Geneva Call

Geneva Call

File:GenevaCallLogo.png
Formation	March 2000
Type	NGO
Legal status	Swiss non-profit organization
Headquarters	Geneva, Switzerland
President	Elisabeth Decrey Warner
Affiliations	International Campaign to Ban Landmines
Budget	2,707,055 CHF (2009)
Staff	28 (2009)
Website	http://www.genevacall.org

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.

Impact

Success

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

Name of NSA	Location	Date of Adherence	Notes
Arakan Rohingya National Organization	Myanmar	17 October 2003
Banaadir	Somalia	November 2002
Chin National Front/Chin National Army	Myanmar	31 July 2006
Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan	Iran	4 December 2007
Free Life Party of Kurdistan	Iran	15 April 2010
Hiran Patriotic Alliance/Somalia Reconciliation and Restoration Council	Somalia	November 2002
Jowhar Administration	Somalia	November 2002
Juba Valley Alliance	Somalia	January 2005
Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan	Iran	16 June 2009
Komala Party of Kurdistan	Iran	7 April 2009
Kuki National Organisation	India	9 August 2006
Kurdistan Democratic Party - Iran	Iran	13 April 2010
Kurdistan Organization of the Communist Party of Iran	Iran	7 April 2009
Kurdistan Regional Government-Erbil (led by the Kurdistan Democratic Party)	Iraq	11 August 2002
Kurdistan Regional Government-Sulaymaniyah (led by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan)	Iraq	10 August 2002
Kurdistan Workers’ Party	Turkey	24 June 2006
Lahu Democratic Front	Myanmar	16 April 2007
Moro Islamic Liberation Front	Philippines	7 April 2002
National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy	Burundi	15 December 2003
National Socialist Council of Nagaland	India	17 October 2003	Isak-Muivah faction
National United Party of Arakan/Arakan Army	Myanmar	17 October 2003
Palaung State Liberation Front	Myanmar	16 April 2007
Pa-O People’s Liberation Organization/Army	Myanmar	16 April 2007
Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro	Western Sahara	3 November 2005
Puntland State of Somalia	Somalia	11 November 2002
Rahanweyn Resistance Army	Somalia	11 November 2002	factions of Col. Hassan Mohamed Nur “Shatigudud” and Sheikh Adan “Madobe”
Revolutionary Workers’ Party of Mindanao	Philippines	10 September 2002
Revolutionary Workers’ Party of the Philippines/Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade	Philippines	11 September 2003
Somali African Muki Organization/SRRC/Nakuru	Somalia	11 November 2002
Somali National Front/SRRC	Somalia	11 November 2002
Somali Patriotic Movement	Somalia	November 2002	faction of General Aden Abdullahi Nur “Gabyow”
Southern Somali National Movement/BIREM	Somalia	11 November 2002
Southern Somali National Movement/SNA/SRRC	Somalia	11 November 2002
Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement	Sudan	4 October 2001
Transitional National Government	Somalia	11 November 2002
United Somali Congress/Somali National Alliance/SRRC	Somalia	11 November 2002
United Somali Congress/North Mogadishu/SRRC	Somalia	11 November 2002
United Somali Congress/SNA/SRRC/Nakuru	Somalia	11 November 2002
United Somali Congress/Somali Salvation Army	Somalia	11 November 2002
Zomi Reunification Organization	India	20 February 2009

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?"