Central America: Annual Report 2020
Central America is large – nearly 13 times the size of Switzerland – and its geography varies widely, just like the economic, social and political circumstances. These differences from country to …
Skip to main content
Search results
ICRC operational response to COVID-19 in the Asia-Pacific
Unprecedented stress on the most advanced health-care systems. Extreme strain on major economies and financial markets. A global shutdown such as the world has never seen before. This is today's …
Cameroon: Preventing a pandemic amid a crisis
Internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the North West and South West regions are facing new challenges following the outbreak of COVID-19 in Cameroon. I am afraid of the COVID-19 because if it …
Management of the dead from the Islamic law and IHL perspectives: Considerations for humanitarian forensics
This article discusses a number of contemporary issues and challenges pertinent to the management of the dead in contemporary armed conflicts and other situations of violence and natural disasters …
World Red Cross and Red Crescent day 2020
… workers are safe and able to carry out their jobs is crucial for their protection and …
Armenia: Limited access to education – the unseen consequence of conflict
This story is about the coexistence of hope and despair, dreams and reality, children and the conflict. And who better to tell it than the children themselves? Here's Satenik, one of the kids who …
Venezuela: Goodwill that gives life to International Red Cross Movement
Ten months ago, when Andrés joined the Venezuelan Red Cross as a volunteer at their branch in the state of Apure, located to the southwest of the country, Lilimar had already been part of the …
Statement from ICRC's head of health: COVID-19 crisis underlines a chasm
… workers are safe and able to carry out their jobs is crucial for stemming the spread of …
COVID-19: Millions dealing with sporadic water shortages, crippled health services in north-east Syria
Statement Millions of people in the north-east of Syria are coping with fighting, destroyed infrastructure and lack of critical basic services, on top of the global COVID-19 crisis that has also hit …
Amid COVID-19, we must not lose focus on violations and abuses in war
… States to allow humanitarians to do their jobs as a default precautionary measure unless …
Didn’t find what you were looking for?
Try one of the following resources:
ICRC library
Created in 1863, the ICRC library, alongside the ICRC archives, provides an indispensable documentary reference on the organization itself and international humanitarian law.
IHL treaties
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.