Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem During the five-day course, 25 male and 20 female guards learnt specific skills and behaviours that first aiders need when caring for people caught in situations of violence …
How to regulate private military and security companies (PMSCs) was the subject of a recent meeting in Moscow organized jointly by the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, …
Too often, explosive weapons that have wide-area effects are used in populated areas, with devastating effects on civilians and civilian infrastructure. Explosive weapons use the detonation of a …
On 21 April 2016, the ICRC hosted a panel at the Humanitarium to discuss whether adherence to international humanitarian law (IHL) has been eroding in today's armed conflicts and if so, how to …
06-06-2016 Nairobi (ICRC) - The International Committee of the Red Cross is distributing food and other items including the Quran during Ramadan to more than 5,000 detainees throughout Somalia. "The …
06-06-2016 N'Djamena (ICRC) – Some 5,300 families in the areas of Liwa and Baga Sola will receive seed, farming equipment and essential household items as part of the International Committee of the …
We have just updated the customary IHL database to include additional practice from Chad , Côte d'Ivoire , Cuba , the Russian Federation and Viet Nam . The database contains: the 161 rules of …
The earthquake that rocked Ecuador on 16 April caused great uncertainty and anguish among the population. Even though telephone services were re-established within a few hours, many people had no …
Five years since the revolution in Libya the bullets are still flying. The situation is getting worse as fighting intensifies, pushing people out of their homes. The following are portraits of four …
Madeleine Dondouba takes heavy steps as she carries a sack weighing 20 kg on her head. She may be 70, but she insists on carrying the load herself – the groundnuts inside are extremely precious. A …
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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.
