Second round of consultations for the Global Initiative to Galvanize Political Commitment to IHL
Following the first round of consultations hosted between April and June 2025, the ICRC and the 25 co-chairs of the Global IHL Initiative are pleased to announce the second round of consultations, which will take place between October and December 2025. This new round will build on the experiences and ideas shared by states and other stakeholders during the first round of consultations, with the view to start identifying concrete and practical recommendations for each of the seven workstreams of the Global IHL Initiative. Further round of consultations will then be organized in 2026.
All state global consultations:
- 3 November 2025, Geneva (hybrid): Protecting civilian infrastructure
- 6 November 2025, Geneva (hybrid): Naval warfare
- 24 November 2025, Geneva (hybrid): Upholding IHL in the Use of Information and Communication Technologies During Armed Conflicts
- 25 November 2025, Geneva (hybrid): Prevention good practices
- 26 November 2025, Geneva (hybrid): IHL and peace
- 2 December 2025, Geneva (hybrid): Achieving Meaningful Protection for Hospitals in Armed Conflict
Regional state consultations on National IHL committees:
For the workstream on National IHL Committees, this round of consultations will continue through regional forums gathering of national IHL committees across the globe:
Past regional consultations:
- 21 May 2025, Warsaw (in person): consultation integrated into the second regional conference of European national IHL committees
- 2 July 2025, Brasilia (in person): consultation integrated into the Regional Meeting of National Committees on International Humanitarian Law and Similar Bodies of the Americas
- 12 August 2025, Manilla (in person): consultation integrated into the 2025 Asia and the Pacific Regional Conference on IHL
Upcoming regional consultations:
- 25 September 2025, Abuja (in person): consultation integrated into the Annual ECOWAS-ICRC Review Meeting on the implementation of international humanitarian law in West Africa
- 5–6 November 2025, Cairo (in person): consultation integrated into the Thirteenth Regional Meeting of Arab National Committees on IHL
- 3 December 2025, Pretoria (in person): consultation integrated into the 24th Regional IHL Seminar for Southern Africa and Indian Ocean Island States
Supporting events (expert workshops, panel discussions and regional meetings):
- 23–26 September 2025, Abuja (in person): ECOWAS–ICRC Annual Review Meeting on the implementation of IHL in West Africa
- 7 October 2025, Astana (hybrid): Regional Conference of Representatives of Central Asia, South Caucasus and Eastern Europe on Galvanizing Political Commitment to IHL
- 7–8 October 2025, Nairobi (in person): Regional Seminar for East Africa on IHL
- 17 October 2025, Brussels (in person): Preventing violations of IHL through socialization of norms: an exchange of practice (in partnership with the European Union)
- 28 October 2025, Paris (in person): Seminar, “Upholding international humanitarian law in an era of digitalized warfare: Presenting the ICT workstream of the Global Initiative to Galvanize Political Commitment to IHL” (in partnership with Paris Peace Forum)
- 30 October 2025, Bogota (in person): Workshop on IHL in post-conflict transitions
- 30–31 October 2025, Geneva (in person): Expert workshop on Achieving Meaningful Protection for Hospitals in Armed Conflict
- 5–6 November 2025, Cairo (in person): Thirteenth Meeting of Arab National Committees on IHL
- 13–14 November 2025, Bruges (in person): Colloquium, ‘Standing up for IHL: building a common understanding around the law that protects in war’, organized by the ICRC and the College of Europe
- 2–5 December 2025, Pretoria (in person): Regional IHL Seminar for Southern Africa and Indian Ocean Island States
- 8–10 December 2025, Geneva (in person): The concept of military objective (as part of the workstream on Protecting civilian infrastructure), co-hosted by the ICRC and Oxford University
