Italy’s engagement with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

Italy’s long-standing commitment to IHL is rooted in the very origins of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (the Movement), of which Italy has been a strong supporter since the Movement’s foundation. On 26 October 1863, alongside a limited number of European States, an Italian delegation took part in the first Constituent Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent held in Geneva, actively contributing to the articulation of the principles of neutrality and impartiality and to the creation of national relief societies.Footnote ⁶ In 1864, Italy formally ratified the First Geneva Convention, marking the start of its engagement in the development and implementation of IHL. Italy maintained a constructive role in subsequent International Conferences, including the first in 1867 and those held in Karlsruhe in 1887 and Rome in 1892; at the latter, it supported early discussions on outreach to youth in Red Cross activities.Footnote ⁷ Throughout the twentieth century, Italy strongly affirmed its commitment to IHL through the adoption and ratification of the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols.Footnote ⁸ Into the twenty-first century, Italy reaffirmed its contribution within the Movement through pledges and the launch of specific initiatives, some of which will be analyzed in detail in this article.

Italy’s engagement in other multilateral fora

Italy also expresses its commitment to strengthening respect for IHL through engagement in other multilateral fora, stressing the protection of victims of armed conflict and the promotion of international law as reflected in its national priorities. In fact, Italy was a founding member of the League of Nations and then joined the United Nations (UN) in 1945. Since then, it has actively advanced the normative development and implementation of IHL, promoting compliance with humanitarian norms in the work of the US General Assembly, Security Council and Human Rights Council. In these fora, it consistently advocates, inter alia, for the protection of civilians, the rights of children affected by armed conflict, and the prevention of and response to conflict-related sexual violence. In the context of the Universal Periodic Review, Italy systematically formulates recommendations to other States, aimed at strengthening compliance with IHL and improving domestic implementation frameworks.Footnote ⁹ Italy is also a party to several humanitarian disarmament treaties, contributing to the banning, clearing and destruction of mines and explosive remnants of war, as well as supporting initiatives for victim assistance and risk education.Footnote ¹⁰

Italy’s engagement with the implementation of IHL within the UN framework has increased over time, particularly through active contributions in the work of the UN General Assembly Sixth Committee. Such commitment is exemplified by the periodic reports submitted in compliance with General Assembly Resolution 37/116Footnote ¹¹ concerning the state of signatures and ratifications of the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions.Footnote ¹² In 2000, Italy submitted its first national report related to the above resolution, outlining domestic measures for the protection of victims of armed conflict, recognizing the competence of the International Fact-Finding Commission established under Article 90 of Additional Protocol I (AP I) and acknowledging the critical role of the ICRC Advisory Service in advancing treaty ratification and domestic implementation.Footnote ¹³ A second report followed in 2022, in the context of the “Bringing IHL Home” resolution,Footnote ¹⁴ whereby Italy detailed ongoing initiatives such as the establishment of a renewed National IHL Committee.Footnote ¹⁵ Most recently, Italy submitted an updated document highlighting recent developmentsFootnote ¹⁶ such as the publication in November 2023 of Italy’s first Voluntary Report, the systematic integration of IHL into the training of the various components of the Armed Forces, and the creation of the “Blue Helmets of Culture” Task Force to oversee activities related to the protection of cultural heritage.Footnote ¹⁷ The ItRC substantively contributed to the drafting of the above-mentioned reports.

Italy has also engaged to promote IHL through bilateral and regional cooperation initiatives, support for the training of civilian and military personnel,Footnote ¹⁸ and participation in campaigns aimed at supporting IHL soft-law instruments. While not legally binding, such instruments play an important role in shaping and influencing international policy and practice.Footnote ¹⁹ For instance, Italy endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration in 2017, affirming support for safeguarding education from attack during armed conflict and ensuring the continuity of learning in crisis settings.Footnote ²⁰ Similarly, it adopted the Political Declaration on the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas in 2022, thereby endorsing efforts to mitigate the devastating impacts of urban warfare on the civilian population and essential civilian infrastructures.Footnote ²¹

Italy has taken part in three Conferences of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention (which address the applicability of Geneva Convention IV to the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem),Footnote ²² convened by Switzerland, as depositary of the Geneva Conventions and as mandated by UN General Assembly resolutions. In these meetings, Italy joined the corresponding declarations adopted by consensus and consistently advocated for a strengthened respect for IHL.Footnote ²³

Finally, the respect and promotion of IHL has increasingly featured in discussions within European Union (EU) institutions and member States, pursuant to the framework set out in the EU Guidelines on Promoting Compliance with International Humanitarian Law, which outline the tools available to the EU and its institutions and members.Footnote ²⁴ The Guidelines are also aligned with the objectives set forth in the EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy 2020–2024, extended until 2027,Footnote ²⁵ whose third pillar, “Promoting a global system for human rights and democracy”, includes “compliance with international human rights and international humanitarian law” among its core objectives alongside multilateral and bilateral cooperation and engagement with civil society.Footnote ²⁶ Among others, Italy hosts and actively supports the activities of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in Sanremo, to which the ItRC also contributes.

Historical background

In general terms, the historical involvement of National Societies in the development of IHL, both from a practical and normative perspective and in light of their auxiliary role, has been extensively illustrated in previous scholarship, including in the Review.Footnote ²⁷ Along those lines, the identity of the ItRC, one of the first National Societies ever established, is closely linked to that of IHL since it is coeval with the Red Cross “idea” initiated by Henry Dunant and the creation of the Committee of Five in the second half of the nineteenth century. The Italian Association for the Relief of the Wounded and Sick in War (Associazione Italiana per il Soccorso ai Feriti ed ai Malati in Guerra, the Association), the precursor of the ItRC, was founded in Milan on 15 June 1864 as an association rooted within the Italian medical community. As was common with other sovereigns in Europe toward their respective Red Cross entities, the Royal House of Savoy was a patron of the Association, with King Victor Emmanuel II, among the first sovereigns to ratify the 1864 Geneva Convention, acting as its “High Protector”.Footnote ²⁸

From the Association’s inception, its delegates created and maintained connections with the diplomatic processes ongoing in Geneva. The key International Conferences of that early period (Geneva 1863, Paris 1867, Berlin 1869) established criteria that they conveyed back to the Association for application in the domestic context. These concerned, for instance, establishing the central committee of national “entities” at the government headquarters in the kingdom’s capital (thus moving the nascent ItRC from Milan to Rome) and the name change to “Associazione Italiana della Croce Rossa in Soccorso ai Malati e Feriti in Guerra” that gradually led to today’s Croce Rossa Italiana.Footnote ²⁹

The ItRC later became a “public entity” under Italian law with the adoption of Royal Decree No. 1243 of 7 February 1884, a status retained through a series of legislative reforms during the twentieth century.Footnote ³⁰ After a few attempts, and in line with evolutions over the years in other European National Societies, the ItRC’s legal status changed again in 2012 to a voluntary organization of private nature through a dedicated reform.Footnote ³¹ The ItRC is today the largest humanitarian and volunteering association in the country, with around 150,000 volunteers operating in more than 600 local branches, under the coordination of a national committee and structured in twenty-one regional/provincial bodies. The Association serves the public interest and is an auxiliary of public authorities in the humanitarian field, currently under the high patronage of the president of the Republic.Footnote ³²

The Italian Red Cross and IHL in the Italian normative framework

The ItRC’s institutional mission regarding IHL is described in the Italian “Red Cross Law” (Legislative Decree No. 178) and the Association’s by-laws adopted in 2013 and revised several times until 2023. In 2016, the ItRC truly started acting with its new status as the only National Society authorized to operate on the Italian territory “in accordance with the Geneva Conventions of 1949, the relevant additional protocols, … [and] the fundamental principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, … as well as the resolutions and decisions of its bodies”.Footnote ³³

In line with the ItRC’s history and the earlier normative sources defining its mandate, IHL extensively informs its institutional mission. Indeed, Article 1.4 of Legislative Decree No. 178, the key provision listing the activities of “public interest” that the ItRC is “authorized” to carry out, refers to an “active volunteer network to ensure that the Italian State applies, within its sphere of competence, the [Geneva] Conventions and [their] protocols, and international resolutions”,Footnote ³⁴ and the acknowledgement of the mandate to “comply with the provisions of the Conventions, resolutions and recommendations of the organs of the International Red Cross assigned to the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, in accordance with the laws in force”.Footnote ³⁵ While mentioning the possibility of generally carrying out auxiliary activities for the Italian authorities, in Italy and abroad, after consulting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and according to the rules determined by the Movement, the provision explicitly refers to the dissemination and promotion of “the principles and legal institutes [istituti] of international humanitarian law, as well as the humanitarian principles inspiring the Movement”.Footnote ³⁶ The same article specifies the institutional mission to “carry out advocacy and humanitarian diplomacy activities as defined by the conventions and resolutions of the international Red Cross bodies”.Footnote ³⁷

In parallel, the ItRC by-laws open with a reference to the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols on which the Association is “based”, further stating how “[t]he principles of international humanitarian law are respected at all times and guide its work”.Footnote ³⁸ To pursue the Association’s main objectives,Footnote ³⁹ the by-laws specify a list of aims, including to

The same article states the objective “to promote the Fundamental Principles of the Movement and those of international humanitarian law in order to spread humanitarian ideals among the population”,Footnote ⁴¹ and to “cooperate with public authorities to ensure compliance with international humanitarian law and protect the Red Cross and Red Crescent emblems”.Footnote ⁴² The by-laws also state that the actions of the ItRC are to be respectful of the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols as well as the decisions of the statutory bodies of the Movement, in particular the resolutions of the International Conference.Footnote ⁴³ Finally – a key provision for IHL education and promotion – the Association can undertake training, qualification and professional upgrading activities, addressed not only to its operators and the public but also to “other categories or professional orders or public or private bodies”, aimed at “promoting and disseminating” any topic of public interest as referred to in Article 1(4) of Legislative Decree No. 178.Footnote ⁴⁴

The ItRC and IHL implementation in practice

The ItRC’s normative framework thus has IHL at its foundation, as a constant guide, and as part of its mandate. The current plethora of activities faithfully reflects this, notably through the current practice of IHL dissemination as well as other dissemination and humanitarian diplomacy endeavours at the national and international level.

The early pioneering attempts in the 1980s and 1990s

The first Italian National IHL Committee was established in the 1980s. That period was characterized domestically by an increasingly structured cooperation between the ItRC and national authorities on IHL matters and, at the international level, by the pioneering examples of National IHL Committees that began to emerge in the 1970s.Footnote ⁵⁷ The Committees’ initial functions were primarily advisory, assisting States in the domestic implementation of IHL and involving relevant national stakeholders, including National Societies. By the 1980s, a second model had appeared, characterized by formal creation through public authorities and institutionalization within ministerial structures.Footnote ⁵⁸

Within this framework, in 1988, Italy created the Study Commission for the Adaptation of the Legal System to the Agreements and Rules of International Humanitarian Law (Commissione di Studio per l’Adeguamento dell’Ordinamento Giuridico agli Accordi e Alle Regole di Diritto Internazionale Umanitario, First Commission). This made Italy a forerunner in the field, as the creation of such commissions would only later be formally encouraged at the 26th International Conference in 1995.Footnote ⁵⁹ Established under the MFA, the First Commission included representatives of that ministry as well as representatives from the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Justice (including military judges) and the ItRC, which played a leading role in its establishment. Indeed, according to a 1995 ICRC report, the Commission was created “[a]t the prompting of the Italian Red Cross”.Footnote ⁶⁰

Much of the impetus came from Pietro Verri, first president of the ItRC’s own IHL Commission, which had been founded in 1985 and, since then, has served as one of the main bodies within the ItRC for the dissemination of IHL, as detailed in the previous section. A retired senior military officer and former vice-general commander of the Carabinieri, Verri had developed a long-standing scientific and institutional interest in IHL.Footnote ⁶¹ He represented the ItRC at the 1974–77 Diplomatic Conference within the Italian delegation,Footnote ⁶² and prompted early cooperation activities between the National Society, domestic authorities and academia on IHL issues. From the late 1970s he organized annual Armed Forces–academia seminars, bringing together academics and military officers to discuss IHL for the benefit of military personnel, students and Red Cross members.

Verri strongly advocated for peacetime measuresFootnote ⁶³ and finally pressed for the creation of the First Commission, also through the support of Luigi Ferrari Bravo, a leading international law scholar and then head of the MFA Legal Service, with whom Verri had cooperated at the 1974–77 Diplomatic Conference.Footnote ⁶⁴ The First Commission began its work – despite Verri’s passing away in 1988Footnote ⁶⁵ – with a focus on compatibility studies concerning war crimes, acting “mainly for the study of the amendments to national legislation required for the repression of war crimes … [presenting to] the competent authorities some draft revisions of the Military Penal Code of War”.Footnote ⁶⁶ Italy indeed still relied on the 1941 wartime military criminal code, having failed to introduce changes aimed at bringing its domestic legal framework into line with required obligations of criminalization, following ratification of the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols.Footnote ⁶⁷ In January 1998, the First Commission’s work informed a government bill seeking delegated legislative powers to amend the wartime military criminal code.Footnote ⁶⁸

This initiative stalled due to concurrent international developments, particularly the negotiations for the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which quickly rendered the proposed reforms outdated. In February 1998, the MFA issued a decree restructuring the First Commission “in view of the diplomatic conference to be held in Rome in 1998”,Footnote ⁶⁹ expanding its membership to include additional military and criminal law experts.

The establishment of the ICC nevertheless proved to be the First Commission’s death knell. In 1999, the Italian Parliament opted to ratify the Rome Statute rapidly, without granting the government the legislative mandate it had requested to adapt the domestic legal system.Footnote ⁷⁰ This choice was short-sighted, as even nowadays the Italian system is not fully in line with substantive crimes provided by the Rome Statute. Diverging views among ministries involved in implementation measures further weakened the First Commission: between 1999 and 2004 the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Defence each established their own commissions on these issues, both of them unsuccessful as, in the end, neither of them managed to have a law approved in Parliament to introduce changes in the domestic legal system aimed at bringing it into line with the core crimes provided by the Rome Statute.Footnote ⁷¹ These institutional divisions marginalized the First Commission, which eventually ceased active work during these years, even if it could be recorded that some of its proposals presented in 1998 in relation to war crimes were finally included in a few changes made to the wartime military criminal code through laws and decree laws in 2001 once, for the first time, this instrument was formally applied to military missions in Afghanistan.Footnote ⁷² Although never formally abolished and still recorded for decades by the ICRC as existing in its table on National IHL Committees,Footnote ⁷³ the First Commission was effectively inactive – one of several committees “existing on paper but not functioning in reality”.Footnote ⁷⁴

Rising from the ashes: The 2021 Commission for the Study and Development of International Humanitarian Law

This state of affairs continued for nearly two decades. Although informal dialogue between the ItRC and the MFA continued during this period, the absence of a functional forum for inter-institutional discussion on IHL remained a major concern for the National Society as it both prevented the establishment of a structured and permanent forum for discussing IHL issues at the domestic level and undermined the networking and advocacy capacities of the ItRC with national authorities. The ItRC began informal advocacy efforts for re-establishment, which were facilitated by an increasingly close partnership with the MFA’s legal service, strengthened by international legal developments. These efforts culminated in a 2021 MFA decree creating the Commission for the Study and Development of International Humanitarian Law (Commissione per lo Studio e lo Sviluppo del Diritto Internazionale Umanitario, National Commission).Footnote ⁷⁵

A decisive catalyst was the “Bringing IHL Home” resolution of 2019, which strongly reiterated the 1995 call for States to establish National IHL Committees.Footnote ⁷⁶ This resolution’s focus on domestic implementation, combined with growing cooperation between the ItRC and the MFA during the same International Conference, prompted a series of subsequent meetings to explore the proposal, complemented by comparative analyses of National IHL Committees and assessments of past domestic challenges prepared by the National Society.Footnote ⁷⁷ With strong backing from the head of the MFA Legal Service, these discussions led to the 2021 decree establishing the National Commission for a three-year mandate. This mandate was renewed in January 2025 through another decree, without substantive changes.Footnote ⁷⁸ The National Commission’s legal status under the MFA, whose legal staff serve as secretariat, conforms to ICRC Advisory Service recommendations for ensuring permanence and continuity of activities.Footnote ⁷⁹

In the National Commission, the ItRC is represented at the highest level, including by its president, alongside the national IHL coordinators and staff of its IHL Unit as alternates. The first president of the National Commission was a former diplomat who served pro bono; the 2025 decree conferred the role on a senior diplomat from the MFA Legal Service, aligning with ICRC advice to appoint as chair “someone with the authority to ensure that tasks allocated to the various members will be fulfilled” but who is “not … so high-level that the national IHL committee is likely to be their lowest priority”.Footnote ⁸⁰

The National Commission’s mandate includes contributing to IHL study and research, promoting the dissemination and application of IHL, encouraging legal reforms, and facilitating coordination between government agencies and civil society.Footnote ⁸¹ This represents a broader scope than its 1980s–1990s predecessor, aligning with the full range of functions recommended for National IHL Committees.

The first Voluntary Report on the implementation of IHL in Italy

Given the lack of mandatory reporting mechanisms for States party to the main IHL treaties (i.e., the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols), the drafting of Voluntary Reports on the domestic implementation of IHL is one of the most important sources for the identification and collection of States’ good practices.Footnote ⁸² This positive – if relatively slow – trend was formally welcomed and further encouraged through the 2024 IHL resolution “Toward a Universal Culture of Compliance with International Humanitarian Law” adopted at the 34th International Conference.Footnote ⁸³

In November 2023, as a result of strengthened institutional ties between the Italian authorities and the ItRC within the newly established National Commission (see below), Italy officially published its first Voluntary Report, thus joining the small group of seven States that had adopted such a document at the time.Footnote ⁸⁴ In a way, the drafting of the Voluntary Report was a “baptism by fire” for the new National Commission, following the intention of its members and presidency to act concretely since its establishment to prove and maintain its effectiveness and mitigate any risk of inaction. The Commission decided to draft the Report during its first meeting in October 2021, based on the consideration that it would represent “a valuable tool for adequately assessing the measures adopted …, as well as highlighting the actions still to be implemented”.Footnote ⁸⁵ The decision was taken in light of the aforementioned “Bringing IHL Home” resolution, which invited States

On that occasion, the National Commission presidency asked the ItRC members to supervise the scientific coordination for the endeavour – namely, to conduct the background desk-based research aimed at analyzing normative sources and collecting evidence and quantitative data, as well as consultations with the main national stakeholders.

The ItRC’s substantial involvement proved to be crucial. As highlighted by both the Italian minister of foreign affairs and the president of the National Commission in the Voluntary Report’s preface and introduction, the process that led to the drafting, adoption and publication of the Report benefited substantially from the ItRC’s decades of experience in the field of IHL dissemination and implementation, taking advantage of its pool of IHL staff and academic experts. This synergy was facilitated by the fruitful cooperation with national stakeholders that the ItRC had established over the years, which allowed it to be identified as a reliable and experienced partner in IHL-related issues. The consultation phase involved all relevant governmental administrations, the Armed Forces, and universities across the entire country, for which the ItRC acted as a “junction point” in collecting data and helpful insights to include in the draft text. This also allowed for the identification and inclusion of concrete examples of good practice (both “regulatory” and “operational”) that might benefit other States and useful measures for IHL implementation and dissemination, probably one of the most distinctive features of the Report.

The advanced draft text was first shared and discussed with the National Commission presidency and secretariat, before being shared with other components of the Commission in order to collect inputs and observations, eventually leading to the validation of the text by the Italian MFA and its subsequent publication. The structure and content of the Italian Voluntary Report are in line with the models and “standards” suggested in supporting tools existing at the time, such as those elaborated by the ICRCFootnote ⁸⁷ and the UK,Footnote ⁸⁸ although with some noteworthy innovative elements such as the inclusion of good practice examples and the emphasis on commitments taken internationally (e.g. pledges submitted at the International Conferences). The Italian Report reviews the implementation of IHL at the domestic level, firstly identifying all relevant domestic IHL stakeholders and secondly illustrating how distinct topics are addressed, based on references to ratification instruments and starting from the legal framework of reference. This includes IHL military training and dissemination, protected persons and objects (including emblems and cultural property), means and methods of warfare, and the prosecution of international crimes.

Despite the Voluntary Report having been circulated relatively recently, its concrete impact in Italy is already clear, as its development turned out to be a highly effective way of identifying areas that would need further action and prompting new initiatives aimed at increasing respect for and implementation of IHL. Such “way ahead” considerations are identified, albeit briefly, in the conclusive section of the Report, which mentions issues that might imply further initiatives and lay the foundations for subsequent action. These include the training of the Armed Forces; the updating of IHL military manuals in order to take into account technological progress in armed conflicts; compliance with international law provisions relating to war crimes and the Rome Statute of the ICC; the protection of minors and their inalienable right to education even in the event of hostilities; and the strengthening of the protection of cultural heritage and the environment in armed conflicts. While discussion on these subjects is ongoing within the National Commission, the aspect of training of, and dissemination among, the Italian Armed Forces on IHL-related matters was concretized already during the Report’s final stage, also thanks to a stronger involvement of the Italian MoD, specifically its Legal Office at the SMD.

The improved cooperation between the Italian MoD and the ItRC

As described above, one of the most significant added values of the new National Commission since 2021 is its improved capacity to foster links and promote horizontal cooperation among its components, laying the foundation for joint initiatives and concrete outputs. This has proven particularly true for institutional collaboration between the Italian MFA and the ItRC, as described previously. It also appears to have engendered a cascade effect, creating functional synergies and facilitating further activities in areas where additional domestic action would be expected.

The Italian MoD’s decision to develop a new military manual on international law applicable to military operations is the most relevant example of such dynamic. Certainly, the acknowledgement by the National Commission’s components that the existing Italian IHL manuals date back to the early 1990s, limiting their relevance and utility today, highlighted the need for a renewal.Footnote ⁸⁹ A new manual would meet the need to reflect a changed international legal landscape and the new IHL treaties adopted in recent years, as well as to address the rapid shifts occurring at the operational level – with new “battlefield dimensions” like cyberspace and outer space acquiring relevance alongside the “classic” domains of land, sea and air – and ongoing developments in military technologies, including the specific challenges represented by the increasing automation of weapon systems.

The link between the Italian MoD’s decision and the publication of the Voluntary Report was clearly acknowledged in the ministerial decree issued in October 2023 to create a working group of experts tasked with drafting the new manual.Footnote ⁹⁰ The decree considers “the need to develop an updated military manual, given the changed regulatory context and operational use of military personnel, as also emerged during the work of the Commission for the study and development of international humanitarian law, established at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation”.Footnote ⁹¹

The drafting of an updated manual as a unified, comprehensive and coordinated text required a complex coordination of expertise and implied the systematization of a multitude of sources, including customary ones and the international conventions ratified by Italy. For this reason, the Italian MoD decided to include members with different expertise and backgrounds in the working group. Beyond representatives of the MoD’s Legal Office, the group was composed of experts from all the Italian Armed Forces, including the Chief of Staff, the National Operational Commands, the single components (i.e., the Army, the Air Force, the Navy and the Carabinieri), the military judiciary, several academic experts (the majority of whom belonged to the IHL Scientific Committee of the ItRC), and ItRC IHL national coordinators. As part of this multiplicity of actors, the significant role played by the ItRC can be identified in the appointment of two of the general coordinators of the project, being the coordinator of the ItRC IHL Scientific Committee and a retired Air Force general and member of the ItRC IHL Commission, along with two generals at the SMD and the Joint Operational Command.

As for the methodology of work, the project leads facilitated the creation of subgroups respectively working on different thematic chapters; each subgroup was composed of representatives of the MoD and academics appointed by the instituting decree, eventually supported by staff and volunteers of the ItRC, according to respective expertise. Additionally, the ItRC president was included in the Technical-Scientific Committee made up of senior experts and tasked with ensuring overall consistency and supervising the work led by the subgroups, providing opinions and proposals on issues addressed in the manual.Footnote ⁹²

At the time of writing, the text of the new military manual has not yet been validated by the Italian MoD. Pending the approval of the manual, what can be observed is that the “cascade effect” is still ongoing, with specific regard to the improved cooperation between the ItRC and the SMD Legal Office. The two institutions undertook a series of technical meetings also involving, on some occasions, ICRC representatives and addressing a series of topics of relevance, such as military training and “preparedness” measures. It was during these meetings that the adoption of an SMD–ItRC bilateral agreement was proposed, and this agreement was subsequently signed in October 2025. The agreement concerns the collaboration of the parties on relevant IHL-related issues and activities, as set out in the pledges presented by Italy and the ItRC at the 34th International Conference held in Geneva from 28 to 31 October 2024.

Italy–ItRC joint engagement at the 34th International Conference

The occasion of the 34th International Conference offered another clear example of close partnership between Italy and the ItRC, intensified as a reflection of a shared commitment to presenting a unified and strategic approach.

Such collaboration was evident both in the months leading up to the Conference and during the event itself. This renewed partnership also made good use of the strategic objectives elaborated during the last few years and combined diplomatic influence with technical expertise in the negotiation of resolutions, the presentation of joint pledges and the organization of a side event.Footnote ⁹³

The preparatory phase of the 34th International Conference began almost a year before the event. In December 2023, the ItRC initiated a systematic review of background documents and draft resolutions prepared by the Joint Organizing Committee (JOC). In parallel, the Italian MFA developed its legal position on the drafts based on diplomatic consultations and regional briefings organized by the JOC. Both efforts resulted in a constructive exchange of perspectives and sharing of position papers ahead of the related preparatory meeting in May 2024.

Dedicated attention and feedback were provided on the first three draft resolutions, as most aligned with Italy’s and the ItRC’s policy and operational priorities. For instance, on the first resolution on “Toward a Universal Culture of Compliance with IHL”,Footnote ⁹⁴ both Italy and the ItRC advocated for integrating IHL into military doctrine and further stressed the importance of drafting voluntary national reports. As for the second resolution on “Protecting Civilians from Cyber and Information Operations”,Footnote ⁹⁵ both recognized the humanitarian impact of digital threats and called for explicit recognition of the direct and indirect effects that such operations have on health-care delivery and persons in vulnerable situations. The collaboration became even more visible during the International Conference, both in formal proceedings and in the margins of consultations. During the negotiations taking place in the Drafting Committee, the technical body discussing the final text of the resolutions to be adopted in plenary, Italy and the ItRC played a proactive role in securing important outcomes, including retaining operative paragraphs on specific protection for persons in vulnerable situations and explicit references to the risks arising from digital technologies in armed conflicts.

A significant achievement was marked by the joint presentation of two pledges by Italy and the ItRC. The first, concerning the relationship between Italy and the ItRC, focuses on specific commitments to be implemented during the next four years.Footnote ⁹⁶ Notably, it marks the first time Italy has made a dedicated commitment on IHL in its engagement with the ItRC. The National Commission features prominently in the pledge, alongside the planned update of the Voluntary Report in 2028 and the adoption of the new military manual (see above). The second, open to endorsement by States and members of the Movement, focuses on the protection of persons with disabilities during conflicts and disasters through advocacy and awareness-raising initiatives.Footnote ⁹⁷ Both pledges stemmed from a preparatory process informed respectively by the inputs of the ItRC for the first and the MFA for the second. Draft texts were circulated within the National Commission in July 2024, providing time for discussion, review and endorsement. The whole process attests to the National Commission’s collective engagement throughout the development of the draft texts. Italy further joined the EU and its member States in a set of ten joint pledges, some of which also involve National Societies and have been joined by the ItRC,Footnote ⁹⁸ committing to coordinated actions for the effective implementation and promotion of IHL across EU external action and domestic frameworks.

Close alignment also led to the organization of a side event on IHL Voluntary Reports, in cooperation with the ICRC, Switzerland, the UK and Ukraine (together with their respective National Societies), where the Italian report was showcased, inter alia, as an example of good practice.Footnote ⁹⁹

There are clear mutual benefits resulting from the collaboration between Italy and the ItRC in the context of the International Conference. Besides visibility and the advancement of respective objectives, the most important of these benefits can be defined as the “complementarity dividend”. Italy’s diplomatic engagement reinforced the ItRC’s advocacy and outreach capacity, while the ItRC’s IHL technical expertise strengthened, in turn, Italy’s efforts on its policy priorities. Despite being closely engaged on common priorities, each entity also continued to advocate for its own specific interests and placed emphasis on issues beyond those shared priorities. This balanced relationship exemplifies the auxiliary role of a National Society,Footnote ¹⁰⁰ whereby the ItRC maintained the independence required to act in accordance with the Fundamental Principles of the Movement while its engagement extended beyond operational service delivery to include policy and technical advice.

The “complementarity dividend” will also be tested in the follow-up of the International Conference and the implementation of the joint pledges. This will require sustained efforts from both sides, as the alignment between national and Movement priorities requires continuous and transparent exchanges and a balance of competing political and humanitarian interests.

Best practices and success enablers

An overarching success factor lies in the strong partnership between Italy and the ItRC, and between the members of the National Commission, for instance in jointly representing Italy during international meetings, co-organizing events and providing mutual support in outreach efforts toward the general audience and other stakeholders. This partnership has strengthened Italy’s overall engagement on IHL, ensuring coherence in its external positions and enhancing the visibility of both institutions within global fora. The permanent and substantive participation of the ItRC in the National Commission has further amplified this synergy and represents a particularly strong enabler for the Commission’s effectiveness, thanks also to the technical and operational expertise provided by the ICRC, allowing the Commission to function as a link between government, civil society and academia. The National Commission also benefits from an institutional framework that reflects many of the key recommendations found in the ICRC’s guidelines for national IHL committees.Footnote ¹⁰¹ Its establishment under the MFA facilitates alignment with Italy’s foreign policy priorities and ensures the functioning of the secretariat, providing continuity in the Commission’s work. This arrangement also responds to the ICRC’s advice to incorporate a committee into the ministry that is most active in the implementation of IHL.Footnote ¹⁰²

Another important positive element concerns the composition and functioning of the National IHL Committee.Footnote ¹⁰³ The National Commission ensures a broad representation of ministries and governmental agencies, among which the Ministry of Justice and the MoD are permanently represented.Footnote ¹⁰⁴ However, it also retains the flexibility to invite on an ad hoc basis other relevant ministries, academic institutions and civil society organizations, whenever the agenda requires their functional input to coordinate on specific projects. This targeted inclusivity has resulted in an increase in participation from roughly a dozen members to twenty-three in 2025, although its long-term impact remains to be assessed in the coming years. One of the procedural strengths of the Commission lies in its practice of consolidating meeting outcomes into written records, collected at the end of each session by the secretariat and integrated into minutes shared with all members. This modus operandi contributes to the creation of transparent and accessible records of activities, enabling the follow-up on action points and the monitoring of the progress achieved. In the Italian example, the record-keeping preserves the institutional knowledge and memory of the Commission, also because its members regularly change portfolios and are replaced. Additionally, the Commission has fulfilled another ICRC recommendation, namely the production of periodic reports to document its work, to be presented to high-level authorities, in its case the Italian MFA; however, the dissemination of these reports to the public, as suggested in the ICRC’s recommendations, has yet to be achieved, as the attention of the Commission has been focused on other priorities so far.

Finally, the National Commission organizes outreach activities through public conferences to engage with the broader public and disseminate IHL, as part of a broader strategy to ensure that IHL norms are embedded in public discourse and understood beyond a confined community of experts.Footnote ¹⁰⁵ The first of these conferences was devoted to the analysis of the needs of vulnerable persons during and armed conflicts in line with the open pledge supported by Italy and the ItRC, through panels involving academics, relevant domestic institutions, and practitioners, and was characterized by the participation of the Italian Ministry for Disabilities in order to confirm the growing relevance and visibility of the National Commission within the domestic landscape.

Limitations and challenges

Despite the strengths listed above, some structural and operational limitations remain. The most significant of these relates to the absence of an independent budget for the National Commission’s work, as also identified by the ICRC as a common obstacle in other National IHL Committees.Footnote ¹⁰⁶ Even if both the MFA and the ItRC contribute with human and financial resources to the functioning of the National Commission and the implementation of its projects, without earmarked financial resources, both can be more vulnerable to delays and the capacity to plan and complete medium-term projects can be weakened.

The National Commission has held five plenary meetings during its first three-year mandate. The organization of regular plenary meetings could be improved, as it can affect coordination and reduce opportunities for cross-sectoral exchange and decision-making. The creation of technical working groups and informal coordination meetings facilitated by ItRC members and experts – such as those contributing to the drafting processes of the Voluntary Report – represents a potential solution to address such weaknesses and compensate for these limitations, thus concurrently increasing the efficiency of the work of the Commission. Still, the lack of regularity in convening plenary sessions risks reducing the strategic planning role of the Commission and affecting the periodic information-sharing that takes place among its members.

A further difficulty lies in finding the right balance between the technical capacity and availability of the persons appointed as members of the Commission and the need to ensure that they have sufficient seniority to enable decision-making,Footnote ¹⁰⁷ as recommended by the ICRC Advisory Service.Footnote ¹⁰⁸ The National Commission has tried to address this tension by combining, in most cases, the IHL expertise of its members, to ensure the necessary capacities to reach project outcomes, with senior-level representation that has the authority to make commitments on the principals’ behalf, although this balance remains an ongoing effort.

Opportunities for strengthening the model and proposals for improvement

The above limitations also outline opportunities to further strengthen the model. First and foremost, the current international context underscores the importance of consolidating institutional cooperation on IHL and the relevant role of the National Commission as a technical advisory body. This will acquire increasing relevance not only in light of dissemination and other measures taken in peacetime to ensure compliance with IHL, but also against the recrudescence of armed violence and instability at the international level. Once again, enhanced institutional cooperation between the domestic administrations, starting with the MFA, MoD and National Society, appears to be a promising avenue for the development and implementation of preparedness measures. Within the Italian context, for instance, such measures could include the establishment and functioning of a National Information Bureau in line with the provisions of the Geneva Conventions,Footnote ¹⁰⁹ the operational support of which is currently foreseen as part of the institutional mandate of the ItRC, as stated in Legislative Decree No. 178 of 2012.Footnote ¹¹⁰

Another area for improvement centres on access to the work of the National Commission by the broader public: increased availability of information on activities, reports and good practices could further enhance the Commission’s visibility and could help to facilitate exchanges with other public agencies not represented within the Commission, and with the wider international community.Footnote ¹¹¹ For instance, the establishment of a dedicated institutional web page where relevant information on the Commission and its work could be presented might offer added value even if, at the same time, outreach to the public may require dedicated financial resources that may strain the Commission’s existing capacities. While the Commission has implemented some ICRC-recommended working procedures, including annual reports to the MFA to document its work, public information on its work is limited to a few press releases issued upon completion of specific projects and certain plenary meetings. The adoption of a more structured action plan, highlighting priorities and objectives to be achieved before the next International Conference, for instance, could help to improve the Commission’s overall strategic orientation, identify thematic issues and set corresponding timelines. Furthermore, hosting conferences on the broader IHL international agenda or regional meetings of National IHL Committees could leverage Italy’s political positioning to promote cross-regional exchanges. The involvement of the National Commission could be beneficial to the preparation of Italy’s contributions to meetings as well as optional reporting procedures under treaties to which Italy is party. Moreover, regular stocktaking exercises of the International Conference (such as the one conducted for the 34th session), regional meetings and the broader IHL international agenda could help to identify areas for cooperation and provide inspiration for future initiatives.

Looking ahead, the National Commission could strengthen its role in domestic law-making processes to ensure closer alignment of Italian legislation with international treaties and norms. Improved coordination among the various national actors working on IHL, together with enhanced engagement with political and legislative authorities, including by making the Commission’s work known to Parliament following the example of the Interministerial Committee for Human Rights’ reporting,Footnote ¹¹² could be mutually beneficial to foster greater coherence and effectiveness.