Resolution on the International Humanitarian Law in times of conflict

We, the participants of the NGO FORUM participating at the 36TH Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the 10th African Human Rights Book Fair held at NGOR DIARAMA from 20th to 22nd November 2004,

Notting the increasing number and the continuation of armed conflicts in Africa and the resulting human suffering and destruction;

Noting also that the majority of these conflicts are internal;

Concerned that civilians have become the main victims of the acts of violence inflicted upon them by armed conflicts;

Concerned by the widespread use of illicit means and methods of warfare, particularly attacks against civilians as such;

Concerned by the illicit movement of small arms and the recruitment of mercenaries;

Becoming aware of the phenomenon of the use of children in hostilities;

Recognizing the universality of the international humanitarian law and the fundamental principles of human rights and their complementarity in situations of armed conflict;

Request:

1. Member States of the African Union:

1. To ratify or accede to humanitarian law and human rights instruments to which they are not yet party;
2. To respect and enforce the humanitarian law in all circumstances as stipulated by Article 1 common to all the four Geneva conventions of 1949 relating to the protection of victims of armed conflicts and ensure the effectiveness of human rights;
3. To take all the necessary legislative, regulatory and practical measures to fulfill their obligations deriving from the international humanitarian law and human rights instruments, particularly the Protocol to the African Charter on Women Rights in Africa and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child;
4. To ensure that genocide, crimes against humanity and serious abuses of humanitarian law are duly taken to court and punished by national courts or, as the case may be, by the International Criminal Court;
5. To ensure wide distribution of humanitarian law and human rights instruments among the civilian population, security forces, soldiers and facilitate their distribution to the members of the opposition groups;

2. The parties in the conflict:

1. To ensure that hostilities are conducted in accordance with the laws and practices of war, particularly making the distinction between civilians and combatants and between civilian property and military property;
2. To guarantee the respect of humanitarian law as a way of avoiding forced displacements of the population;
3. To ensure that children below 18 years of age do not get involved in hostilities and take adequate measures to this effect;
4. To respect and protect victims of conflicts without discrimination, ensuring especially that prisoners are not subjected to humiliating or degrading treatment and that humanitarian workers are respected and protected;
5. To guarantee access to and facilitate the coordination of emergency humanitarian actions of humanitarian organizations involved in providing assistance and the protection of victims of armed conflict;

3. The African Commission:

1. To make follow up of the recommendations relating to humanitarian law and human rights;
2. To appoint within the Commission a Commissioner responsible for monitoring issues relating to the international humanitarian law, particularly the situation of internally displaced persons during armed conflicts.

Done at Dakar, on 22nd November 2004
The Forum