Red Cross, Red Crescent, Red Crystal
Since they were adopted, the red cross and red crescent emblems have provided protection to millions of war victims but they have also given rise to repeated difficulties and virtually continuous …
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Fighting by the rules
This informative film examines the development of the law of armed conflict and considers its relationship with the whole history of war in the 20th Century. Drawing on a wealth of historical facts …
Rules of International Humanitarian Law and Other Rules Relating to the Conduct of Hostilities
This publication has been updated and slightly restructured and now includes a number of treaties that have been adopted since its last update in 1996. This volume is a collection of treaties …
The Missing
This brochure outlines the various situations that can lead to people becoming unaccounted for. It points to the international law standards intended to prevent such disappearances and recommends …
Health Care in Danger: Violent Incidents Affecting the Delivery of Health Care, January 2012 to December 2013
From January 2012 to December 2013, ICRC documented 1,809 incidents of assaults or threats against patients, health-care personnel, ambulances or medical facilities. Although it is probably only the …
Internal Displacement in Armed Conflict: Facing Up to the Challenges
Internal displacement, affecting tens of millions of people, is one of the most tragic consequences of armed conflict and other violence. This ICRC report highlights the reasons people are forced to …
Anti-personnel mine injuries: surgical management
In the last twenty years, ICRC surgical teams have treated more than 12,000 victims of anti-personnel mines. This in-depth film on surgery for mine-blast victims was shot in the ICRC hospital in …
Women Facing War
This ICRC study is an extensive reference document on the impact of armed conflict on the lives of women. Taking as its premise the needs of women, e.g. physical safety, access to health care, food …
Protecting Civilians and Humanitarian Action through the Arms Trade Treaty
Every year, the widespread availability and misuse of weapons leads to the displacement, wounding, rape or death of hundreds of thousands of civilians. States, National Red Cross and Red Crescent …
Where are they now? Restoring and maintaining family links: the worldwide network of the ICRC and the Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies
Uncertainty over the fate of a loved one causes untold suffering in wartime. This film captures how the ICRC Central Tracing Agency, together with Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies all …
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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.