A) Objectives of the pledge:
Recognizing the absence of a regularly occurring expert IHL/LOAC conference in the Nordic region;
acknowledging the increased need for collaboration between relevant stakeholders (including for example Red Cross societies in the region, academia, national defense universities and colleges or their equivalent, armed forces, governmental officials, and civil society organizations with relevant expertise);
emphasising the need for increased expertise, knowledge transfer, and dissemination of pertinent IHL issues due to recent global events;
the Governments of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and the respective National Red Cross societies, according to their respective competences, hereby pledge to organize an annual rotating International Humanitarian Law (IHL) symposium aimed at strengthening collaboration, facilitating expertise and knowledge transfer, and enhancing the dissemination of IHL/LOAC principles among different stakeholders within the participating states and across the Nordic and potentially neighbouring regions by harnessing the collective convening power and resources of Nordic states in a sustainable manner.
B) Action plan:
- The first symposium will be organized jointly by the Swedish Defence University’s Department of International and Operational Law and the Swedish Red Cross in 2025.
- Each year, a different participating Nordic stakeholder will organize the symposium in collaboration with the national Red Cross society, including developing the programme, inviting speakers, and determining the venue and time of the symposium.
- Representatives from both the Nordic States and the Nordic Red Cross societies, will be in regular contact as needed, to oversee the symposium’s continuity throughout the pledging period and ensure seamless transitions between host countries.
C) Indicators for measuring progress:
A symposium is held in a different Nordic state in each of the years of the pledging period beginning in 2025.
D) Resource implications:
—