Middle East

During the Persian Gulf War of 1990-91, the UK and US set up field hospitals and other medical facilities, organized evacuations and provided both Coalition and Iraqi combatants with medical care.

Jordan took measures to seize and safeguard the cultural property stolen during the 2003 armed conflict in Iraq and illegally smuggled within its territory. When the situation stabilized, Jordan repatriated artefacts to Iraq.

In 2014, immediately after the commencement of liberating ISIS controlled areas, a Presidential Decree was issued in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq which instructed Peshmerga armed forces to comply with IHL. This was followed by consultations between IHL experts and the commanders, capacity building activities for 40 individuals to conduct IHL trainings within the armed forces, as well as the… Read more ...

Soldiers and commanders of different Kurdish armed groups received training on IHL from different actors. Subsequently, Kurdish authorities issued a new Decree and amended the existing normative framework in order to enforce the compliance with IHL and the protection of civilians.

Following the signature of three Deeds of Commitment, members of organized armed groups, law-enforcement actors and representatives of the civil society attended a series of training sessions and dissemination programs on the enforcement of the obligations contained in these documents and more generally international humanitarian norms.

During the invasion of the US-led coalition in Iraq in 2003, legal advisers reviewed operational decisions and targeting procedures with the purpose of ensuring compliance with IHL.

The U.S. military reformed their detention policies in Iraq’s detention facilities in order to allow an increased number of family visits to Iraqi prisoners at Camp Bucca in Umm Qasr.

An agreement facilitated by the humanitarian organisation “Community of Sant’Egidio” and concluded in Rome on 18 June 2016 by leaders of different ethnic and political groups from the southern part of the country led to the distribution of medicines and other humanitarian aid in the Fezzan area, South Libya.

In 2008 the governments of Iraq and Iran signed with the ICRC a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) establishing a clear framework for collecting and sharing information about missing persons and the returning of mortal remains. Accordingly, a series of measures aimed at improving searches, protect mass graves and establish a proper treatment of the dead in the armed conflict were launched.

In the planning of attacks in Iraq in 2003, the US and the UK Air Forces reduced the danger to civilians by resorting to computer modelling to assess collateral damage, by modifying their targeting and improving weaponry and technology.