“Lest the ghosts of Guernica keep haunting us…”
Statement Keynote speech by Nils Melzer, Director of International Law, Policy and Humanitarian Diplomacy on the occasion of the launch of the International Review of the Red Cross' double-edition …
Skip to main content
Search results
“It’s time to elevate the laws of war to a political priority”
Statement At a moment in history when the worst has become too easily imaginable, ICRC's President Mirjana Spoljaric urges all states to stick to their common legal obligation to respect and ensure …
ICRC Health Response in Somalia
Decades of conflict, insecurity, climate-related phenomena, and natural disasters have affected the overall health indicators in Somalia, most of which score very low. An extreme drought caused by …
Philippines: ICRC organizes the 2nd Asia-Pacific Police Colloquium
The speakers, participants, and guests of the 2nd Asia-Pacific Police Colloquium. From 28 November to 1 December, the ICRC jointly organized the 2nd Asia-Pacific Police Colloquium with the …
Wheelchair basketball: Virtual training during pandemic ups the game for many teams
Wheelchair basketball training, one of the main activities promoting social inclusion of people with disabilities under the Physical Rehabilitation Programme of the International Committee of the Red …
South Africa: Annual Regional Seminar on IHL hosted in South Africa
25-11-2022 The Department of International Relations and Cooperation and the International Committee of the Red Cross jointly hosted the 21st Annual Regional Seminar on the Implementation of …
Wheelchair basketball: From the players’ travel diaries
Ten teams recently participated in an international wheelchair basketball championship organized by the ICRC's regional delegation in New Delhi in partnership with the Wheelchair Basketball …
Hopes for peace amongst tribal fighting in Hela
"In a blink of an eye we lost loved ones, our schools, the aid post, and many properties which took us time, resources, and money to acquire. Our children are not going to school. We are stuck in our …
Protection of Health Care and Law Enforcement
Law enforcement agencies and health-care providers coexist, including in emergency situations not related to armed conflict, such as various forms of collective violence. These moments of interaction …
Restoring destroyed homes in Donetsk
70-year-old Lyudmila lives in the village of Blizhneye, in the Donetsk region. Her home was heavily damaged due to hostilities in March 2022. "We were at home that day, my son and granddaughter had …
Didn’t find what you were looking for?
Try one of the following resources:
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.