Improving compliance with international humanitarian law to safeguard the humanitarian space

Violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) happen in many armed conflicts and often constitute strategic methods of warfare. Such violations have grave consequences for civilians, in particular on medical and humanitarian personnel and for humanitarian access.

While initiatives exist to monitor incidents that could amount to violations of IHL, the available data and analysis is often partial, scattered and lacks a global overview. In addition, despite the available tools at both national and international level, few perpetrators of war crimes face accountability for their actions.

This session will focus on how to strengthen the EU’s tools to ensure the promotion of compliance with IHL, the monitoring of IHL violations in the world, and the related issue of accountability of perpetrators of war crimes.