Posted by Margaret Mason on Nov 17, 2021
The meeting took place at Royal Brighton Yacht Club.
Guests at the meeting were Ken Oaks and Samatha Banbridge.
The guest speaker was Jonathan Kolieb. Paul Ferguson was chair
President Helen advised members on the following:
. The RC of Chadstone has invited members to participate in an “overnight sleep out” on 26/11/21. Details can be found in the Club Bulletin.
. The Police Plating has been organised at the Glen Eira Town Hall car park on 20/11/21.
Details can also be found in the Bulletin.
End of year get together will be on Saturday 11/12/21 from 2pm at the home of Ron and Marilyn Brownlees, 20 Booker Street Cheltenham. BYO drinks, food will be provided.
The guest speaker was Johnathan Kolieb. He is a Senior Lecturer in International Law at RMIT. He was a Rotary Peace Scholar between 2004 and 2006, and attended Berkeley University in California. Since that time he has worked overseas and returned to Melbourne in 2011. He completed a PhD in “The Role of Business in Building Peace.”
Johnathan’s presentation was about “Embedding Respect for the Laws of Armed Conflict”, a program for Australians companies, developed by RMIT in collaboration with Red Cross.
He stated that the Armed Forces are educated in the laws of armed conflict but generally  business companies are not. The program that has been developed for education of the companies to make them more responsible when they mine for resources in conflict zones, for example. He cited an example whereby 2 company directors in Sweden (Ian Lundin and Alex Schnieter) are currently being indicted, in their own country, through the application of International Humanitarian Law, for war crimes in South Sudan, flowing from their business activities there.
He talked about the pillage in conflict zones and taking resources from those areas. He pointed out the importance educating companies in this area, and told us about a podcast in U Tube on this subject. He also said that a manual has been written on the “Risks, Rights and Responsibilities of doing Responsible Business in Armed Conflict” and the program at RMIT.
Johnathan’s presentation was followed by question time. He was thanked for a very interesting and stimulating presentation.
 
Jonathan has kindly provided the following links:
Link to the teaser trailer for our latest online learning module  here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCN6Sk1BqME 
Link to the actual online short (1hr) course 'War, Law and Business' - here:   https://www.redcross.org.au/war-law-and-business
It is free, and accessible to all.