Students at Idaho Falls High School are learning about International Humanitarian Law and the rules of war thanks to the passion and dedication of some of their classmates.

The Youth Action Campaign is a project of the American Red Cross of Idaho, Montana and East Oregon and covers issues like the measures in place to protect lives during war and efforts to preserve human dignity. Youth Action participants learn about neutrality, targets vs. nontargets (locations like hospitals can’t be attacked during war, for example) and the treatment of prisoners of war.

This is a heavy but important topic for high schoolers, 16-year-old Leslie Stephens said.

“Last year it became very relevant with the war in Russia and Ukraine,” said Leslie, a junior who started volunteering last year with the Youth Action Campaign. “It became something I needed to know about.

“Just learning about this makes us better people.”

Leslie serves as the project’s youth leader and first heard of the International Humanitarian Law project through a close friend whose parents are Red Cross employees. Leslie is also a member of the high school’s Key Club that regularly works with the Red Cross on their community blood drives.

“I consider myself an activist to make the world a better place,” she said. “We can try to prevent war as much as possible but learning about all of this is a way that we can help alleviate the human suffering of war.”

This year, the Youth Action group meets at least two times a week, when they often find themselves having intense discussions.

“We are constantly debating things like what would be considered a war crime even though it’s an everyday action (during war),” she said.

She brings up the example of whether poisoning water or bombing agricultural crops are an act of war because they also cause human suffering.

Also on hand during those lunches is Idaho Falls High School English teacher Meighan Perry, who advises the students.

“(We) have some really great conversations together,” she said. “It really wound up some of the students last year when Ukraine was bombed. I knew then that it was going to be tough content … I have activists this year who really want to make a difference.”

To further her humanitarian learning, Leslie has also paired her interests with another project Meighan leads -- building a greenhouse for an Environmental Club project focusing on sustainability.  

“This greenhouse will bring the (environmental and IHL) groups together and help us educate even more people,” Meighan said. “The greenhouse project is tying together this year’s themes of the environment and the arms conflict campaign.”

“These students then can take what they learn and share that information with their classmates.”

And that’s exactly what they’ve done. Earlier this year, the Youth Action team developed a presentation for the entire student body during an assembly during Multicultural Week. At least 1,000 students attended, and some began to ask further questions, Meighan said.

Meighan credits students Aiyanna Horne and Leslie for developing and delivering the presentation.

“Next year I am going to recruit again at the beginning of the year to see if we can collect more activists,” she said.

To learn more about Red Cross International Humanitarian Law projects, visit  https://www.redcross.org/humanityinwar/international-humanitarian-law-youth-action-campaign.html.