BEIJING, Dec. 7 (ChinaMil) -- The international symposium titled “From Arms Control to New Conflict Zones: Opportunities and Challenges for International Humanitarian Law” was held in Beijing on December 4 and 5, 2018.
The international symposium was co-sponsored by the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association (CACDA) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Regional Delegation for East Asia.
Pei Daobo (director of the ICRC Regional Delegation for East Asia), Dr Knut Dörmann (legal counsel-general and head of the Legal Division at the Geneva-based ICRC), retired Chinese Major General Qian Lihua (vice president of the CACDA), and Ma Shengkun (counsellor of the Department of Arms Control under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China), attended the symposium and delivered speeches.
More than 60 officials, experts, and scholars from relevant departments of China, the ICRC, the United Nations International Law Commission and other institutions, attended the symposium. Representatives of a number of foreign embassies to China, including the United States, Russia, Australia, and Pakistan, were present as observers.
The symposium focused on topics including “Contemporary Armed Conflicts: Challenges and Opportunities in the International Arms Control and Weapons Treaties”, “Humanitarian Consequences of Modern Armed Conflicts”, “International Legal Framework for the Control of Weapons of Mass Destruction”, and “From Cyberspace to Outer Space: Legal and Policy Considerations”.
The attendees explored and discussed the challenges of conventional weapons, weapons of mass destruction, and emerging technologies to current regional hotspots, international treaties, and arms control issues, from the perspective of policy, law, and international humanitarianism, and also, analyzed the impact of regional armed conflicts on International Humanitarian Law.
All participants agreed that the security situation for the current international arms control has undergone profound changes. The international community should raise awareness on security threats affecting future human survival and development, strictly implement the international treaties on weapons of mass destruction, promote the effective implementation of International Humanitarian Law in armed conflicts, closely follow the development of new weapons technologies, be aware of its underlying links with strategic security, and further strengthen the supervision of cyberspace and outer space.
After the symposium, some participants also visited China’s State Nuclear Security Technology Center.