International Humanitarian Law and the Media Webinar

Feb 15 2023

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Feb 15, 2023 at 4:00pm

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Meeting

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In 2022, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) received increased interest by media on international humanitarian law (IHL) issues especially as it related to the Russia-Ukraine international armed conflict, but which also applies in more than 100 other armed conflicts around the world. The ICRC, known as the guardian of IHL, will explain why IHL is relevant to journalists reporting in conflict and offer resources journalists can use to inform their reporting on IHL issues.

This special webinar coinciding with the ICRC’s 160th anniversary, is led by our ICRC legal delegate and IHL expert with experience working in the field for the protection of civilians. This is an off-the-record program hosted by the Club's International Correspondents Committee for journalists looking to learn about IHL and how it applies to media from a global perspective.

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Speaker

Lakmini Seneviratne currently serves as a Legal Adviser and Head of the Legal Department at the Regional ICRC Delegation for the United States & Canada, based in Washington D.C. Having joined the ICRC in 2008 as a Legal Adviser in Sri Lanka, where she also served in the capacity of the Head of Communications for two years, Lakmini subsequently took up the positions of Legal Adviser to Operations in Afghanistan from 2014 – 2015, the Operational Legal Coordinator in Iraq from 2017 – 2020, and most recently the Operational Legal Coordinator in Syria from 2020 – 2021 with the ICRC. Before joining the ICRC, Lakmini served as a full-time lecturer in the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka teaching International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law at the Faculties of Law and Graduate Studies (starting as a visiting lecturer in 2001). She also served as a guest lecturer in IHL in a number of national institutions related to diplomacy, defese services, and social sciences in Sri Lanka. Lakmini is a registered Attorney at Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Law with Honours from the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo and a Master's degree (LL.M) from the Harvard Law School, USA

About ICRC: Established in 1863, the ICRC operates worldwide, helping people affected by conflict and armed violence and promoting the laws that protect victims of war. An independent and neutral organization, its mandate stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949.