ICRC Humanitarian Law and Policy Blog
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ICRC Humanitarian Law and Policy Blog
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Humanitarian Law & Policy blog is a unique space for timely analysis and debate on international humanitarian law (IHL) issues and the policies that shape humanitarian action.
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The shelter that shone in the distance | Written and Performed by Mamuch Bey
For the world's more than 120 million forcibly displaced people, the idea of refuge is not an abstraction – it is a horizon, an act of imagination, an...
African traditions and the protection of children in armed conflict
Across Africa, norms regulating the conduct of hostilities long predate the codification of modern international humanitarian law (IHL). The ICRC Tool...
We helped individuals while harming persons: what conflict-affected communities deserve beyond beneficiary status
Conflict and displacement do more than destroy homes, livelihoods, and infrastructure. They also fracture the social relationships through which peopl...
Climate resilience is not optional: what people in fragile, urban settings should expect from WASH
Climate change is intensifying water insecurity in fragile urban settings, where ageing infrastructure, rapid urbanization, and inequality already str...
Life teaches before school does: the invisible curriculum of the super child
Refugee education is often framed in terms of access, infrastructure, and policy – but for children who grow up inside camps, meaningful learning begi...
Why Africa should act now on explosive weapons in populated areas: Malawi’s case for action
Across contemporary armed conflicts, the use of explosive weapons in populated areas (EWIPA) has emerged as one of the gravest threats to civilians. U...
Collaboration without over-reliance: the role of industry in making military AI "lawful by design"
In the policy debate on artificial intelligence (AI) in the military domain, there is a growing consensus that international humanitarian law (IHL) mu...
Three lives, one vision: how Dunant, Demidoff and Abdelkader shaped modern humanitarianism
The brutal effects of war have long prompted efforts to limit suffering and preserve humanity in times of conflict. Across cultures, religions, and le...
Enforced disappearances: universal responses to a worldwide phenomenon
Enforced disappearances remain an issue of profound seriousness, with lasting consequences for the families of those affected. These realities continu...
Lebanon's wartime decision to ban anti-personnel mines
Lebanon’s accession last week to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC) comes not in a time of peace, but amid ongoing conflict – precisely wh...
Attacks on the medical mission: identification of issues and good practices
During the last decade, attacks against hospitals have been a hallmark of almost every conflict. What humanitarian medical practitioners have witnesse...
Gender (re)balancing: the updated ICRC Commentary on the Fourth Geneva Convention
International humanitarian law (IHL) has long been critiqued for its gendered fault lines, specifically the marginalization of violence and harm to wo...
Upholding IHL protections against the risks of ICT activities in armed conflict
Across the world, essential civilian services increasingly depend on information and communication technologies (ICTs). These same technologies are al...
Complying with IHL in large-scale conflicts: movement, mass displacement and family links
By the end of 2024, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that 123.2 million people worldwide were forcibly displa...
Why Nordic governments must uphold the global ban on anti-personnel mines
As security concerns intensify across Europe following the escalation of the international armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine in 2022, several...
Restoring education after armed conflict: an IHL-guided framework
When armed conflict ends, education does not always return with it. In many post-conflict settings, schools remain closed long after ceasefires, while...
When the perpetrator is the climate
Climate change and armed conflict increasingly intersect in humanitarian settings. While the sector is now alert to climate-related risks – particular...
Deciding under algorithms: artificial intelligence and the protection of civilian infrastructure in armed conflict
Artificial intelligence (AI)-based decision-support systems are increasingly embedded upstream of the use of force, shaping how military actors plan a...
Engaging non-state armed groups on the protection of missing people and their families
The ICRC continues to witness unacceptable levels of suffering when the law designed to protect families, prevent people from going missing, and ensur...
The adoption of the 1949 Geneva Conventions: a humanitarian break and colonial continuity
More than seven decades after their adoption, the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 remain foundational to contemporary international humanitarian law (...
Islamic law and the right to life in armed conflict
Islamic legal traditions and the modern framework of international humanitarian law (IHL) emerged from different contexts and traditions, but they sha...
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”: the ICRC’s approach to Common Article 3 in its updated Commentary
The updated ICRC Commentary on the Fourth Geneva Convention (GC IV) includes a number of important updates to its treatment of Common Article 3 (CA3)....
Protecting civilians in good faith a joint symposium on the updated ICRC Commentary on the Fourth Geneva Convention
Following five years of research and consultations, the ICRC published a new, updated Commentary on the Fourth Geneva Convention (GC IV) of 1949 in Oc...
Waging warfare at sea: how exceptional is the maritime domain today?
Naval warfare has undergone dramatic transformation, expanding across multiple domains and exposing civilian seafarers, infrastructure, and global sup...
“Cognitive warfare”: why the human brain should not become a battlefield
Militaries are gearing up for confrontation on a new battlefield: the human brain.
While psychological operations aimed at deceiving enem...
Bridging IHL and WPS: untapped potential to advance the wellbeing of women in conflict settings
The International Criminal Court recently issued its first conviction for gender persecution as a crime against humanity, alongside related conviction...
Deaths and separations in migration: lessons from migrant women and children
Many women and children are exposed to violence, exploitation and other risks, including death and family separation, during their migration journeys....
IHL’s lighthouse; navigating towards a digital emblem
As cyber operations are increasingly taking place during armed conflicts, and this trend is likely to continue, certain specific protections afforded...
Twenty years on: the enduring impact of the ICRC customary IHL study and database
The ICRC’s 2005 study on customary international humanitarian law – along with the free, public database launched five years later – arrived at a mome...
Complying with IHL in large-scale conflicts: How should states prepare to allow and facilitate delivery of humanitarian relief?
Large-scale armed conflicts consistently sever the systems that sustain civilian life, leaving populations without essential services or access to bas...
From crisis to recovery: managing the environmental impacts of armed conflict
The environmental toll of armed conflict is neither insignificant nor fleeting: it contaminates water, soil, and air, erodes ecosystems, undermines li...
Do anti-personnel mines still have military utility in modern warfare?
Five States Parties to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention have recently submitted instruments of withdrawal, citing national security and military...
Navigating violence: five insights to strengthen humanitarian action in contested territories
More than 200 million people live today in contested territories – places where the authority of the state is challenged outright and armed groups exe...
Reaffirming the obligation to protect medical facilities and support their functioning
Restrictions on movement and access to medical supplies have become an often-unseen threat to health care in today’s armed conflicts. Even where hospi...
Outsourcing humanity? International law, humane treatment, and artificial intelligence in detention operations
As artificial intelligence (AI) begins to shape decisions about who is detained in armed conflict and how detention facilities are managed, questions...
Divided together: how families of the missing build peace
When people go missing in war, their absence lingers far beyond the battlefield – splintering families, deepening social divides, and haunting politic...
Peace can start in a prison cell: how IHL and humane detention can build pathways to peace
When wars end, peace rarely begins overnight. It’s built, slowly and painstakingly, through acts that restore a sense of humanity where it was once su...
From hackers to tech companies: IHL and the involvement of civilians in ICT activities in armed conflict
Picture a potential future armed conflict: missiles and drones crowding the skies, uncrewed vehicles rolling across borders, and governments scramblin...
ICRC engagement with armed groups in 2025
In line with its mandate, the ICRC engages with all parties to an armed conflict, including non-state armed groups. The ICRC has a long history of con...
The humanity compass: navigating the protection of civilians in naval warfare
The law of naval warfare is a complex collection of international laws, developed in an era that could not anticipate today’s global interdependence,...