Legal Working Group meeting in Budapest

The NATO Military Committee approved the „Terms of Reference of NATO Training Group" to support nations in establishing national education and training capabilities and to facilitate sharing of experiences and practices among nations and the NATO Command Structure. The LOAC NTG TG was established in 2008 with the purpose to update the „STANAG 2449 Ed1 (2004), Training in the Law of Armed Conflict" as it was already due for revision. The working group produced the „A TrainP-2 Training in the Armed Conflict Edition A Version 1" document, which was promulgated by the NATO Standardization Agency in March 2013 as „STANAG 2449 Ed2 (2013)".

The Legal Office of ACT Staff Element Europe has been responsible for the coordination of the LOAC NTG TG’s activity from the beginning. Hungary has participated in the working group from the beginning, and contributed to the developing the basis of the instruction text and the detailed explanations of the „new STANAG" and by elaborating a standardized, easy-to-handle template for the instruction slides.

The „STANAG 2449" of 2013 is a recommendation to the Nations that can be used to develop their own military training and education system. The Nations may decide whether to translate or to use the English text of the STANAG. The content of the training material is not binding on the Nations or on the NATO, and because of the different national interpretations of LOAC it cannot be considered as official legal interpretation of the nations or of the NATO.

The main task of LOAC NTG TG in the Budapest meeting was to review and update the „STANAG 2449" based on the comments sent by the Nations. The participants have further developed the training material which is expected to be finalized during upcoming meetings in 2017.

Mr. Sherrod Lewis Bumgardner, Legal Advisor of ACT SEE chaired the meeting in Budapest at which legal and operational experts of France, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States of America participated. The Hungarian MoD was represented by LtCol Zoltán Hegedüs, Lt Levente Tóth and Ms Viola Vincze. On the first date of the event Mrs Réka Varga, Head of the International Law Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade also participated in the work of the LOAC NTG TG.

The meeting was held in the Hotel Hadik. Besides the services of the Hotel and the Stefánia Palace, the Participants also enjoyed the unofficial evening programs (1956 memorial tour in the city, guided tour in the Hospital in the Rock Nuclear Bunker Museum – Sziklakórház) that were organized by the MoD Legal Department.