The ICRC works in countries affected by armed conflicts, or internal disturbances or tension. It bases its operations on the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols of 1977, carrying out protection and assistance activities for:

• wounded and sick civilians and soldiers;
• prisoners of war;
• civilian internees;
• civilian populations;
• political or security detainees in countries in which it has obtained access to them.

The ICRC has specific modes of action that are based on the law and on custom and draw on the organization's long experience of humanitarian action. Those modes of action are complementary to those of other governmental and non-governmental humanitarian organizations.

The ICRC provides assistance to the victims of conflicts, and as such its activities are ad hoc and carried out on an emergency basis. The aim is to help people survive and to provide them with basic protection. The ICRC is therefore not oriented towards development aid or longterm relief work, both of which are usually carried out by other organizations using a complementary approach.

The ICRC works tirelessly for the application of and respect for international humanitarian law. It regularly reminds the States of their obligations in that respect. But the ICRC is neither a body of inquiry nor a tribunal. If the law is violated, it approaches the authorities confidentially, making discrete verbal or written representations. It has chosen the path of persuasion, taking steps to convince the authorities to accept their responsibility to work for the protection of the victims. This mode of action differs from, but is not in contradiction to, that of the organizations that have opted for public denunciation of violations of international law.

The competence to penalize the perpetrators of violations of international humanitarian law lies with the States party to the Geneva Conventions and with the International Criminal Court.