Life of a Syrian refugee in Jordan
Muhammad Al Humsi is one of the 100,000 Syrian refugees in Zaatari camp in Jordan. He and his family were forced to flee from their home nearly two years ago. Since then, he has been trying to get on …
Skip to main content
Search results
Migrants risk their lives for a better future
Every day, hundreds of people travel thousands of kilometres across land or sea in search of a brighter future. 18 December is International Migrants Day. Pierre Gentile, head of the ICRC's …
Migration: The desperate search for a brighter tomorrow
Tabasco, Tenosique, Mexico, 9 February 2012. Migrants from Central America wait for a train to leave. Hundreds of thousands of migrants from Central America risk their lives every year in search of a …
Detention not a solution for migrants
17-12-2014 Around the world, thousands of migrants are behind bars. Having already suffered many hardships on perilous journeys, migrants should not be subjected to administrative detention except as …
Typhoon Hagupit deals double blow to communities struggling to recover from Haiyan
Since Typhoon Hagupit struck the Philippines just over a week ago, the Philippine Red Cross has had three rapid response teams on the ground to assess the impact on the worst affected areas, …
Liberia: Keeping Ebola out of jails
Monrovia Central Prison, Liberia. Everyone who enters Monrovia Central Prison has to submit to the mandatory temperature check and wash their hands with chlorinated water. CC BY-NC-ND / ICRC / T. …
Yemen: Turning disabilities into opportunities
18-12-2014 In Yemen, where the Day of Persons with Disabilities is celebrated on 13 December, festivities go silently, perhaps even unnoticed. However, all over the country, there is reason to …
Egypt: Experts gather to tackle violence against health–care workers and facilities
18-12-2014 Cairo (ICRC) – Today, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Egyptian Red Crescent, in cooperation with Egypt's Ministry of Health and Population, held a conference …
Madagascar: Going the extra mile to help people walk again
Thierry, a prosthetic/orthotic technician from the Akanin’ny Marary centre in Ambositra, supported by the ICRC’s Special Fund for the Disabled (SFD), prepares a prosthesis for a patient. The …
South Sudan: Facts and Figures - December 2014
A summary of the ICRC's activities in South Sudan since the beginning of the emergency in mid-December 2013 to the end of November 2014. FACTS & FIGURES DECEMBER 2014 ICRC IN SOUTH SUDAN It is now …
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.