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SANT’ANNA SCHOOL RESEARCHERS DELIVERED LECTURES ON HUMANITARIAN LAW IN MILITARY OPERATIONS AT COESPU ADVANCED TRAINING COURSE ORGANIZED BY ITALIAN ARMY AND ARMA DEI CARABINIERI IN VICENZA

Publication date: 25.03.2017
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84 Italian Army second lieutenants, 77 Arma dei Carabinieri Officers and 9 Officers from Afghanistan, Armenia, Morocco, Niger, Senegal and Thailand completed their training course on human rights, applicability and application of international humanitarian law in military operations at the Centre of Excellence for Stability Police Units (COESPU) in Vicenza. The Advanced Training Course was organized by the Scuola Ufficiali dei Carabinieri in Rome, in partnership with Comando per la Formazione e Scuola di Applicazione dell’Esercito - Turin, Sant’Anna School, University of Padua and John Hopkins University - Bologna. The training course provided the officers with a military and civilian operational capacity for peace-keeping and peace enforcement missions. 

Emanuele Sommario and Chiara Macchi, researchers in International Law at Sant’Anna School Dirpolis Institute, lectured on “Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law in Crisis Management Operations” and offered their cooperation in the training needs analysis and course design.

The 4-day training program, taught in English, has provided knowledge and skills to deal with hostile situations in peacekeeping international missions and peace enforcement operations. The military officers selected for participation in the "Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law” course focused on specific safety procedures, use of drones, mass graves, sweeping hunts, checkpoints, and procedures to be followed aboard military vehicles.

Sant'Anna School researchers, Italian Army and Carabinieri experts have broadened their cooperation into this joint training program  on humanitarian law aimed at Carabinieri staff and Armed Forces members. Participants learned more about international humanitarian law, as a set of rules to limit the effects of armed conflicts and as a part of international law set out in the United Nations Charter. To illustrate this, academics and military experts presented a case-study on fictional threat content with the cooperation of the “Brigata Mobile Carabinieri” and the “Raggruppamento Carabinieri Investigazioni Scientifiche”.