Panel discussion focuses on strengthening int’l humanitarian law, accountability

The Doha Forum 2024 held a panel discussion within the agenda of the second and final day themed: "Taking the Stand: Strengthening International Humanitarian Law and Accountability”.Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs in the US, ambassador Roger Carstens, talked about hostage taking challenges, situation of captives during wars and dealing with them, emphasising the efforts that are made to enforce accountability and achieve deterrence with respect to the detention process, as well as other measures aimed at isolating countries that hold American hostages.There has been a success to certain degree in leveraging legal tools to counter these unacceptable acts, and it is well-known that these issues have an international dimension that can’t be unilaterally solved, he added.He also stressed that deterrence and accountability go side by side and it is necessary to take essential measures to combat the unlawful detention of the US citizens. Carstens indicated that using sanctions is not enough to combat hostage taking and detention, calling for creating an international coalition to combat this operation.He pointed out that there are so many US citizens who filed lawsuits against their captors.For her part, President and CEO of International Crisis Group, Dr Comfort Ero, emphasised that the world is currently engulfed by myriad crises such as those unfolding in Syria, Sudan, Gaza, etc, along with the significant humanitarian impacts arising from them, including millions of displaced people, which require actions to prevent the commission of these crimes against humanity.Within the same panel, Dr Ero underscored the importance of taking every possible action to hold those responsible for these crimes to account, wondering about the benefit of these accountability tools to stop crimes if not applied on the ground.She called for maintaining the justice door open, in addition to enforcing the law and protecting the civilians.