Ethiopia: January to June 2025 Facts & Figures
Staying Humanitarian in a World That Won’t Stand Still 2025 has been anything but predictable. Across the globe, conflicts are intensifying, and uncertainty has become the new normal. For …
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Israel and the Occupied Territories: Key Facts and Figures (07 October 2023 – 31 July 2025)
Twenty-two months since the devastating violence on 07 October 2023, hostilities between Israel and Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza persist. The violence continues to exact an immense human …
ICRC president: The next 76 years of the Geneva Conventions will be shaped by the choices leaders make today
The following is a statement attributable to Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to mark the 76th anniversary of the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 …
Georgia / South Ossetia: Home is where hope dwells
Home is where you feel safe. For many elderly and disabled people in remote villages of South Ossetia, their home is the only certainty they have. The armed conflicts in the 1990s and 2008 scarred …
Afghanistan: protection of vulnerable communities through cash-for-work projects
The people of Afghanistan faced a grim humanitarian and economic crisis following the change of authorities in August 2021. Decades of past conflict, combined with sudden economic difficulties and …
The Treatment of Detainees: From the Perspective of Islamic Law
Even during an armed conflict, the enemy must be treated humanely. Today, the rules of humane treatment of detainees are set out in international humanitarian law (IHL). However, long before these …
How the ICRC helps sustain life in Armenia’s borderlands: A day with Harutyun Harutyunyan
“Going beyond only providing short-term aid, our aim has been to help people shape their future,” says Harutyun Harutyunyan, a staff member of the ICRC’s economic security unit. Goris is more than …
Philippines: States in Asia Pacific region commit to greater support for rules of war during regional conference
15-08-2025 Manila (ICRC) –At least 24 states from the Asia Pacific region have committed to greater political support for international humanitarian law (IHL), or the rules of war. This was agreed …
Afghanistan: summary of operational facts and figures, January to June 2025
In the first half of 2025, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) facilitated improved access to primary health care, mostly for women and children, by donating medical supplies, …
The International Day Of the Disappeared: Memory Boxes - Gardens of Memories
"Memory Boxes" is an activity implemented by the ICRC for the families of those missing due to the conflict in Syria. It is part of the accompaniment program, which aims to provide psychosocial …
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Created in 1863, the ICRC library, alongside the ICRC archives, provides an indispensable documentary reference on the organization itself and international humanitarian law.
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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.
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Customary international humanitarian law consists of rules that come from "a general practice accepted as law" and that exist independent of treaty law.