Peshawar: May 13, 2011: Any state that violates its international obligations to which it is bound as per International Humanitarian Law must be held accountable for its acts. The states must be compelled by UN and international community to immediately stop their illegal actions and take serious against the violating state till they offer appropriate guarantees that it will not repeat the illegal actions in the future. This was said by participants of the training workshop on deepening understanding of the International Humanitarian law held at Law College University of Peshawar.
The two day workshop was jointly organised by Human Rights Study Centre University of Peshawar in collaboration with International Committee for Red Cross Pakistan. Several international and local speakers delivered presentation on the subject including Professor Dr. Marco Sassoli, Legal Advisor of ICRC, Marek Resich Communication delegate of ICRC, Professor Mushtaq and Professor Nadeem Azam.
Prof. Dr. Sassoli who was the key note speaker of the event said that respect to the International Humanitarian law is binding upon each and every state but even then we come across frequent violations of these laws especially at times of war. He said that it is the duty of the belligerent state or states to care of possible civilian casualties during wars and take special care of women and children, while on the other hand the rescue and relief workers and institutions must not be targeted as well.
Dr. Mushtaq said that Islam presents the best model and upholds humanity even at times of war.
Group discussion in the workshop revealed that most of the time it is the most powerful states that violate the International Humanitarian Law and a possible action cannot be taken against them because they have their say in the Security Council.
The chief guest of the day was Dean Faculty of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Sara Safdar who distributed certificates among the participants.
Principal Law College UoP Prof. Dr. Adnan Sarwar praised the efforts of the Coordinator Human Rights Study centre Prof. Dr. Fayaz ur Rehman and Head of Mission ICRC Mr. Anthony Daiziel who was also present on the occasion for arranging the workshop and making it a success.