KATHMANDU: The seventh South Asian regional conference on International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is scheduled to be held in Kathmandu on August 20-23.

The conference to be jointly hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC)- Nepal will be participated by the SAARC countries and Iran as well.

Earlier, the first conference was held in 2009 and the second in 2014 in Nepal.

According to ICRC communications department chief, Krishna Chandra Chalise, the countries to be participated in the conference will discuss  various issues relating to International Humanitarian Law also known as the laws of war and the law of armed conflict.

Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict- 1954, challenges in the implementation of IHL, conservation of natural property at time of natural disasters and role of security bodies at such time will also be discussed.

Besides, the participants will go for onsite visit to take stock of the progress on the reconstruction works taking place in Kathmandu Valley-based historic heritage sites which suffered damages in the 2015 April earthquake.

However, Nepal has not yet ratified the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict – 1954.

ICRC Nepal chief Andre Paquet recently met with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs to discuss the preparations for the conference.

There is already a committee comprising secretaries from various ministries to implement the IHL in Nepal under the chair of the Secretary at the Ministry of Law.