Actions taken:
The Canadian Red Cross (CRC) and the Government of Canada are working together to implement the pledge. CRC manages an IHL network of regional CRC staff throughout the country aimed at promoting IHL through i) developing links with Universities towards hosting thematic academic conferences and ii) promoting the use of curriculum based IHL toolkits for high school students. The funding for both of these streams has been provided in part by the Government of Canada.
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- Thematic IHL university conferences: the CRC has worked with various academic partners and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to organize nine IHL conferences on a variety of themes at Canadian universities. Themes addressed include, inter alia, protection of vulnerable persons under IHL, cyber warfare, IHL and transitional justice, and IHL and the protection of aid workers. Canadian and International experts participate in the panels.
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- IHL toolkits for high school students: Through a further network of secondary school teachers across the country, the CRC maximizes educational outreach efforts in target cities to develop and promote the uptake of the curriculum-based educational materials focusing on humanitarian themes. CRC utilizes the ICRC-developed Exploring Humanitarian Law (EHL) toolkit, and in 2016 updated and published a French version of the country-specific toolkit Canada and Conflict: A Humanitarian Perspective. The toolkits continue to be disseminated to teachers of civics, social studies, history, law and the humanities through teacher training workshops. The CRC has implemented five train the trainer workshops for teachers and administrators across the country, where representatives from the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Canadian Armed Forces have contributed expert personnel. The CRC Senior Legal Advisor and CRC international delegates are also invited to present to concretize CRC teacher training workshops. Five such trainings have taken place in the reporting period across Canada. The toolkits are available online at http://www.redcross.ca/how-we-help/international-humanitarian-law/tools-for-teachers
The CRC, in conjunction with the ICRC, organised a series of panels at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Council of International Law. One panel brought in experts on armed groups and explored opportunities and challenges towards their compliance with IHL. The other panel involved representatives of the ICRC, the Office of the Judge Advocate-General, and academia to discuss the new ICRC commentary to the 1st Geneva Convention.
The CRC also established a national IHL newsletter. The Canadian Red Cross IHL Newsletter was initiated in the summer of 2016 in collaboration with volunteers from the IHL Working Groups in Ontario, and based Bi-monthly distribution of the National Newsletter began in the fall of 2016. Currently, the newsletter reaches more than 500 individuals across Canada and has allowed us to track user engagement and topic-specific interests. The newsletter aims to engage civil society on issues, innovations and hot topics in IHL. Our audience primarily consists of individuals who have participated in Canadian Red Cross IHL conferences and educational events.
Implementation will continue in strategic partnership with the government under the current agreement until June 2019, and it expected that public outreach IHL activities will continue to be prioritized in the new strategic partnership.
See Annex for sample poster of an IHL Conference.
