Resolution on International Humanitarian Law and Armed Conflicts in Africa

We the participants, at the Forum on the Participation of NGOs at the 34th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and at the 8th Book Fair on Human Rights in Africa, held at the Corinthia Atlantic Hotel, Banjul, from 3rd to 5th November, 2003,

Considering the persistence of armed conflicts and their serious humanitarian consequences;

Apprehensive about the serious violations of the fundamental rights and of international humanitarian law in conflict situations in Africa;

Apprehensive about the lot of children and women in armed conflicts;

Taking note of the blocking of humanitarian assistance in certain conflict situations;

Recalling the obligations of states to abide by and to ensure abidance with International Humanitarian Law;

We call on the African Commission urges states to:

1. Further the promotion of International Humanitarian Law through its systematic assimilation in its civil and military training programmes;

2. Punish all serious infringements of International Humanitarian Law;

3. Implement the pertinent instruments of International Humanitarian Law, and its Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in particular, as regards its implication for children living in conflict situations;

4. Facilitate neutral and impartial humanitarian assistance to victims of armed conflict;

5. Accord special attention to the question of displaced and missing persons fleeing from armed conflict, internal unrest and tensions.

Done in Banjul on 5th November, 2003