Red Cross Forming Int'l Group to Probe Humanitarian Law Abuses by US, NATO

An international commission will investigate "a whole range" of violations of norms of international humanitarian law by the US and NATO military aviation.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Moscow branch of the Russian Red Cross has started to form an international commission to investigate violations of international humanitarian law by NATO and US air forces, the organization's chairman Igor Trunov said Tuesday.

"We have now begun to form a commission to investigate violations of international humanitarian law on the platform of the Moscow Red Cross," Trunov told RIA Novosti.

According to Trunov, there is "a whole range" of violations of norms of international humanitarian law by the US and NATO military aviation.

Trunov cited as an example of such violation the bombing of a Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders, or MSF) hospital in Afghanistan.

"There are more such examples when it comes to Syria," the Red Cross Moscow chairman added.

International humanitarian law experts from several countries are expected to form the commission. There is already an agreement in place with experts from Serbia, Armenia and France, according to Trunov.

On October 3, a US AC-130 gunship aircraft shot 30mm cannon shells for 30 minutes into the MSF hospital in Kunduz, killing at least 22 medical staff and patients. Another 24 people are still missing and presumed dead.

In late November, US forces Commander in Afghanistan Gen. John Campbell told reporters the Kunduz bombing was an avoidable mistake caused by human error.