Actions taken:
In its humanitarian assistance, the Czech Republic has provided mobile health care assistance to conflict affected populations as well as in-kind and expert assistance to local health care facilities in particular in Syria, Iraq and South Sudan.
The Czech MEDEVAC program has provided health and medical services, training for local medical staff as well as in-kind donations of instruments in Iraq, Jordan and Ukraine, among other countries.
The Ministry of Defence is responsible for education and training of armed forces of the Czech Republic. In line with the Geneva Conventions and Hague Conventions requirements to disseminate IHL and in cooperation with the Czech Red Cross, the Ministry of Defence organizes twice per year a specialized IHL training for members of the armed forces and civilian personnel, called “Basic Course on Law of Armed Conflict”. Furthermore, the Ministry of Defence organizes specialized IHL seminars based on current needs. In addition, in October 2018, the Ministry of Defence held a military exercise “Jus in Bello 2018” focusing specifically on the practical application of IHL in the field. To support training on the rules protecting the provision of health care and on the rights and responsibilities of health care personnel, the exercise involved also military medical personnel and several students of medical schools.
The Palacky University in Olomouc and the Czech Red Cross in cooperation with ICRC organized an expert meeting on “Health Care in Danger – a Central and Eastern European perspective”. It was a part of the annual conference “Olomouc Days of Emergency Medicine” in 2017. The meeting was attended by a variety of experts from several countries, representatives of civilian and military national authorities, academics, health professionals, and National Red Cross Societies.
In 2018 the Czech National Committee for implementation of IHL (inter- ministerial body) published and disseminated to relevant actors manual on the use of the emblems of the red cross. The Czech National Committee for implementation of IHL organized a panel discussion on the topic safety of humanitarian personnel and providing a humanitarian aid on June 16, 2019.
