Geneva Call

Geneva Call is an NGO based in Geneva, Switzerland that focuses on engaging armed non-state actors, such as guerrilla groups and liberation movements, to respect international humanitarian law and human rights law. Some members of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines were concerned that the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, also known as the Ottawa Treaty, was only binding on states, allowing armed non-state actors to continue using these weapons. Geneva Call was created in 1998, one year after the Ottawa Treaty was signed, to begin engaging non-state actors on the subject of landmines. However, Geneva Call took little action until March 2000, at a conference organized by the Swiss Campaign to Ban Landmines called Engaging Non-State Actors in a Landmine Ban. This conference, the first of its kind, created a foundation for approaching non-state actors about a landmine ban, and served as the official launch of Geneva Call.

Organization
Geneva Call is a non-profit organization under Swiss law. It is headed by a board composed of local personalities with expertise in international law or in the thematic issues that compose the mission of Geneva Call. One member of the board, Elisabeth Decrey-Warner, also serves as the president of Geneva Call. The board is organizing an advisory council consisting of further experts in Geneva Call's work.

Geneva Call's headquarters staff is divided into three divisions: Operations, Administration and Communications. Geneva Call's operations staff is divided into three geographical divisions (Africa, Asia, Middle East & Latin America) and three thematic divisions (Anti-personnel mines, gender issues and children issues).

Notable Members
Elisabeth Decrey-Warner, President of Geneva Call, was president of the legislature of Geneva Canton from 16 November 2000 to 1 November 2001. Mrs. Decrey-Warner is also a member of PeaceWomen Across the Globe, an organization that was nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.

Armin Köhli, Geneva Call programme officer for the Middle East, is a double amputee and accomplished cyclist, who placed fifth in the road race event at the 2000 Paralympic Games and won two bronze medals, five silver medals, and two gold medals in the Swiss cycling championships between 1997 and 2003. Mr. Köhli uses cycling competitions as an opportunity to promote awareness for mine action.

Priscilla Hayner, member of the Geneva Call board, was one of the co-founders of the International Center for Transitional Justice.

Mission
Geneva Call has the goal of committing armed non-State actors to respect international humanitarian law and international human rights law.That mission is currently divided into three thematic issues: banning anti-personnel mines, prohibiting sexual violence and gender discrimination, protecting children in armed conflict.

Anti-Personnel Mines
The struggle against anti-personnel mines was the original focus of Geneva Call. Geneva Call developed the Deed of Commitment for Adherence to a Total Ban on Anti-Personnel Mines and for Cooperation in Mine Action, which engages non-state actors to ban the production, use, and transfer of landmines; to participate in mine clearance and mine risk education in the areas under their control; and to allow verification missions by Geneva Call.

Geneva Call held the First Meeting of Signatories to Geneva Call's Deed of Commitment in Geneva, Switzerland. Eleven signatory and ten non-signatory groups, including FARC, attended the meeting. Organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, the European Union, the African Union, and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines also sent delegations. According to Geneva Call, the purposes of the meeting were to understand what is stopping non-signatory groups from adhering to the mine ban, identify implementation and monitoring challenges that signatory groups face, encourage sharing of best practices, explore the arguments for and against expanding Geneva Call's mandate, and analysing links between mine action and peace negotiations. Geneva Call held the Second Meeting of Signatories to Geneva Call's Deed of Commitment in June 2009. In addition to the topics discussed at the First Meeting of Signatories, delegations also discussed Geneva Call's plans to develop a Deed of Commitment on children in armed conflict.

Gender
In 2004 Geneva Call, with the help of the Program for the Study of International Organization(s) (PSIO), gathered female members of non-state actors in Geneva in order to discuss the influence of women in applying international humanitarian and human rights law within non-state actors. In 2005, Geneva Call and the PSIO organized a second conference in Addis Ababa to explore the same issue specifically within African non-state Actors. In the 2008 Geneva Call Annual Report, the organization began listing gender as one of the thematic issues composing its mission.

Children
Geneva Call has been involved with child soldiers as early as 2001, when it invited the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers to a conference on engaging non-state actors to discuss their experiences in that field. In its 2005 Annual Report, Geneva Call announced that it was exploring the possibility of expanding their engagement of NSAs to other fields of international law, including the use of child soldiers. At the Second Meeting of Signatories in 2009, Geneva Call discussed the possibility of a Deed of Commitment engaging non-state actors to not recruit child soldiers.

Success
List of former or current non-state actors who have signed the Deed of Commitment

Praise
Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations Secretary General has mentioned Geneva Call and its work on multiple occasions, including a speech where he identified the Geneva Call Deed of Commitment as a "successful example" of special agreements with non-state actors.

The International Forum on Armed Groups and the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, held by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers in July 2006, recognized the Deed of Commitment as "one of the most innovative forms of persuading armed groups to make unilateral declarations to abide by IHL norms."

Criticism and Controversy
At the Seventh Meeting of States Parties to the Ottawa Treaty, Turkey accused Geneva Call of signing a Deed of Commitment with the Kurdistan Worker's Party without knowledge or consent from the Turkish government, describing the act as "inappropriate and unacceptable." Geneva Call claims that it informed Turkey of the engagement. Turkey refuses to allow Geneva Call into its borders to conduct verification missions with the Kurdistan Worker's Party.

The 2010 United States Supreme Court case Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project ruled that organizations providing international law training to organizations recognized as terrorist groups by the Department of State are committing a crime. Because of Geneva Call's relationship with the Kurdistan Worker's Party, some of the organization's activities could be considered illegal under American law. Geneva Call President Elisabeth Decrey-Warner responded that "civilians caught in the middle of conflicts and hoping for peace will suffer from this decision. How can you start peace talks or negotiations if you don’t have the right to speak to both parties?"