On 15 March 2018, the ICRC in Kirkuk, northern Iraq, organized an Islam and IHL workshop hosted by the Al-Imam Al- Aadham college of Jurisprudence.

The workshop focused on the presentation of compatibility of IHL principles and Islamic Jurisprudence, the ethics of war in Islam, and the challenges to ensure the respect of humanitarian principles in armed conflicts. The main audience was Islamic (Sunni) scholars of the Imam Al-Aadham College, who came from different regions of Iraq. Notably, Kirkuk has a variety of resident Muslim scholars who moved there from Mosul, Anbar, Salahuddin, Hawija and Diyala.

The participants displayed a deep interest in the content of the presentations. They were curious and keen on improving their understanding if the ICRC’s mandate and specificities of IHL. The overall assessment of the discussion was strongly positive, it focused mainly on protection of civilians in armed conflict under both systems, i.e., IHL and Islamic Law.

The participants also noted the main challenges of respecting humanitarian principles in non-international armed conflicts, with the very high number of civilian casualties continuing to occur. They stressed that practice shows limitations in respecting the principles of IHL, as wars become more hybrid, while combatants operate from areas within civilian communities.