Health care in danger: The legal framework
This course provides an introduction to the laws governing health care services in armed conflict, and explains why health-care workers need protection. Using cartoons, interactive case studies …
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Explosive weapons in populated areas: Humanitarian, legal, technical and military aspects
Cities have never been immune from warfare. But over the last century, armed conflicts have increasingly been fought in populated areas. This has exposed civilians to greater risk of death, injury, …
Indonesia: Phone calls help reconnect families
The journey of a migrant can be long and dangerous. Many lose their belongings along the way. But phone numbers of family are often protected – with details carefully written on a piece of paper and …
Principles in action: How do neutrality and independence contribute to humanitarian effectiveness?
This side event of the 2015 UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Humanitarian Affairs Segment, co-organized by the ICRC and the International Federation, is part of the Research and debate cycle …
Russia: New and old challenges to international humanitarian law – Martens Readings
What did we learn from the Nuremburg trials and how can these lessons be applied in contemporary armed conflicts? This was the question that experts from more than 30 countries sought to answer at an …
World Refugee Day 2015
Syria, Iraq and Burundi are just examples of a growing number of humanitarian crises that have forced millions to flee their homes. Thousands more are displaced from their communities every day. …
Burundi: Helping victims of pre-election tensions
For many weeks now, Burundi has been in the grips of pre-election tensions that have already left many dead and wounded and forced thousands of people to leave the country. The ICRC is helping the …
Sudan / South Sudan: A family is reunited across borders
Amin*, a 13-year-old Sudanese boy, was separated from his family for more than three years. He left Sudan's White Nile state – where the family used to live together – in the company of his two older …
ICRC customary international humanitarian law database wins prestigious award
The ICRC's customary international humanitarian law database has received a prestigious award from the American Society of International Law. Read more on the ICRC's Intercross …
Common ethical principles of health care in conflict and other emergencies
The World Medical Association (WMA), the International Committee of Military Medicine (ICMM), the International Council of Nurses (ICN), and the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), …
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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.