"People deserve to rest in peace - it matters"
What responsibility do we have to the dead? An ICRC forensic specialist reflects on this sometimes harrowing but always meaningful area of work. Oran Finegan recently left his role as head of the …
Skip to main content
Search results
Red Cross Red Crescent: We need new extraordinary steps to increase access to COVID-19 vaccines and we need them now
The following statement can be attributed to the President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Francesco Rocca, and to the President of the International …
Central African Republic: “I wish the world were more aware of what is happening here”
Ene Abah reports from CAR*. The people around me filled their plates with towering piles of food. I noticed how much they were eating and asked them about it. Their responses were striking: They …
Allies, Partners and Proxies: Managing Support Relationships in Armed Conflict to Reduce the Human Cost of War - Summary
Armed conflicts feature an ever-growing number of actors organized in overlapping webs of alliances, proxy dynamics and other types of support relationships. And when armed actors fight alongside …
Pakistan: Strengthening humanitarian forensics in Sindh
Humanitarian crises, including pandemics, often result in large-scale fatalities with many deceased going unidentified because of improper or undignified management of the dead. But an individual has …
Indonesia: Collaboration with the PMI in the Papua Province
Jakarta (ICRC) – In support of strengthening the capacity of the Indonesian Red Cross (Palang Merah Indonesia/PMI) at the provincial and district level, the International Committee of the Red Cross …
Blaise Matuidi teams up with the ICRC to protect health-care workers in conflict zones
19-05-2021 Geneva (ICRC) – In an ideal world, health-care workers who risk their lives to save others would have just as many supporters as footballers. Unfortunately, that’s far from the reality. …
Israel and the occupied territories: People in Gaza and Israel need an urgent respite from the fighting
A statement in the name of Fabrizio Carboni, ICRC Near and Middle East Director. "People in Gaza and Israel urgently need respite from non-stop hostilities, as we enter the second week of airstrikes …
1977 Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions of 1949
International humanitarian law is the set of rules which, in times of war, protect those who are not, or no longer, taking an active part in hostilities, and limit the choice of methods and means …
Sri Lanka: Exploring contemporary challenges to international humanitarian law
The Geneva Conventions enjoy universal acceptance, even seven decades after their adoption. Their integration into domestic law and military doctrine continues to prevent and minimize the human cost …
Didn’t find what you were looking for?
Try one of the following resources:
ICRC library
Created in 1863, the ICRC library, alongside the ICRC archives, provides an indispensable documentary reference on the organization itself and international humanitarian law.
IHL treaties
International humanitarian law is based on a number of treaties, in particular the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols, and a series of other instruments.
Customary IHL
Customary international humanitarian law consists of rules that come from "a general practice accepted as law" and that exist independent of treaty law.