Swiss Schedule January 27 Meeting to Reconsider Application of Geneva Conventions

On January 27, 2003, the Swiss Government will convene a three-day meeting at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts to consider the application of the Geneva Conventions on the Law of War. The Swiss Government, which is the depository for the Geneva Conventions and their steward, has sent notice of the meeting to senior officials of fifteen countries and the European Union, as well as representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations, and independent legal, military and human rights experts. Goals of the meeting are to achieve agreement to reaffirm basic principles concerning human rights and humanitarian law, explore means to interpret the ideas in the context of modern warfare, and harmonize views on applying the conventions. The meeting will also focus on some of the issues raised by the September 11, 2001 terror incidents in the U.S. and the responses by the U.S. Government.