ICRC President: We must return to Conventions; peace is responsibility of all

By Wojciech Rogacin

After an audience with Pope Leo XIV on October 9, Mirjana Spoljaric, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, spoke to Vatican News, saying the meeting was of great importance to her and her organization, as well as to the entire International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

She said that both the ICRC and the Church seek greater respect for the rights of civilians—innocent people affected by war, whose lives must be saved and who must be protected from armed violence.

Leaders must reaffirm the rules that protect people

“We are currently preparing for an exceptional initiative’s final stage, which is the convening of an international conference at the end of the year in Jordan that will be hosted by His Majesty King Abdullah II,” Ms. Spoljaric said, referring to the conference planned for December 7.

She expressed her hopes that the conference will bring together heads of state “to reaffirm faith in the fundamental rules and principles of international humanitarian law, which are meant to protect human dignity and uphold humanity at all times.”

So far, 122 countries have expressed their intention to participate in the conference, with more joining almost every day.

“The fact that almost every day another country joins gives me a lot of hope that we will have a very successful conference in December,” the ICRC President said.

She added that “the Vatican has been supportive throughout the process and from the very outset.”

The conference is being organized because “the world needs to hear their leaders reaffirm the validity of the basic rules to protect humanity.”

The need is even more urgent, she noted, because the ICRC currently classifies more than 130 conflicts worldwide. This is the highest number since the Second World War and twice as many as 15 years ago.

“The number has been rising exponentially. The conflicts are overlapping and they are more and more difficult to unpack,” she said.

Eroding respect for international law

During her many visits to conflict zones, the ICRC President has witnessed a growing erosion of respect for international humanitarian law in wartime.

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Ms. Spoljaric recalled that this is happening even though every country in the world has ratified the Geneva Conventions, adopted in 1949 in response to the experience of the Second World War.

Yet despite states having joined the conventions and assumed the obligations that come with them, respect for the rules protecting civilians and non-combatants has weakened.

Dehumanizing language leads to atrocities

“We are reaching a point now where there is a total permissiveness on how they are being applied and how military strategies are being designed,” Ms. Spoljaric said.

“A very concerning element of this is the increased use of dehumanizing language.”

“There’s almost no restraint with regards to what can be said in the pursuit of military victory. And this, as we know historically, precedes the worst crimes and atrocities,” the ICRC President warned.

Ban autonomous weapon systems

She pointed to another threat raised by the Holy See at international events: the use of artificial intelligence and autonomous weapon systems on the battlefield.

Ms. Spoljaric is deeply concerned about the development of such weapons and sees significant scope for cooperation between the ICRC and the Holy See in addressing the threat.

“We need to ensure at all times that there is human control and human accountability over the decision of who is going to live and who is going to die in a situation of armed violence and conflict,” she said.

She noted the low cost of the technologies involved: drones are inexpensive, while artificial intelligence remains unregulated.

“So, if you combine the two, without any restraint, without any normative barriers, you create potentially a weapon that will easily get out of control and that will become extremely indiscriminate with regards to its targets.”

Together with the UN Secretary-General, Ms. Spoljaric has called for a legal framework that would ban certain types of weapons, particularly fully autonomous weapons.

She hopes states will begin negotiations at the Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, to be held in Geneva in mid-November.

“And I hope that states will seize this opportunity,” she said.

We must speak about peace

Ms. Spoljaric expressed her appreciation of Pope Leo XIV’s consistent calls for peace and dialogue.

“The fact that we converge in the call for peace increases our authority in raising awareness that we cannot continue this current trend,” she said.

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“That we have to stand up and do everything we can within our mandates, within our authority and respective roles to promote the establishment of pathways to peace.”

“I think the time has come where we have to speak about peace loudly. We have to return to a vision of peace. We have to prioritize de-escalation for the sake of the people that are more and more desperate in making ends meet.”

Globalized conflicts

Ms. Spoljaric does not distinguish between more and less difficult conflicts.

“All wars are difficult at the moment because they are all fought with the same technology and with the same lack of restraint when it comes to civilian lives, when it comes to protecting children, protecting the dignity of women and treating prisoners humanely,” she said.

The pain of a mother losing a child is the same in every war.

“It’s the same pain. And this is why we need a global initiative. We don’t want a contextualized conference where we finger-point,” she stressed.

The ICRC President believes that all countries should be involved in working for peace, including those far from conflict zones.

“It pertains to all states and all states today have a responsibility to de-escalate.”

“We live in a globalized system,” she said. Countries are connected through partnerships and economic interdependence and therefore share responsibility for developments far beyond their own borders.

“All the dangerous global trends that are converging at the moment are only going to be managed through international cooperation. We cannot unpack these different conflicts that are already cross-regional. We cannot unpack them by working alone.”

“No party to the conflict remains isolated from others. We are speaking today about a global challenge, so we have to address it collectively.”

Peace begins with humanitarian action

The ICRC hopes Pope Leo XIV’s constant calls for peace and for the dignity of every person will be upheld. As President of an organization providing humanitarian assistance in conflict zones, Ms. Spoljaric is convinced that the first steps toward peace are almost always humanitarian.

“It can be the return of civilians, safe passage, the delivery of humanitarian assistance. It can be a large-scale exchange of prisoners of war. The means towards the confidence that you need to re-establish in order to come to a ceasefire agreement are humanitarian.”

She added that the Geneva Conventions provide a reference framework that makes such steps possible.

“And the Geneva Conventions give you a reference framework to do this. Especially because they have been ratified by all and still today all states are parties to that convention or humanitarian architecture as a whole.”

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Returning to respect for international norms

Asked how to reverse the growing tendency to impose peace on others through force, domination, weapons and war, Ms. Spoljaric noted that the urge to dominate is rooted in human nature, but must be restrained by established norms governing relations between people.

In today’s complex world, she believes, regulating certain areas has become even more important “because otherwise they get out of control.”

Wars are getting out of control because they are no longer confined to a single territory, while military cooperation involves an increasing number of states.

“We have to accept the fact that the human being is belligerent. And we have to compensate it with the fact that at core the human being is also seeking peace because the human being knows that chances of survival are far greater in peace and the chances for our children to thrive are far greater in peace.”

According to the ICRC President, international agreements and norms must once again be given priority.

“And this is why we rely on agreements and this is why we have to come back to these agreements and say we have to prioritize them in the future. We have to do more. It is our responsibility.”