Water and habitat: Water and war in towns and cities
All over the world, conflict and violence deprive people of water. Today is World Water Day, and as the ICRC Water and Habitat Unit celebrates its 30th anniversary, we highlight their role in …
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Paraguay: women supporting their families from behind bars
Female detainees are often the sole providers for their families, so their detention results in great economic hardship for their loved ones. An innovative income generating project run by the ICRC …
The ICRC: 150 years of humanitarian action
The five founders of the ICRC: Gustave Moynier (top left), Louis Appia (bottom left), Guillaume-Henri Dufour (centre), Henry Dunant (top right), and Théodore Maunoir (bottom right). The ICRC was …
Contemporary challenges for IHL
In contemporary armed conflicts civilians are the primary victims of violations of IHL committed by both State and non-State parties. The nature of contemporary armed conflicts continues to provide …
Hunger strikes in prisons: The ICRC's position
In the case of hunger strikes in prisons, the role of the ICRC, as a humanitarian organization, is to strive to ensure that the treatment detainees receive and the conditions in which they are held …
Working for the ICRC: Information and communication technology engineer
Without its information and communication technology engineers, the ICRC would be unable to help the victims of conflict. Mastery of simple and complex technology, from HF radio to data transmission …
Haiti: water for Cité Soleil
Cité Soleil, a large working-class area of Port-au-Prince, is just starting to recover from years of violence, during which it was too dangerous to provide even the most basic of services. © ICRC / …
Health care in danger: The human cost
The law says hospitals, ambulances and health-care workers must be protected and should never be targeted as they carry out their regular duties. This is often far from the reality. Worldwide, the …
Azerbaijan: combating multi-drug resistant TB in detention
Multi-drug resistant TB is spreading at alarming rates around the world, particularly in much of the former Soviet Union. This deadly disease is particularly virulent in places of detention. But in …
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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.