From the ICRC website: 

This event, to be held on 22 October from 18:00 to 19:30, is part of the programme of the 2015 Advanced Seminar for IHL Lecturers, jointly organized by the ICRC and the Geneva Academy. It will mark the opening of a new conference cycle on "Generating respect for the law."

Armed conflicts have a devastating impact on life and social order: at times the very existence of the rule of law is put into question and crimes of extraordinary scale can take place. 150 years after States first sought to introduce limits to barbarity in war, elementary rules, such as the provisions on medical aid to the wounded and sick or the prohibition of sexual violence are often disregarded. Reparation mechanisms for victims of conflicts remain nearly absent and the creation of international criminal enforcement mechanisms does not appear to have significantly reduced the commission of atrocities. 

How to ensure that the respect of human life and dignity remains a common concern shared by opposing parties? More specifically, how does one generate respect for the law that applies in times of conflict? What are the means to influence the behaviour of those participating in war and political decision-makers?

The conference will be the occasion to take stock of the efforts made so far to prevent violations of the law in armed conflict and discuss the recent developments in the sector. It will take into consideration the role and activities of the ICRC together with the growing involvement of new actors such as civil society in this field. 

The event will feature content from an issue of the International Review of the Red Cross on the same topic, available in print in November 2015.

Moderator

• Vincent Bernard, Editor-in-Chief of the International Review of the Red Cross, Head of the Law and Policy Forum Unit, ICRC

Panelists

• Marco Sassoli, Professor of International Law and Director of the Department of International Law and International Organization, University of Geneva
• Helen Durham, Head of International Law and Policy, ICRC
• Naz Modirzadeh, Founding Director of the Program on International Law and Armed Conflict, Harvard Law School
• Elisabeth Decrey Warner, Executive President and Co-founder, Geneva Call

Photo credit: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, “The 1949 Geneva Conventions from the viewpoint of the British Judiciary,” Flickr, License: CC BY-ND 2.0.