Sydney (ICRC) – Senior naval commanders, legal advisers and security practitioners from across the Indo-Pacific gathered in Sydney for the 2026 Asia-Pacific Naval Warfare Symposium. Co-hosted by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Australian Defence Force (ADF), 40 navy and coast guard participants from 20 Indo-Pacific countries joined the three-day event to examine the humanitarian challenges of contemporary naval warfare and strengthen respect for international humanitarian law (IHL) during armed conflict at sea.
“The ICRC has a long history of engaging with armed forces as part of our mandate and work to ensure humanitarian norms and international humanitarian law are integrated into training and decision making,” said Ann-Marie McCabe, the ICRC’s head of mission in Australia. “By promoting a better understanding of and respect for the laws of war, and encouraging their integration into military training and operations, we can work together to reduce human suffering in armed conflict.”
The symposium, which took place from 4 – 6 November, focused on ways to apply the laws of war specific to naval warfare, including maritime search and rescue, detention and humanitarian agreements during armed conflict at sea.
Now in its ninth iteration, the annual event is co-hosted by the ICRC in a different host country each year, with recent symposiums taking place in the Republic of Korea and Indonesia.
