Historic monuments, works of art and archaeological sites – known as cultural property – are protected by the rules of war. Attacks against them are so much more than the destruction of bricks, wood …
Athens (ICRC) – Forty years ago, 124 States gathered in Switzerland to finalize and adopt Additional Protocols I and II to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which contain the most important rules limiting …
Why should we worry about attacks on cultural property in armed conflict? The effects of war and conflict are felt in ways far beyond the immediate tangible tragedies that we are so familiar with. …
ICRC calls on states to put the humanitarian crisis at the forefront of their concerns The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) briefed the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council …
Media professionals reporting on armed conflict situations or other situations of violence continue to pay a steep price for the risks associated with their work. How are they protected under …
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement has reached out to over 40,000 people in Rakhine since violence broke out there on 25 August. Despite the challenges, help has reached not only …
General Debate on the Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, questions relating to refugees, returnees, and displaced persons and humanitarian questions. United Nations General …
Statutory Meetings of the International Red Cross Red Crescent Movement 2017. Statement by the ICRC President, Peter Maurer Welcome to the Statutory Meetings of the International Red Cross and Red …
"It has been 24 years of sheer hell for my family. The first few years after he went missing, we did not know if my father was alive or dead. Once we heard about his death, we did not know where he …
The May 2017 Astana Memorandum, which created the de-escalation zones in Syria, included the improvement of the humanitarian situation as one of its main goals. In an effort to better understand how …
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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.
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.
