Battling typhus: The ICRC in Poland, 1921
This fascinating 15-minute silent film shows different aspects of the ICRC's work in Poland with Save the Children, focusing on their efforts to eradicate typhus. The film includes footage of …
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Syria: Support for dialysis saves lives
Every month, the dialysis centre in Homs receives nearly 100 patients with kidney problems. Amidst ongoing conflict in Syria, the daily health problems of thousands of Syrians have dropped off the …
Yemen: The dead must be collected and treated with respect
Geneva / Sana'a – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is extremely concerned about the number of dead bodies accumulating in the areas where fighting has been most intense in Yemen. …
World Humanitarian Day 2015
Every year on 19 August, the international community marks World Humanitarian Day in recognition of aid workers who have lost their lives in the course of their duty. It is also a day to celebrate …
Cameroon: Food for displaced people and host families
Violence affecting Africa's Lake Chad region has forced thousands of people to flee their homes. The ICRC and the Cameroon Red Cross recently distributed food and household items to displaced persons …
Colombia: One man's passion to serve his community
Once you catch the volunteer bug, there's no getting rid of it. The dedication grows with each passing year, along with the smiles, the thank-yous and the hugs. Mario Alberto Jiménez caught the bug …
South Sudan: Snakes, scorpions and serving people in need
Snakes. Scorpions. Dirty drinking water. These are the dangers that ICRC field delegate Aysha Michot faces when she travels into remote and isolated villages in South Sudan, an assignment she sought …
Syria: The doctor who won’t leave the war zone
Maissam Hamoui lives with her family in Aleppo. The war has been a part of family life for more than four years now. "I could get a nice job in France where both of my brothers live, but I have to …
Afghanistan: Stranger than reality and harsher than fiction
6 August 2015. Thursday night. My first weekend in Kabul had just begun. I wasn't particularly tired or sleepy. On the contrary, I was excited about being in Afghanistan - a country that I had …
ICRC mobile surgical teams: Bringing emergency medical care across South Sudan
In June and July this year the ICRC Mobile Surgical Teams (MST) performed more than 600 emergency surgeries in South Sudan and over 6,000 since the beginning of the crisis in December 2013. ICRC …
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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.