The longest confinement: ICRC campaign in Colombia
For many people, the word confinement has a direct link to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in Colombia, many communities were sadly all too familiar with the concept long before the global health …
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Peru: Good news for missing loved ones
“Moving our bodies to communicate with bodies that aren’t there.” This line was the inspiration behind a communal dance organized for family members of people who disappeared in the armed violence …
Voices from Ukraine: Where homes are destroyed, and medical care is far away
Over the past six months across Ukraine, thousands have lost family members, had to flee their homes or are in need or urgent medical care. Here are some of the people we've met. All photos by …
Azerbaijan: A repaired kindergarten becomes an oasis of normalcy
At the lone kindergarten in Tezekend village of Aghdam district, Azerbaijan, a child runs excitedly to hug her favourite swing in the playground, while a few older children from the neighbourhood …
“I don’t know what my father looked like”: remembering the missing in Bougainville
To commemorate the International Day of the Disappeared (IDOD), a group of families in Aita and Siwai, Bougainville honoured the lives of their loved ones who went missing during the Bougainville …
Indonesia: Seminar on promoting and protecting human dignity in Balinese culture
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), in cooperation with the Faculty of Law of the Udayana University, organized a seminar and a focus group …
Brazil: Protecting schools from attacks in 2022
As we mark the International Day to Protect Education from Attack, a school principal and director at a municipal school in Rio de Janeiro speaks to us about the impact of the Safer Access Programme …
Kenya, Djibouti & Tanzania: Facts & Figures January - June 2022
During the reporting period, activities of the regional delegation of the ICRC in Nairobi continued generally according to plan. However, with worsening food insecurity in Kenya due to the drought, …
How humanitarian law applies to armed conflict and nuclear power plants
When hazardous sites like nuclear power plants become battlegrounds, the stakes for civilians today and generations to come are immense. Because of the potential threat they pose if they are damaged …
Ethiopia: Facts and Figures January- June 2022
In the first half of 2022, the humanitarian needs remained unfortunately immense in Ethiopia. As part of our neutral and impartial humanitarian response, we have adopted a countrywide approach to …
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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.
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.