What is the Online Community for National Committees and Similar Entities on International Humanitarian Law?

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), through its Advisory Service on IHL, has long encouraged exchanges among national IHL committees. Representatives of many national IHL committees had repeatedly called for the creation of an online platform to facilitate exchanges among them. This appeal was reiterated in strong terms at their universal meeting in 2016.
Following these calls, the ICRC’s Advisory Service on IHL launched the online community to coincide with the adoption of Resolution 1 of the 33rd International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in December 2019, “Bringing IHL home: A road map for better national implementation of international humanitarian law”.
The community is an interactive online tool that aims to facilitate peer-to-peer exchanges and cooperation among national IHL committees. The community is quite unique, since it is the only tool that enables direct and regular online exchanges among national IHL committees at the universal level. 
It was also intended to save some of the time and energy that is usually spent on formal, official communication. Another aim was to bridge the gap between universal meetings, which usually take place every four years, since many committees lacked the opportunity to interact with their peers from other parts of the world in the interim.
Although there are similar regional communication and cooperation forums for these committees, the community aims to facilitate exchanges beyond national and regional borders because it is a private group managed and facilitated by the ICRC. It works on a secured access and is protected by appropriate technical safeguards and information security measures in order to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches. Membership is restricted to national IHL committees and ICRC legal advisers.

An Interesting, Dynamic Space
The idea behind the community was to create an interesting, dynamic and less formal sharing space for national IHL committees that would encourage them to participate in mutual exchanges more openly and directly.
Moreover, as a “community” – variously defined as “a group of people who are similar in some way”, “a sense of having certain characteristics or interests in common” or “the feeling of sharing things and belonging to a group.” 
The purpose of this online platform is to strengthen connections between national IHL committees and to build a sense of togetherness and belonging among them, with the ultimate aim of supporting their work and increasing respect for IHL worldwide. 
All national IHL committees and similar entities are welcome – and, indeed, strongly encouraged – to join the online community.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an impartial, neutral and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence and to provide them with assistance. The ICRC also endeavors to prevent suffering by promoting and strengthening humanitarian law and universal humanitarian principles. Established in 1863, the ICRC is at the origin of the Geneva Conventions and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. It directs and coordinates the international activities conducted by the Movement in armed conflicts and other situations of violence.
If you are a member of a committee or similar entity that is ready and willing to join the community, or if you would like more information, please write to the ICRC’s Advisory Service on IHL at: [email protected]