Symbols of help, hope and humanity
This short but dynamic comic is adapted from the video animation The red cross, red crescent and red crystal. What do they mean? In one word: protection. It intends to help people better understand …
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From virtual to real: Why ICRC is testing VR’s empathy generating potential
The ICRC is asking people around the world to watch our new VR film 'The Right Choice' to explore VR's empathy-generating potential. "We first noticed the power of immersive storytelling with the …
Ageing in imprisonment - Summary report
This report summarises the proceedings of the two-day meeting the ICRC organised in December 2016 on the needs of older prisoners. The meeting saw the participation of experts with practical …
ASEAN diplomats discuss global trends, humanitarian challenges in contemporary warfare
Experts delivered presentations on the latest lethal autonomous weapons systems and the threat of cyber warfare. A recent regional conference on contemporary warfare in Jakarta was attended by close …
Nuclear weapons
Since the first and only use of nuclear weapons in 1945, the international community has wrestled with the issue of how the law of war applies to such weapons. For decades the discourse about nuclear …
The Convention on Cluster Munitions: The First Ten Years
This booklet summarizes the achievements made in the ten years since the Convention on Cluster Munitions was adopted. It also outlines the remaining challenges and what needs to be done to attain key …
Women and War
Men make war; women live with the consequences. At least that is the way it is largely perceived. Women live and react to those consequences, but they are hardly passive victims. They grieve, they …
The ICRC’s response to the needs of vulnerable migrants
Migration is a global and complex phenomenon. The causes behind migration are many and varied. Whatever the reasons for leaving their country, migrants can become vulnerable at different stages of …
Lebanon: How Samir’s life was injected with health and happiness
In July 2018, Samir arrived at the emergency room of Rafik Hariri University Hospital (RHUH) with an unbearable abdominal pain. Unable to afford treatment, the Palestinian refugee from Syria, would …
International Conference on the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons
The International Conference on the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons ( CCW ) took place in New Dehli from 5 to 6 December 2017. The objectives of the conference were the universalisation …
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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.