More than 103. 00 and 4. 00 star generals from over 70 countries with which we entertain regular contacts but also which are engaged in their day to day life into military operations so its the exchange of experience and they have a classical exchange a very Practical Exchange of experts and this is the 1st time that this workshop is being held in russia where Russias Defense Ministry acting as the bounce partner and i assume there are lots of people and cultures who dont like Russias Defense Ministry as an entity let along and contact in military zones such as syria have you experienced any pushback on holding this specific event in this country i. C. R. C. Has no likes and dislikes of ministries and im sure you see here in dealing with the low internal intrigues and well we do have. We appreciate the contacts with military is of defense with armed forces thats the core activity of i. C. R. C. And we have been very appreciative for after some explanations also of the last 2 years to h
Secretary, good to see you sir. Its an honor to be here. Thank you very much to aits kind of interesting being vice chairman. I dont know how you described it until youve experienced it is really hard to imagine all the things that happen when you are vice chairman but theres an interesting dynamic that happens because on 18 november i changed command that u. S. Strategic command and when i changed command at u. S. Strategic command i was in command of 150,000 americans. They went to work every day to do the ab150,000 americans is an interesting element in command structure. Then on 21 november i swore in as vice chairman of joint chiefs of staff and went to a staff of five. Because im actually not in command of anything anymore. I have no command responsibilities, and will command anything. [laughter] when we drove out to omaha on the way over here and we were in a little bit of a hurry because the chairman had been out of vice chairman a little while he wanted me there quick. We were
Conventions but this is not how this event is officially called instead it makes reference to International Rules governing military operations is it just me quibbling over semantics are has they indeed been a shift on the battlefield from the loss to the rules with the latter i assume being last restrictive well i think there have been many shifts in the battlefields over the last decades and recently we have seen that it is more important may be just to teach to generalities or flaws in try and in the Geneva Conventions to look much more in detail to. The ground rules the rules of engagements that militaries have in the battlefields to compare notes to look at good experiences as well which have proven to protect civilians better than others and i think this is what this workshop is very much about i think you have seen we bring. I gather more than 103. 00 and 4. 00 star generals from over 70 countries with which we entertain regular contacts but also which are engaged in their day t
To discuss that im now joined by peter mauer president of the International Committee of the red cross mr maher its always good to talk to you thank you very much for finding titus for having me now you are now in moscow to take part in the warshaw that deals with what essentially are the laws of wars the Geneva Conventions but this is not how this event is officially called instead it makes reference to International Rules governing military operations is it just me quibbling over semantics or has they indeed been a shift on the battlefield from the loss to the rules with the letter i assume being last restrictive. Well i think there have been many shifts in the battlefields over the last decades and recently we have seen that it is more important and maybe did just to teach the generalities of flaws in try and in the Geneva Conventions to look much more in detail to. The ground rules and the rules of engagements that militaries have in the battlefields to compare notes to look at goo
Military operations us military story so its really about this dialogue between the humanitarian protection perspective and the military necessity perspective now there has been no one has been lambasted more for supposing disregard total disregard of the humanitarian law down the syrian authorities and i take it from some of your interviews that this phrase total disregard may not be accurate in describing the stance of the of the Syrian Government in fact i know that the i. C. R. C. Has done a study looking specifically into where when the law was upheld and when it was broken in the syrian context do you understand now the drivers the incentives and the hurdles that allowed or not allowed the syrian authorities to respect the humanitarian the International Humanitarian or in the context wanting to. Very difficult you have to admit it was very difficult to respect that law i see or see is not the. Generalizing. Condemnations or generalizing preys on the International Humanitarian law