| International humanitarian law (IHL) Section explaining international humanitarian law (IHL), its role in the protection of victims of war and its relationship with the work of the ICRC. The main treaties are the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols 2-6-2009 Clarifying the notion of direct participation in hostilities
International humanitarian law hinges on the principle of the distinction between combatants and civilians. The latter are entitled to full protection from attack unless they “directly participate in hostilities". Following six years of expert discussions and research, the ICRC is publishing interpretive guidance that clarifies the meaning and consequences of direct participation in hostilities under humanitarian law.
New ICRC publication: interpretive guidance and all materials produced during the expert process.
(Humanitarian law) |
7-5-2009 International humanitarian law: a universal code - film
This film looks in turns at the poor security conditions frequently confronting the civilian population, the fact that people often have to flee their homes, hostage-taking, the dangers posed by cluster munitions, and the work of preventing and punishing war crimes. It tells us the basic rules of the law and reminds us that respecting them is everyone's responsibility. (Humanitarian law) |
3-4-2009 International Review of the Red Cross No. 871
Special issue: Human rights. Today nobody questions that IHL and human rights law apply during armed conflict, nor that they complement and influence each other. While IHL remains the special law applicable during armed conflict, conflicting norms or standards sometimes require interpretation to determine whether a rule of IHL or human rights law prevails in a concrete setting. (Humanitarian law) |
28-7-2008 The emblems: in the service of conflict and disaster victims
The red cross, red crescent and red crystal emblems are visible symbols of the protection afforded to war victims under the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols. They also stand for the neutrality of those who bear them and indicate membership of the Movement. See also the photo galery.(Humanitarian law) |
30-10-2008  Humanitarian Actors – Commitment to the protection of IDPs
Address by Angelo Gnaedinger, Director-General, International Committee of the Red Cross, Ten years of Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, Achievements and Future Challenges, Oslo, Conference 16-17 October 2008(Humanitarian law) |
26-3-2009
ICRC Advisory services - latest publications
(Humanitarian law) |
7-4-2004
Other documents of interest
(Humanitarian law) |
Official Statement 23-4-2005 Humanitarian Law, Human Rights and Refugee Law – Three Pillars
International humanitarian law, refugee law and human rights law are complementary bodies of law that share a common goal, the protection of the lives, health and dignity of persons. They form a complex network of complementary protections and it is essential that we understand how they interact. Statement at the International Association of Refugee Law Judges world conference, Stockholm, 21-23 April 2005, by Emanuela-Chiara Gillard, ICRC Legal Adviser.(Humanitarian law\Refugees and IDPs) |
26-12-2007 The interplay between international humanitarian law and international
human rights law in situations of armed conflict
International human rights law and international humanitarian law are traditionally two distinct branches of law, one dealing with the protection of persons from abusive power, the other with the conduct of parties to an armed conflict. Yet, developments in international and national jurisprudence and practice have led to the recognition that these two bodies of law not only share a common humanist ideal of dignity and integrity but overlap substantially in practice.(Humanitarian law) |
News release 26-6-2009 Landmines and explosive remnants of war: delivering on the promises to victims
Geneva/Oslo (ICRC) - Experts from countries worldwide affected by mines and explosive remnants of war met in Oslo, Norway, from 23 – 25 June to discuss how to improve the quality of life of victims of landmines, cluster munitions and other explosive remnants of war in their countries.(News) |
News release 14-5-2009 Somalia: civilians trapped amid fighting in Mogadishu
Nairobi/Geneva (ICRC) – The ongoing armed clashes in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, have left dozens of people dead. Hundreds have been wounded and admitted to hospitals and other medical facilities in the past few days.
(News) |
News release 12-5-2009 Chad: ICRC urges respect for international humanitarian law
N'Djamena/Geneva (ICRC) – International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) staff have been mobilized to bring aid to civilian and military victims of the violent clashes that over the past few days have pitted government troops against fighters of the Union of Resistance Forces (UFR) in eastern Chad.(News) |
News release 12-5-2009 Sri Lanka: fighting hinders further ICRC evacuations of severely wounded people
Colombo / Geneva (ICRC) – Heavy fighting made it impossible today for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to evacuate wounded and sick people and their accompanying relatives from the combat area in north-eastern Sri Lanka, and to deliver 25 metric tonnes of food for thousands of civilians stranded there.(News) |
News release 6-5-2009 Afghanistan: ICRC confirms dozens killed in air strikes
Kabul/Geneva (ICRC) – Dozens of people, including women and children, were killed in air strikes on villages in Farah province on the evening of 4 May, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said today.(News) |
News release 15-4-2009 Colombia: civilians continue to pay a heavy price for the conflict
Bogotá / Geneva (ICRC) – The armed conflict in Colombia continues to take a heavy toll on tens of thousands of civilians enduring death threats, direct attacks or the threat of forced recruitment, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned today.(News) |
News release 3-4-2009 Landmines and cluster munitions: a safer future within reach
Geneva (ICRC) – As the world marks the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action on 4 April, millions of civilians in more than 70 countries live their lives in fear of weapons that keep on killing long after conflicts have ended, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said today.(News) |
News release 5-3-2009 Women need safer access to health care in war situations
Geneva (ICRC) – In the run-up to International Women's Day, 8 March, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned that the specific health-care needs of women are often ignored or insufficiently taken into account in war situations.(News) |
News release 5-3-2009 Iraq: ICRC helps bomb victims following blast near Hilla
Baghdad (ICRC) – In response to a bomb attack near the city of Hilla this morning, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) urgently delivered medical supplies to Al Hashimiya General Hospital, in Babil governorate, which received the bulk of the injured.(News) |
News release 1-2-2009 Sri Lanka: Vanni hospital shelled
Colombo / Geneva (ICRC) – Puthukkudiyiruppu Hospital in the northern Vanni region was shelled this afternoon, killing at least two people and injuring at least five others. The compound sustained two direct hits.(News) |
News release 27-1-2009 Sri Lanka: major humanitarian crisis unfolding
Colombo / Geneva (ICRC) – Hundreds of people have been killed and scores of wounded are overwhelming understaffed and ill-equipped medical facilities in Sri Lanka's northern Vanni region, following intensified fighting between the Sri Lanka Security Forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).(News) |
News release 26-1-2009 Democratic Republic of the Congo: ICRC calls for respect for civilians in North Kivu
Kinshasa / Geneva (ICRC) – In connection with the ongoing military operation in North Kivu, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reminds all parties that they are obliged by international humanitarian law to preserve the lives and dignity of the civilian population and of people wounded or captured during the fighting.(News) |
News release 13-1-2009 Gaza: ICRC president demands greater respect for civilians and humanitarian workers
Geneva/Jerusalem/Gaza (ICRC) – During a visit to the Gaza Strip today, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Jakob Kellenberger, urged the fighting parties to spare civilians and let humanitarian workers do their work. "Both parties must ensure that all victims are cared for rapidly, at all times of day. In particular, the wounded must be evacuated and receive treatment," said Mr Kellenberger. "Injured people cannot wait for days, or even for hours, before being treated. The work of medical personnel must be respected – and this is not negotiable."(News) |
News release 9-1-2009 Gaza: ICRC medics work on
Geneva/Jerusalem/Tel Aviv (ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is maintaining most of its humanitarian activities in Gaza while trying to clarify the circumstances under which one of its convoys came under fire on 8 January.(News) |
News release 31-12-2008 Gaza: civilians at risk as attacks continue
Geneva/Jerusalem/Tel Aviv (ICRC) – The rising number of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel raises concerns that fundamental rules of international humanitarian law (IHL) may not be fully adhered to, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned today. (News) |
Press briefing 6-1-2009 Gaza: plight of civilians traumatic in 'full-blown humanitarian crisis'
Increasing numbers of civilians are dying or injured in the escalating crisis in Gaza. At a press conference in Geneva on 6 January, the ICRC's director of operations, Pierre Krähenbühl, described the situation of civilians in Gaza as intolerable, and called on the parties to the conflict to make it possible for the ICRC and the Palestine Red Crescent Society to reach people in need.(News) |
Operational update 5-1-2009 Gaza: wounded people dying while waiting for ambulances
As the number of casualties continues to rise in the Gaza Strip, the ICRC is focusing on arranging safe passage for Palestine Red Crescent ambulances, which collect the wounded and transport them to hospitals.(News) |
News release 28-12-2008 Gaza: ICRC calls for restraint as hospitals overwhelmed by scale of emergencies
Geneva / Tel Aviv / Jerusalem (ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is extremely concerned by the mounting number of casualties inside the Gaza Strip, following a series of air strikes by the Israel Defense Forces. The strikes have killed at least 275 people and left more than 950 wounded, according to Palestinian health officials. In Israel, civilians have come under attack from rockets launched from Gaza that have killed at least one Israeli and wounded several others(News) |
News release 11-9-2008 Congo-Kinshasa: thousands of civilians affected by renewed fighting
Kinshasa / Geneva (ICRC) – After several months of relative calm, the conflict between government troops of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the armed opposition movement of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) has flared up in North Kivu province in the east of the country, with heavy fighting taking place since late August. Clashes have also occurred in South Kivu, particularly affecting the town of Numbi.(News) |
News release 6-9-2008 Philippines: ICRC to step up humanitarian response in Mindanao
Manila (ICRC) – The ICRC's deputy director of operations Dominik Stillhart has just finished a visit to the Southern Philippines, where he met some of the thousands of civilians affected by the armed conflict between the Philippine armed forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.(News) |
News release 28-8-2008 Nepal: families of missing persons have a right to know
Kathmandu/Geneva (ICRC) – On the International Day of the Disappeared (30 August 2008), the International Committee of the Red Cross is appealing to the government of Nepal to clarify the fate of those who went missing during the country's 10-year internal conflict.(News) |
News release 22-8-2008 Philippines: Red Cross escorts civilians out of combat zone on Mindanao
Geneva/Manila (ICRC) – As clashes continue between the armed forces and fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the southern Philippines, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), supported by the Philippine National Red Cross, has escorted around 900 trapped civilians out of a combat zone to a safer area on Mindanao.(News) |
News release 16-8-2008 Georgia/Russian Federation: ICRC president to visit conflict-affected areas
Geneva/Tbilisi/Moscow (ICRC) – The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Jakob Kellenberger, will travel to Georgia and the Russian Federation starting on 17 August to assess the impact in humanitarian terms of the armed conflict involving Georgian, Russian and South Ossetian troops.(News) |
News release 14-8-2008 Philippines: operation under way to aid more than 80,000 displaced people
in Mindanao
Geneva/Manila (ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Philippine National Red Cross have jointly begun bringing aid to the more than 80,000 people displaced in the southern Philippines by recent hostilities between the armed forces and fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).(News) |
News release 11-8-2008 Georgia: ICRC to send humanitarian assistance to conflict area
Tbilisi / Geneva (ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is preparing to fly 15 tonnes of medicines and medical supplies to Georgia early this week to help treat people injured in the international armed conflict between Georgian, South Ossetian and Russian troops.(News) |
News release 6-8-2008 Colombia: ICRC deplores improper use of red cross emblem
Geneva (ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) today expressed serious concern over what appears to have been a deliberate misuse of the red cross emblem during the operation to free 15 hostages that was carried out on 2 July.(News) |
News release 30-7-2008 Chad: ICRC employee shot and wounded
N'Djamena (ICRC) – On 26 July an employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was shot and wounded in Abéché after two vehicles carrying ICRC personnel were stopped by armed men, some of whom were in military uniform.(News) |
News release 28-7-2008 Iraq: ICRC helps bomb victims in Baghdad and Kirkuk
Baghdad/Geneva (ICRC) – In response to the blasts that rocked the cities of Baghdad and Kirkuk this morning, leaving dozens dead and injured, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) immediately delivered emergency medical supplies to the hospitals receiving the bulk of the injured.(News) |
News release 16-7-2008 Colombia: ICRC underlines importance of respect for red cross emblem
Bogotá/Geneva (ICRC) - The International Committee of the Red Cross takes note of the statement by Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez that a member of the public security forces who participated in the recent operation to free 15 hostages and detainees was wearing a tabard marked with the ICRC’s logo and the red cross emblem.(News) |
News release 9-7-2008 Afghanistan: civilians in the line of fire
Kabul / Geneva (ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) deplores the high number of civilian casualties caused by recent attacks in different parts of the country. At least 250 civilians are reported to have been killed or injured in various incidents since 4 July.(News) |
| 25-3-2004
See also (Humanitarian law) |
25-3-2004 Promotion of IHL
with armed forces, police, students,... (Humanitarian law) |
25-3-2004 Fact sheets
Issued by the ICRC's Advisory Service(Humanitarian law) |
|
|
