Italian peacekeepers offer course on international humanitarian laws

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10 Sep 2019

Italian peacekeepers offer course on international humanitarian laws

UNIFIL peacekeepers from Italy organized a five-day course on international humanitarian laws for 44 military and civilian personnel of nine nationalities in their main base in Shamaa, south Lebanon, last month.

Instructors brought in from the Italian Red Cross as well as legal advisors of the Italian Armed Forces gave the course, which aimed to offer basic knowledge on the protection accorded by the Geneva Conventions to the victims of armed conflicts and on the limits to the means and methods of combat.

Participants attending the course from 26 to 30 August were from Armenia, Ghana, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia.

Protection of civilians under imminent threat of violence and ensuring the basis for this form a core element of UNIFIL’s mandate in south Lebanon.

UNIFIL’s 2015 Protection of Civilians Strategy calls for the Mission to support the Government of Lebanon to uphold its responsibility to protect civilians, by conducting activities under all three tiers espoused under the Department of Peace Operations policy: (1) Protection through dialogue and engagement; (2) Provision of physical protection; and (3) Establishment of a protective environment.