RAPPORT : Rules of Engagement. Protecting Civilians through Dialogue with Armed Non-State Actors

Annyssa BELLAL

In 2009-2011, at the request of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights conducted a study on how to enhance compliance with international norms by armed non-state actors (ANSAs), taking into account the views both of the actors themselves and the experiences of those engaged in dialogue with them. An Advisory Board, composed of selected experts invited ad personam from the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Geneva Call, Human Rights Watch, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), was responsible for advising on the content and process of the project.

The report of the project, Rules of Engagement: Protecting Civilians through Dialogue with Armed Non-State Actors, was published in October 2011 in English, French, and Spanish. The project’s main conclusions and findings were presented in Geneva in November 2011 during the 31st Conference International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and then in New York in February 2012 to representatives from states and international agencies concerned with the protection of civilians.


CONTENTS

Introduction Rationale
Project aims and methodology
Content of the report
Challenges for ANSAs to comply with international norms

Engaging with Armed Non-State Actors on Compliance with
International Norms: Conclusions and Findings

Concluding Remarks: The Way Forward

Annexes



Rules of Engagement. Protecting Civilians through Dialogue with Armed Non-State Actors, Geneva, Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, November 2011 (88 pp.)

• The report is available (in English, French and Spanish) at: http://www.geneva-academy.ch/