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

By Stephanie Nebehay

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.