The Ministry of National Defense (MND) on Friday convened a meeting with senior military officials and academics to work toward the adoption of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which regulates the conduct of armed conflict, for the protection of people and properties during wartime.
The meeting was chaired by the ministry’s Armaments Bureau General deputy director Liu Chen-wu (劉震武), a former chief commander of the air force.
Liu said the meeting’s aim was to initiate a task force to push for the adoption of the IHL conventions, by finalizing the draft bill in 18 months, and completing its passage into law in the legislature in two years’ time.
Throughout the process, the ministry would promote the IHL in education training at military academies and instill the concepts in soldiers and officers, so they would possess common ground on which to operate, as the armed forces became increasingly modernized through conduct that conforms to international standards, Liu said.
The ministry’s task force said the draft bill would include the four well-known Geneva conventions, which were developed and adopted by international communities between 1864 and 1949.
They consist of the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field; for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea; the Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War; and the Convention relative to the Protection of Civilan Persons in Time of War.
The draft is also to cover two later amendment protocols to the Geneva conventions in 1977: Protocol I and II, relating to the the protection of victims of both international and non-international armed conflicts.
“International Humanitarian Law is an important aspect of building up the nation’s military defense and combat preparation. Our ministry will undertake efforts for the law drafting, and push for its deliberation and approval in the legislature. This can show the world our nation’s determination to comply with international conventions for the protection of human rights,” a statement issued by the ministry said.
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