Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnamese Government and people alwaysrespect and promote the implementation of International Humanitarian Law,especially the 1949 Geneva Conventions, a Vietnamese official has said.
Le Thi Tuyet Mai, Director of the Department of International Lawand Treaties under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a workshop opened inHanoi on June 24 that Vietnam joined the 1949 Geneva Conventions on InternationalHumanitarian Law in 1957.
The conventions protect wounded and sick soldiers on land during war, and wounded, sick,and shipwrecked military personnel at sea during war; apply to prisoners ofwar; and afford protection to civilians, including in occupied territory, shesaid.
Apart from the 1949Geneva Conventions, the country has also engaged in other conventions relatingto International Humanitarian Law like the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, the 1993 ChemicalWeapons Convention, and the 2017 Treaty on theProhibition of Nuclear Weapons, Mai added.
GianniVolpin, Chief Representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross(ICRC) in Vietnam, described the workshop as a chance to encourage regionalcountries to increase their participation in realising, developing andinterpreting International Humanitarian Law.
He voiced his belief that the activities duringthe five-day session will create an effective premise for representatives fromgovernment bodies and experts to contribute to the exchange of information andexperience in the region concerning the current pressing issues of humanitarianlaw.
Jointly held by the ICRC and the DiplomaticAcademy of Vietnam, the workshop brought together about nearly 50 delegatesfrom16 countries.-VNA
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