Philippines: ICRC operational update (July 2020)
In June 2020, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) continued to support national authorities, health-care facilities, places of detention and the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) to respond …
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Jordan: How Maryam’s cheese-making business helps support her family
I changed from someone receiving aid to someone who began to support her family and help her neighbours too. — Maryam The war in Syria began nine years ago and caused deaths in the hundreds of …
Third report on the EU guidelines on promoting compliance with IHL
By working party on public international law (COJUR) The European Union (EU) is strongly committed to promoting respect for international humanitarian law (IHL) as part of its wider commitment, laid …
Cluster munitions: Treacherous weapons that still kill ten years after a convention to ban them
By Simonetta Sommaruga and Peter Maurer* Their bright colours attract children, arousing their curiosity. And it is children who often trigger their explosion, losing an arm, a leg or their lives. …
Afghanistan: Families who lost everything in conflict, struggle again due to COVID-19
Amir Khan, Ahmadullah and Mohammad Halim are familiar with hard times. Living through the death of their loved ones, loss of all their belongings, financial crunch and displacement from their homes, …
COVID-19: Fight far from over as virus accelerates in Africa
"It took Africa nearly five months to hit 500,000 COVID-19 cases, but about a month to double that number. Most of these cases are in South Africa, but around the continent we are seeing the virus …
Beirut explosion: We will not leave Lebanon all alone
4 August 2020 marks another watershed in the series of dates of distressing incidents from which Beirut and Lebanon have suffered in recent decades. How does the explosion in Beirut's port affect …
IHL Day 2020: Preserving human dignity in times of armed conflict
As we commemorate International Humanitarian Law Day on this day, 12 August, we recall the Geneva Conventions which came into being on this same day, 12 August, 71 years ago, in the aftermath of the …
Philippines: Strengthening domestic knowledge and enforcement of IHL
Prosecutors play a crucial role in the enforcement of international humanitarian law (IHL), also known as the rules of armed conflict, through the prosecution of alleged perpetrators of war crimes. …
How is COVID-19 affecting the communities in which we work?
“We didn’t expect this coming. I wake up every morning, having no idea how we will survive the day.” Coronavirus is affecting us all, in the UK and around the world, but in different ways. This is …
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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.