XXXII Round Table - 2009
Non-State Actors and International Humanitarian Law. Organized Armed Groups: A Challenge for the 21st Century
11-13 September 2009
Sanremo, Italy
The International Institute of Humanitarian Law in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross organized, under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic, the XXXII Round Table on current problems of International Humanitarian Law in Sanremo from 11th to 13th September 2009. This year’s topic, “Non-state actors and International Humanitarian Law. Organized armed groups: a challenge for the 21st century”, was discussed throughout the three-day event with the participation of high government officials, representatives of international organisations (UN, EU, NATO, ICRC…), eminent jurists and experts from scientific, diplomatic, military and humanitarian circles.
The Round Table was opened by Ambassador Maurizio Moreno, President of the Institute, in the presence of eminent authorities: Hon. Vincenzo Scotti, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Jacob Kellenberger, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Gen. Pierre Michel Joana, Special Advisor to the EU High Representative Javier Solana for African Peacekeeping capabilities, Dr. Francesco Rocca, Extraordinary Commissioner of the Italian Red Cross, and Dr. Sandro Calvani, Director of UNICRI.
The Round Table focused on the analysis of the legal obligations and responsibilities which bound non-state actors. The crucial issue of private security companies was also discussed together with the new challenges facing the international legal framework arising from the new patterns of violence: terrorism, criminalization and piracy, with particular attention to the transnational dimension of these phenomenon. A special panel of the Round Table, composed by Ambassador Silvio Fagiolo and Prof. Jacques Forster, was dedicated to the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Solferino.