Empty chairs, waiting families
Empty Chairs, Waiting Families is a memorialisation project for the families of people who went missing during armed conflicts in Lebanon which began in 1975. They express their suffering by painting …
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Lebanon: A Law for Missing Persons
Thousands of people went missing during the armed conflict that plagued Lebanon from 1975 to 1990 and thousands are still missing. Their families have the right to know their fate. The Lebanese …
21st course in International Humanitarian Law (IHL) for humanitarian professionals and policy makers
The ICRC's 21st course in International Humanitarian Law (IHL) for humanitarian professionals and policy makers is designed to acquaint participants with the international rules, principles and …
Peru: twenty years on from the hostage crisis
Twenty years ago, the four-month ordeal of 72 hostages held captive at the residence of the Japanese ambassador to Peru came to an end. For the ICRC, it meant deploying its humanitarian resources to …
Nepal earthquake: Two years after devastation, prosthetics come to Marmendu's rescue
Two years ago, Marmendu Tamang's world changed in just a few minutes. On 25 April 2015, Nepal was hit by one of the most devastating earthquakes recorded in the past eight decades. The earthquake …
Mexico: ICRC calls for adoption of law on the missing
Article by Juan Pedro Schaerer, head of the ICRC delegation for Mexico, Central America and Cuba, published in the newspapers El País and Excélsior . I recently met a Mexican mother who had lost all …
Snapshot: Our work in Mosul from October 2016 to April 2017
A snapshot of our work since the battle for Mosul began: 112,000 people, including host communities and IDPs from Mosul and its environs, benefitted from safe water supply 230,000 people …
Colombia needs ambition to respond to its humanitarian challenges
Christoph Harnisch Head of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Colombia In 2016, we witnessed a historic event for Colombia : the signing of the Final …
Northern Ireland: Healing the wounds of 30 years of conflict
When you think of places still reeling from decades of bitter conflict, Northern Ireland is probably not the first place that comes to mind. But 20 years after the Good Friday Agreement brought …
West Bank: ICRC Office in Hebron Attacked
20-04-2017 Jerusalem (ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) condemns an attack which has taken place in its office in the West Bank city of Hebron. At around eleven o’clock last …
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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.
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Customary international humanitarian law consists of rules that come from "a general practice accepted as law" and that exist independent of treaty law.