"Exploring Humanitarian Law" in the Arab world: fourth regional meeting in Tunis
08-04-2006 News Release
The fourth regional meeting on the educational programme "Exploring Humanitarian Law" (EHL) took place in Tunis from 3 to 7 April 2006 at the initiative of the Tunisian ministry of education and training and of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), with the support of the League of Arab States.
The meeting was attended by 46 representatives from the education ministries of 12 Arab countries, four National Societies from the region and the ICRC.
The main objective was to evaluate progress on implementing EHL in the Arab world. The participants underlined the need to include the programme in the curricula of all Arab countries. They called on the National Societies to promote the programme and apply its concepts, especially in their extra-curricular activities with young people.
The ICRC emphasized that the authorities of each country had to take ownership of the programme, as they were best placed to ensure its success. At the same time, the ICRC was prepared to support implementation where work was proceeding as hoped for and to give extra help where getting started was proving more difficult.
The meeting was also an opportunity for fifteen Tunisian schoolchildren to present a review of press coverage of armed conflicts around the world and a play illustrating the suffering of civilians affected by conflict.
The ICRC had already held similar meetings, with the support of the League of Arab States, in Rabat (2002), Amman (2003) and Cairo (2005).
The ICRC’s Exploring Humanitarian Law programme aims to familiarize 13- to 18-year-olds with the basic rules of international humanitarian law. The programme helps them apply the principles of humanity in their everyday lives and to the way they see events in their own countries and abroad. It consists of 30 hours of educational activities, using interactive teaching methods easily adapted to different contexts. The programme is just one of the ICRC’s many ac tivities aimed at preventing – or at least limiting – breaches of international humanitarian law.
For further information, please contact:
Mohamed Ben Ahmed, ICRC Tunis, tel +216 71 960 179 or +216 98 200 926
Dorothea Krimitsas, ICRC Geneva, tel +41 22 730 25 90 or +41 79 251 93 18