Global top brass to learn rules of war at Swiss boot camp

GENEVA (Reuters) - Top military brass from nearly 60 countries ranging from Sudan to Sri Lanka have gone back to boot camp on neutral Swiss soil to brush up on the rules of war.

At the workshop, co-hosted by the Swiss army and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), high-ranking officers were reminded that their forces must refrain from harming civilians or their property during armed conflict.

The course at a Swiss army barracks aims to ensure that soldiers, police and other forces comply with international humanitarian law embodied in the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

"It's one thing having the law but unless you can translate it into drills and procedures that troops use when on operations they won't have much impact," Tim Yates, an ICRC military adviser who organized the course in Geneva, told Reuters.

"With the military being a fairly hierarchical institution, when changes come they generally come from the top down," the retired British army officer said.

The ICRC's first course for senior military leaders coincides with the 30th anniversary of the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions which laid down rules on the conduct of hostilities.

These include the crucial principle of distinction between civilians and combatants and between civilian property and military objectives. Attacks on civilians are prohibited under the pacts, which cover both cross-border and internal conflicts.

Isabelle Veilleux, a Canadian lieutenant colonel, is the only woman among the 56 participants drawn from all continents, who finished their first week of instruction on Friday.

'SOLDIER'S DUTY'

ICRC Vice President Olivier Vodoz told the officers it was a "soldier's duty" to protect civilians, whom he called the main victims of 80 armed conflicts currently under way worldwide.

"Nothing can excuse murder, rape, pillage or humiliating treatment. Nothing," he said in an opening speech on Monday.

Participants, all sporting their national uniforms decorated with medals, are attending lectures by major-generals and colonels and discussing in small groups hypothetical cases of warfare where international humanitarian law may apply.

Lieutenant Colonel Aftab Khan of Pakistan, who said he deals with counter-terrorism operations in the Waziristan province bordering Afghanistan -- seen as a hotbed of support for the Taliban and al Qaeda -- found the sessions "very educational".

"I can relate these principles to operations we are conducting. It is helpful on how civilians should be treated," he told Reuters.

Khan said he would present the ICRC program to Pakistani officials in charge of military training.

Judge Colonel Orhan Onder, a legal adviser to Turkey's general staff who command 500,000 troops, said international humanitarian law was an essential consideration the military.

"Conflicts are getting more complicated and for that reason combatants needs legal perspectives. This is an individual responsibility and a government responsibility," he said.

Based in Geneva, the ICRC is an independent organization mandated to provide humanitarian protection and aid to victims of war and armed violence. Its 12,000 staff help prisoners, the wounded and sick, and civilians affected by conflict.

The ICRC also coordinates the work of national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies in situations of conflict.