From Israel to Lebanon: Helping people return home
It is a short strip of land, only 100-150 metres long, running along the edge of a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The place is stunningly peaceful, so quiet that small wild animals come …
It is a short strip of land, only 100-150 metres long, running along the edge of a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The place is stunningly peaceful, so quiet that small wild animals come …
Speech by ICRC president Peter Maurer, 30 June 2015 The nature of humanitarian work often has me deliver speeches with words of warning and caution, and with descriptions of the particularly …
The World Medical Association (WMA), the International Committee of Military Medicine (ICMM), the International Council of Nurses (ICN), and the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), …
The ICRC's customary international humanitarian law database has received a prestigious award from the American Society of International Law. Read more on the ICRC's Intercross …
29-06-2015 Geneva / Bamako (ICRC) – Enduring terrible hardship, often with no means of survival or even shelter: that is the reality for thousands who have fled widespread violence in northern Mali …
The latest round-up of activities carried out by the ICRC in Papua New Guinea features an update on our work – providing relief to vulnerable people, promoting and strengthening international …
Many Syrian refugees living in the camps of northern Iraq face harsh conditions. A mother explains how hard it is to look after children when water is only delivered every six days and there are no …
As the world marks the International day in support of victims of torture on 26 June, unbearable suffering continues to be inflicted on people, in complete violation of international law. Torture is …
After a two-year long consultation process with 36 armed groups, the ICRC – as part of the Health Care in Danger initiative – has produced a publication addressing armed groups, calling on them to …
Amin*, a 13-year-old Sudanese boy, was separated from his family for more than three years. He left Sudan's White Nile state – where the family used to live together – in the company of his two older …
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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.