The 1989-1997 civil war in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea left up to 20,000 people dead. Many of those who vanished at the outbreak of violence are still unaccounted for and their loved ones are left …
After a young migrant from Sudan died of illness while crossing the Mediterranean, cooperation between the Italian Red Cross and the ICRC ensured that his family could rapidly identify the body and …
Sandra feels sick. She has just come out of a counselling session. Reliving it all has turned her stomach. Her daughter is eight months old and won't settle; she only quietens when her mother puts …
Cataracts are a major cause of blindness in parts of Indonesia, where access to health-care remains precarious. Since 2006, the ICRC and the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) have worked closely together …
23-01-2016 Kiev / Lugansk (ICRC) – Today the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) held a round-table discussion in the town of Lugansk on ways of identifying the dead and handling their …
The humanitarian crisis in the Lake Chad region has left thousands dead, two million displaced, hundreds abducted, and hundreds of thousands forced to flee, often losing contact with their …
Written by Mary Werntz, head of regional delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in New Delhi Of the world's seven billion people, one billion are living with disabilities. …
Giving birth in South Sudan is often dangerous and difficult. Medical care can be long distances away, forcing pregnant women to give birth at home or to travel on foot late in their pregnancy to a …
Buru, Ophthalmologist examins a patient before determining his needs for operation or other treatment. CC BY-NC-ND/ICRC/ Otto Ferdinand Buru, Freddy Nggadas, ICRC prgram manager for the Cataract …
Lamine Follé is a 33-year-old soldier now serving with the 3rd company of the Malian National Guard. But in 2012 he was captured by an armed group during fighting in the northern part of the country. …
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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.
