Report on – 33rd IC Resolution 1: Bringing IHL home: A road map for better national implementation of international humanitarian law (33IC/19/R1) – Danish Red Cross

Has your State/National Society/Institution incorporated the commitments contained in this resolution into the relevant strategic or operational plans?

The commitments are incorporated into:
Strategy
Operational plan

At the Regional, National, Local level

Explanation:

Articles 8 and 10: IHL dissemination and promotion is undertaken by both Communication and International Departments, in formal (K-post secondary) and informal education settings. A few highlights and impacts follows.

DRC, together with Univ. of Copenhagen and ICRC, organized a Sept. 2021 Nordic launch event on the Updated Commentary to 3rd Geneva Convention, with participation of Nordic State Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense, civil society, and academic experts. Notably, the event was one of the first ‘live’ post-COVID events for many of the panelists, providing a key opportunity to exchange perspectives during panels and over coffee breaks. Subsequently, presentations have been cited in academic literature as evidence of state opinio juris, and Sweden referred to the event in its 2022 report on UN General Assembly Resolution 75/138 “Status of the Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and relating to the protection of victims of armed conflicts.

DRC has played a key role as implementing partner and Regional European NS Lead in the initiation, development, and production of the innovative and immersive IHL awareness-raising film If War Comes to You (IWCTY). The film is a partnership of the 34 National Society members of RCRC European Legal Support Group (project led by DRC Legal Adviser), DRC communication dept. and the ICRC. The film aims to show how IHL compliance can help reduce suffering, and to motivate particularly youth towards action through an immersive feedback component. The film—including user perspectives on how to improve IHL compliance—will be showcased at the 34th International Conference. In Denmark, DRC developed a campaign that was launched in March 2024. The campaign was aimed at young people, which governed the channels and media we used: Social media such as Facebook, TikTok, we used content creators on e.g. Instagram and Twitch and the campaign was visible on outdoor media such as city buses. In addition, a large part of the campaign was aimed at school and upper secondary school teachers in the form of advertisements and publicity in professional media. More than 57,000 Danes have so far been exposed to IWCTY.

For several years now, DRC has focused on IHL with annual campaigns which include our local branches. E.g. the virtual reality experience Sense of War (filmed in Ukraine 2020). The experience is still touring around Denmark to our local branches and are seen at public events throughout Denmark.

Has your State/National Society/Institution been working with other partners to implement the commitments contained in this resolution?

Partner with:
National Red Cross or Red Crescent Society in your country
Government and/or public authorities
ICRC/IFRC
Other National Red Cross or Red Crescent Societies
Academia

Examples of cooperation:

DRC’s IHL dissemination takes place in three arenas in Denmark: own volunteers, educational institutions and the general population. Different offers are being developed for the three groups. DRC’s dissemination and teaching materials on war and IHL therefore uses a wide range of forms of communication. A good example is the teaching materials ‘War and Humanity’ and ‘Talk about war’ for all grades in primary school and War and Humanity for upper secondary. More than 750.000 students have worked with the materials since launch in 2022. These digital materials were produced in partnership with Denmark’s largest publisher of teaching materials Lindhardt & Ringhof Uddannelse. These extensive primer materials will be supported technically for five years. Another example is DRC’s strategic partnerships with creative industries in Denmark, as they can help disseminate and explain this difficult subject. A few examples: In 2022 and 2023, we sent Danish theater Teatergrad’s children’s play ‘Krig i børnehøjde’ on tour in Danish schools, and we also launched the animated, prize-winning animation film ‘Dream’ in collaboration with Snowhouse Film. In addition, we have shown World Press Photo-winner Jakob Dall’s photo exhibition ‘Faces of War’ on several occasions, where he and the Red Cross have portrayed people affected by the war in Ukraine. The exhibition has also been displayed it at the Danish Stock Exchange. At the Academic level, DRC partners with several law faculties in Denmark towards IHL seminars, course presentations, and an IHL moot court with the University of Copenhagen.

Have you encountered any challenges in implementing the commitments contained in this resolution?

With challenges on:
Human resources
Funding constraints
Competing priorities
Other

Details about challenges:

Collaboration with other National Societies on communication, campaigns and educational materials can be challenging, as different countries have different cultures and traditions. The countries also differ in their approach to digitalisation. Coordination among the 34 members of the ELSG, while rewarding in terms of output, is very time consuming and without additional human resources, overburdens current IHL staff.

COVID made work very difficult not just during the COVID lockdowns, but also in terms of re-establishing networks in the post-COVID environment. As nearly every single network needed special attention to get back on track, it was not possible to devote adequate attention to each. We are still feeling these effects, particularly as combined with added pressure on public authorities due to emerging armed conflicts.

Have the commitments contained in this resolution had an impact on the work and direction of your State/National Society/Institution?

Type of Impact:
Innovative tools/methodologies have been developed and are utilized
Partnerships with other humanitarian actors have been created or enhanced
Increase in mobilization of resources

Details about the impact:

See above for innovative tools developed as result of resolution—particularly If War Comes to You film was a direct result of the Resolution as well as the related EU/EU member state/EU NS IHL pledge. The film was funded by ICRC and over 10 European National Societies.

Have the commitments contained in this resolution had an impact on the communities that your State/National Society/Institution serves?

Description of the impact:

As public curiosity—and scepticism—towards IHL has dramatically increased in past few years, our efforts have tried to meet this demand, and also to show that while IHL compliance will not stop suffering, it can mitigate the effects.