Judicial guarantees and safeguards – Factsheet
The repression of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, whatever the nationality of the offender and the place where they are committed, is crucial to ensuring respect for international …
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1954 Convention on the protection of cultural property - Factsheet
Military operations have often resulted in the destruction of irreplaceable cultural property, a loss not only to the country of origin but also to the cultural heritage of all people. Recognizing …
1997 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention
The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction (the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, or APMBC) is part of the …
Respecting and protecting health care in armed conflicts and in situations not covered by international humanitarian law - Factsheet
International humanitarian law (IHL) – also called the “law of war” or the “law of armed conflict” – sets out detailed rules that seek for humanitarian reasons to limit the effects of armed conflict. …
Universal jurisdiction over war crimes – Factsheet
Based on the notion that certain crimes are so grave that they affect the international community as a whole, the principle of universal jurisdiction, which entitles a State to prosecute offenders …
1993 Chemical Weapons Convention
The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction belongs to the category of instruments of international law that …
Civil defence in international humanitarian law – Factsheet
Civil defence reflects the desire of those who made international humanitarian law to mitigate the loss, damage and suffering inflicted on civilians as a result of the dramatic development of the …
Afghanistan: ICRC social worker’s grit inspires fellow Afghan to rebuild life
Thirty-nine-year-old Afghan construction worker Nick Mohammad (a resident of Faizabad in Badakhshan province), who spent a part of his life as a migrant worker in Iran, returned to Afghanistan seven …
Israel and the occupied territories: No time to lose
Hostilities between Gaza and Israel must stop and much-needed humanitarian activities must start now. The populations in Gaza and Israel are facing the most intense cycle of hostilities in years and …
Afghanistan: A loan to revive hope and dignity
When Sebghatullah had left home and family in a remote village of Badakhshan Province's Yaftal district, where even roads do not reach, to go to Kunduz Province, he had carried a dream in his heart. …
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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.