Cambodia: Law of war seminar for military commanders

Fifty-one senior officers of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) attended a presentation on the law of war delivered on 4 June by an ICRC delegate specialized in dissemination to the armed and security forces. The presentation was part of a five-day seminar on human rights and the law of war organized by the RCAF in cooperation with the ICRC and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which brought together high-ranking officers from the six military regions of Cambodia.

Although the responsibility for training armed forces in the law of war remains that of the States signatory to the treaties containing its rules, the ICRC supports the RCAF in this area by providing it with expertise and educational material. Currently a pool of army officers trained as instructors in the law of war conducts seminars for both soldiers and officers throughout Cambodia. To facilitate their task, the ICRC and the RCAF training directorate will soon release a jointly produced videotape which shows the rules of this law applied in practical situations.