Romania completes first report on international humanitarian law application nationwide

Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE) welcomes the anniversary today of the International Humanitarian Law Day in Romania and reconfirms its commitment to acting to strengthen observance of the rules, and also to promoting the widest possible awareness of their importance among the public actors, political decision makers and the Romanian society as a whole, agerpres reports.

According to a MAE press statement, complementary to the steps taken at international and regional level, MAE took up in 2020, as a member of the National Commission on International Humanitarian Law (CNDIU), the coordination of the process of preparing the first voluntary report on international humanitarian law application nationwide, with the support of all national institutions making up CNDIU.

"The report presents a picture of the relevant normative and institutional framework with the central pillar the National Commission on International Humanitarian Law, as well as the main achievements of Romania in the area. The initiative is part of an increasingly widespread practice among countries and strongly supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross of undertaking an internal self-assessment in the form of drafting a voluntary report. At the same time, completing this project matches Romania's active profile in promoting international humanitarian law," shows MAE.

The recent completion of the national report was reported by senior official for strategic affairs with MAE Dan Neculaescu to a roundtable conference organised on Friday by the Carol I National Defence University on the importance of international humanitarian law in the current international security environment.

The MAE official mentioned the intention to disseminate this document on the pages of the institutions making up CNDIU, as well as at national and international meetings, and he encouraged capitalising on the report in in order to spread knowledge about international humanitarian law.

The report on the application of international humanitarian law in Romania as approved by the government will be published on the MAE website.

The Day of International Humanitarian Law in Romania was created under Law 177/2013, at the proposal of CNDIU, and is marked, every year since 2014, by cultural, educational and scientific activities dedicated to the knowledge and promotion of international humanitarian law. The election of this day symbolically corresponds to the moment of Romania's ratification on May 14, 1954 of the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, which, together with the two additional protocols of 1977 on the protection of victims of armed conflict, enshrines the main rules of the international humanitarian law.