Nepal: Army training to include humanitarian law

The Royal Nepalese Army has agreed to introduce international humanitarian law (IHL) as an integral part of its training programme, with effect from June 1997.  The decision to include a training syllabus in IHL for all its five echelons from senior officers to junior ranks, and also for its UN operations, came as a result of the efforts made by the ICRC's Regional Delegation for South Asia, which has been interacting with the Royal Nepalese Army for over two years in conjunction with the Nepal Red Cross.

The first course in IHL, designed by the ICRC's Regional Delegate (South Asia) for Relations with Armed and Security Forces for Battalion Commanders, starts on 25 June 1997 at the Army Staff College in Tokha, Kathmandu.  The course  includes  field and classroom exercises dealing mainly with the behaviour of soldiers in action.  The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, its relevance and the role of the ICRC and the Nepal Red Cross Society will also be discussed.  The course is being conducted by Brig. Gen. Digamber S.J.B. Rana (Retd), Brig. Gen. Dipta P. Shah (Retd) and Lt. Col. Lal Bahadur Chand (Retd), who attended an extensive ICRC training programme last year and have been acting as ICRC regional consultants to the Royal Nepalese Army.

A Nepali version of the booklet Code of conduct for combatants has been prepared for the course, with a foreword by the Chief of Staff of the Royal Nepalese Army.