that the court promotes the domestication and applicability of IHL across West African states.
Gonçalves commended ICRC for the smooth collaboration and renewed partnership demonstrated by the recent signing of a MoU between ECOWAS Court and the ICRC in Nigeria to help work together to ensure the applicability of IHL across the Lake Chad region.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that participants commended ICRC and ECOWAS for convening the much-needed forum after a five-year hiatus dating back to 2019.
They called for greater collaboration at all levels of society to actualise the applicability of IHL in West Africa.
By Franca Ofili, NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA