Nuclear weapons: Ending a threat to humanity
Statement The 70th anniversary of the first use of nuclear weapons is the moment to signal that the era of nuclear weapons is coming to an end and that the threat of these weapons will be forever …
Statement The 70th anniversary of the first use of nuclear weapons is the moment to signal that the era of nuclear weapons is coming to an end and that the threat of these weapons will be forever …
As part of its work in detention centres in Somalia, the ICRC set up a vocational training programme in Bossasso prison in 2013. Detainees are able to take courses in carpentry, masonry and sewing. …
An overview of the ICRC's work in Ethiopia in 2014. Jerry Promade Gaye/ICRC More than 33,000 detainees in 18 federal and regional prisons were visited and their living conditions improved …
A patient smiles during his eye examination. Once a year, the ICRC collaborates with the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) and Dian Harapan Hospital in Jayapura, Papua, to provide this much-needed health …
15-02-2015 The Liberia Red Cross National Society has launched an anti-stigma song to support the reintegration of Ebola survivors into their communities. This initiative is part of the Red Cross/Red …
Children continue to be recruited into the ranks of fighters in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), despite being protected by law. The ICRC is striving to tackle this problem and to help …
Two years after the ICRC started its project to update the Commentaries on the Geneva Conventions, readers can now access individual preparatory documents online. These texts provide a deeper …
Almost four years have gone by since armed conflict broke out in Syria. It’s estimated that more than six million Syrians are now living in besieged areas or are internally displaced. That’s almost a …
Children and their amazing resilience At 1:00 a.m. on 10 June, in Mosul, exactly a month before this picture was taken, family members shook these two boys awake. As one of the boys explains: "We …
11-02-2015 The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is deeply concerned about continued violence perpetrated against its volunteers in Guinea. Due to the fear and mistrust surrounding …
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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.