[Flash News] AP mines in Sudan - Public campaign in Thailand

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SEASON'S GREETINGS

2015 is already coming to an end, and we would like to thank you for your help and concern throughout the year. Geneva Call is only able to contribute to the better protection of civilians in conflict situations thanks to your continued support: negotiation after negotiation, workshop after workshop, signature after signature.

In light of the intensification and multiplication of armed conflicts around the world, disseminating humanitarian values in war-torn countries has never been more important.

Sudan: the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North neutralizes 211 stockpiled anti-personnel mines

In November, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North (SPLM-N) neutralized 211 stockpiled anti-personnel mines with the support of a technical expert brought in by Geneva Call. This first step towards the total destruction of the SPLM-N’s stockpiles follows its signature of Geneva Call’s Deed of Commitment banning anti-personnel (AP) mines in 2013. In a region that is heavily contaminated by explosive remnants of war, neutralizing these dangerous devices is essential to avoid further civilian casualties.

When SPLM-N leaders signed the Deed in 2013, they declared owning a stockpile of captured AP mines, and in accordance with the Deed of Commitment, they pledged to destroy it. Since that date, Geneva Call has sought to facilitate its destruction. After a first assessment in June 2015, a team composed of Fred Meylan, Geneva Call’s Programme Director for Africa, and a technical expert got access to some of these devices and facilitated their safe neutralization by the SPLM-N.

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Thailand: Geneva Call supports a public campaign on humanitarian norms

Although armed violence in southern Thailand rarely makes international headlines, it caused more than 17,000 casualties between 2004 and 2014. Most of these were civilians.

At the request of a local civil society organization, the Cross-Cultural Foundation & Hearty Support Group, Geneva Call is supporting a public campaign to promote humanitarian norms among communities and parties to the conflict in the region known as Thailand’s “Deep South.”

As part of its support to this campaign, Geneva Call adapted its training material on humanitarian norms—an illustrated booklet and a poster—to the local context.

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Report release: “Education and Armed Non-State Actors: Towards a Comprehensive Agenda”

This report summarizes the proceedings of a workshop entitled “Education and Armed Non-State Actors: Towards a comprehensive agenda,” which was held in Geneva in June 2015, co-organized by Geneva Call and Protect Education in Insecurity and Attack (PEIC).

The workshop’s main objectives were to consider the multiple roles that armed non-State actors (ANSAs) play in protecting, facilitating and providing education, as well as the suitability of the international response educational issues in conflict situations

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