Engaging humanitarian workers from the Middle East region

The participants on this course included nearly thirty humanitarian workers who are largely based in the Middle East including the Syrian Arab Republic, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Jordan, Libya but also from Sudan. They represented numerous UN agencies and missions including the UNHCR OCHA, UNRWA, UNMISS and UNAMID as well as the WFP, the European Commission Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) and NGOs such as the Council on Foreign Relations, Handicap International, American Refugee Committee, Norwegian Refugee Council and HelpAge International, amongst others.

The training consisted of a Core Training Course and a specialist Thematic Workshop on Conduct of Hostilities in Armed Conflicts. The Core Training Course addressed the international law that applies to armed conflicts in general. The Thematic Workshop on the Conduct of Hostilities was a great opportunity to provide a more in depth examination of the issues arising during the conduct of hostilities. Among the subjects covered were advanced discussions of targeting including means and methods as well as special protections afforded to persons and objects in armed conflict. Dr Jachec-Neale’s presentations focused on general and special protections afforded to persons and objects in armed conflict. She has also contributed to discussions issues of lawful military objectives, a topic which she examined in more depth in her book The Concept of Military Objectives in International Law and Targeting Practice. Of particular interest was her examination of the newly agreed de-escalation zones in Syria, which most of the participants found to be of direct relevance and of significant impact on their work in the region.