Children continue to be recruited into the ranks of fighters in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), despite being protected by law. The ICRC is striving to tackle this problem and to help …
After a year-long separation, Pilera, a seventeen-year-old girl from the Central African Republic, has been able to find her mother in Cameroon, thanks to the efforts of the ICRC and the Cameroon Red …
The first expert panel of ICRC's Research and Debate Cycle on Principles Guiding Humanitarian Action tackled the topic of the application of the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, …
Portraits from Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen. Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city, has long been plagued by cycles of violence and hardship. To help the most vulnerable members of the …
Owais Ighbari is a brave little boy. The three-year-old has had a rough life. Born with spina bifida, he suffers from weakness in his lower limbs. Desperately seeking help, his family consulted many …
The present document has been developed as a practical tool to support State authorities, with consideration for their national specificities, in developing effective domestic legal frameworks, …
Over one million people have fled to Lebanon since the start of the crisis in Syria four years ago. Today they are living with relatives or host families, or sheltering in camps. One recent morning, …
Conflict in eastern Ukraine has claimed more than 5,000 lives and destroyed many more. According to UN figures, the confrontation has now displaced more than a million people. The town of Debaltsevo, …
Women are absolutely pivotal in giving hope and ensuring that their families continue to cope in the most challenging situations. > Feature stories, photos and video testimonies: Syrian women …
I met Fatuma and her six kids at their makeshift hut in a camp for displaced families in Beletweyne, a town in central Somalia. With no income and very basic support from humanitarian organizations, …
Try one of the following resources:
Created in 1863, the ICRC library, alongside the ICRC archives, provides an indispensable documentary reference on the organization itself and international humanitarian law.
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 international humanitarian law consists of rules that come from "a general practice accepted as law" and that exist independent of treaty law.
