Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law
Round Table on "Global Violence: Consequences and Responses"
Sanremo, 9-11 September 2010
The International Institute of Humanitarian Law is celebrating its 40th Anniversary.
An Official Ceremony, under the high patronage of the President of the Italian Republic, will take place at the Opera Theatre of the Casino of the Municipality of Sanremo on Thursday, 9 September at 10.00am, with the participation of high representatives of Governments and International Organisations co-operating with the Institute including the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Director General of the International Organization for Migration and the Under Secretary – General of United Nations for Legal Affairs and United Nations Counsel.
The topic addressed will be “Global Violence: Consequences and Responses".
Global violence is a universal scourge which threatens the lives of millions of people around the world and represents a major challenge of the 21st century.
The aim of the Sanremo Institute is to promote on this occasion a new awareness of global violence paradigms in their multiple forms and interrelationships: armed conflict, political repression, economic and social exploitation, forced displacement of populations, environmental destruction, human rights abuse, organised violent crime, sea piracy, terrorism. And this at a moment when the need of a stronger commitment at all levels to prevent global violence and mitigate its consequences is widely felt by the international community and the civil society.
A Round Table (the 33rd Round Table on current problems of international humanitarian law) on the same topic will follow the official ceremony and the general debate.
Jointly organised, as is the tradition, with the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, the Round Table will be articulated in three main plenary sessions:
- Contemporary forms of armed violence: International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights at a crossroads (Thursday, 9 September from 15.00 to 18.00)
- The deprivation of liberty in armed conflict and other situations of violence (Friday, 10 September from 10.00 to 13.00 and from 15.00 to 18.00)
- Individual guarantees in detention (Saturday, 11 September from 9.00 to 12.30)
Participants will include legal experts and practitioners drawn from Governments, International Organisations (including ICRC, EU, NATO, IOM, UNHCR and other UN agencies), Academia and NGOs.
Dr. Baldwin De Vidts, Professor Fausto Pocar and Professor Michel Veuthey, Vice – Presidents of the IIHL; Mr. Stephane Ojeda, Legal Advisor of the ICRC, will be the co-ordinators of the Round Table.
All the sessions of the Round Table will take place at the International Conference Centre, Grand Hotel Londra, Sanremo.