在成立武汉大学国际人道法研究中心会议上的讲话

在成立武汉大学国际人道法研究中心会议上的讲话

□　黄　进

2008年3月14日

尊敬的各位来宾、各位同仁:

今天，武汉大学春光明媚、春意盎然。我们在这里欢聚一堂，举行武汉大学与红十字国际委员会(ICRC)合作协议签约仪式暨武汉大学国际人道法研究中心成立揭牌仪式。这是我国有关国际人道法教学、研究和传播方面的一次盛会。首先，我代表武汉大学对红十字国际委员会东亚代表处主任Thierry Meyrat先生、中央军委法制局肖凤城大校、中国外交部条法司易先良参赞、中国红十字总会联络部部长王小华先生等来宾和同仁表示最热烈的欢迎，对大家多年来关心、支持和帮助武汉大学国际法学科的建设和发展表示衷心的感谢!

大家知道，国际人道法是国际法的一个历史悠久的分支，主要规范战争和武装冲突中的作战手段和方法以及对非交战人员和平民的保护。随着国际关系不断发展，在当前国际形势复杂多变的格局下，国际人道法不仅有巨大的存在和适用空间，而且它所承载的人道主义理念日益彰显，其在国际社会中的重要性已被各国政府和国际法学者广泛认同。因此，加强国际人道法的教学、研究和传播恰逢其时。我们武汉大学通过同红十字国际委员会建立合作关系，适时成立国际人道法研究中心，来推进国际人道法教学和研究，可以说选准了方向，为武汉大学国际法学科的发展注入了新的活力，培育了新的增长点。

大家也知道，红十字国际委员会是一个以在战争和武装冲突中独立、中立地执行人道主义使命和促进国际人道法传播为主要职责的国际组织，其法律地位和在国际人道法领域的重要作用已在国际上得到普遍的认可，它已在全世界享有美誉。而武汉大学具有重视国际法教学和研究的传统，改革开放以来，武汉大学的国际法学科一直是国家重点学科，武汉大学国际法研究所在1980年成立时不仅是中国高校设立的第一个国际法研究所，而且现在还是国际法方面全国唯一的教育部人文社会科学重点研究基地。武汉大学的国际法教学和研究在国内外学术界具有较强的综合实力和较大的影响力。因此，武汉大学与红十字国际委员会在国际人道法领域开展合作可谓珠联璧合、相辅相成、相得益彰。这种合作模式正是我们武汉大学开展人文社会科学研究所追求和极力推进的。

大家更知道，中国将始终不渝地走和平发展道路，推动建设持久和平、共同繁荣的和谐世界，我国政府一贯遵循联合国宪章和原则，恪守国际法和公认的国际关系准则，高度重视国际人道法的遵守和实施。据我所知，早在2005年12月，我国外交部就同红十字国际委员会签署协议，在北京设立了红十字国际委员会东亚代表处。大家看到，出席今天盛会的来宾不仅有学界同仁，而且有来自中国外交部条法司的代表，来自中国人民解放军有关部门的代表。这说明大家对国际人道法的高度重视。应该提到的是，长期以来，外交部条法司、中国人民解放军有关部门大力支持武汉大学国际法学科开展国际人道法教学、研究和传播，彼此已有许多合作，建立了密切的联系。这大大提升了我校国际人道法学术研究的针对性和实际价值，而今天成立武汉大学国际人道法研究中心又能进一步深化和拓展我们同这些实务部门的交流与合作。

各位来宾，各位同仁，签署协议和成立机构是值得我们庆贺的事情，但这只是开始，万里长征的第一步。事实上，行动比协议更重要。从今天开始，让我们携起手来，同舟共济，埋头苦干，开拓奋进，让国际人道法的教学、研究和传播真正能在武汉大学这块沃土上生根、开花、结果。

谢谢大家!

Speech for the Establishment of Wuhan University Research Center for International Humanitarian Law

□　Thierry Meyrat

Dear President Huang Jin，Dean Xiao Yongping and Professor Yu Minyou，

Ladies and Gentlemen，

As you all know，the International Committee of the Red Cross(ICRC)is an impartial，neutral and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of war and internal violence，and to provide them with assistance on the basis of international humanitarian law(IHL).The ICRC also endeavors to prevent suffering by promoting and strengthening instruments of this law and works for its development，application，comprehension and dissemination.

Therefore，the promotion and development of IHL are core ICRC activities that the institution has been engaged in since its inception in 1863 and are based today on its mandate under the Geneva Conventions and the Statutes of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.In this regard，the ICRC has long cooperated with the academic circles to establish a sound teaching and research tradition in the filed of IHL with an eye towards students as the next generation of leaders，which，we believe will make the world，in the long run，a better place of humanity for all.

Today the ICRC is following up on university-related activities in some 130 countries around the world.Despite considerable improvement in recent years，the teaching of humanitarian law in universities is unfortunately still not sufficiently widespread.

This description should serve to remind teachers，students and practitioners of the limits of what is now known as international humanitarian law.At the same time，however，it provides a welcome justification for teaching and especially for applying humanitarian law，which is no longer the backwater of international law that it was nearly 50 years ago:today it is applied in countless situations and constantly cited by a growingnumber of bodies including the United Nations Security Council.

China is a state party to most of the IHL treaties.Dissemination is an obligation undertaken by the state parties.Dissemination creates understanding，which is the first step towards a faithful implementation.Therefore the ICRC also attaches great importance to the cooperation with the Chinese academic circles in dissemination of IHL to the government agencies as well as to the general public.

In September 2005，the ICRC moved its regional delegation for East Asia to Beijing. This has allowed us，over the past years，to intensify the cooperation with academic institutions in China with a view of promoting the teaching of IHL at selected law faculties. This also allowed us to have found an important partner-Wuhan University.

Founded in 1893，Wuhan University is well-known to the world with a long history. Its law school founded in 1926，was one of the oldest law schools in China.What'more important，after the World War II，Prof.Mei Ru'ao，the dean of the time，was appointed as a judge in the Military Tribunal at Tokyo.The torch of IHL in China was firstly lightened at this prestige university.

Now this torch has been passed to a new generation of the teachers and students of Wuhan University.This has also been proved by our cooperation on the first teachers training programme on IHL and the university's participation and good performance in IHL moot court competition and last but not least，the cooperation agreement to be signed between the delegation and the University as well as the plan of action to be announced by Prof.Yu.

The cooperation between the two sides，as indicated in the Agreement，covers thematic research of IHL，establishment of IHL documentation centre and integration of IHL into the curriculum of the University，ect.Therefore，we sincerely hope that through these cooperation the dissemination of IHL can be enhanced within China and another good example of promotion of IHL at the Universities is also set up.

Thank you!