International Committee of the Red Cross hails:

Contribution of Islam to confront armed conflicts

Rasa - ICRC member hails Islamic views on confrontation with armed conflicts underlining the humanitarian behavior of the religion with war victims, the injured and prisoners.

News ID: 628

Date: 15 February 2014 - 22:11

Rasa News Agency reports - Angelika Schopp, member of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in an exclusive interview with Taqrib News Agency (TNA) referred to parallels of Islam and International Humanitarian Law (IHL) hailing the commonalities of the two pillars on humanitarian principles.

She said,” There are a lot of parallels in regards to humanitarian law which stresses protection of civilians, injured and prisoners of war and many of these elements, as we have learned from Islamic scholars, can be found also in Islam or some jurisprudence.

She stressed,” Islam has made considerable contribution to help with the situation in armed conflicts and also passing this humanitarian message.”

She referred to a research carried out in the Iranian holy city of Qom under the title of “The ICRC Global Dialogue on Islam and International Humanitarian Law” saying, “I would like to highlight some Islamic scholars and publications for their support and contribution for the research which have become inspirations for scholars in other Muslim countries and better protection of human dignity in the situation of armed conflicts.”

When asked on any example on violation of human rights or human dignity in Iran during constant visits to the country she said,” There is obviously prejudice unfortunately in the western world against Islam. We as members of ICRC, which is an independent humanitarian organization, try to handle prejudice on both sides to bridge the gaps and to communicate and clarify the misunderstandings on both sides of the culture. We are interested in having a dialogue and fight the prejudice.

TNA