In today's battlefields, laws protecting civilians are ignored. Yet, nations and humanitarians worldwide unite to defend compassion and human life, even in war.
Beyond physically helping people caught up in war, ICRC legal experts analyze and classify wars as a basis for our confidential dialogue with warring parties and their legal obligations to protect civilians. So what does the data tell us?
Dear reader,
From Sudan to Ukraine through the Middle East, wars are tearing through communities and consciences alike.
The laws of war – designed to shield civilians, the wounded, the detained, and those delivering aid – are being violated with alarming frequency. This erodes what must never be normalized: human suffering. “It’s going to break our souls,” ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric warned, as families are displaced, aid workers targeted, and entire populations stripped of their dignity.
This year alone, 54 Palestine Red Crescent Society workers and four ICRC staff have been killed in Gaza, alongside five others in Darfur and Ukraine – stark reminders that the courage to care now carries a deadly cost. Each attack chips away at the shared understanding that, even in war, humanity must prevail.
Yet hope persists. As the world marks 60 years of the humanitarian principles that underpin international humanitarian law (IHL), nations are coming together to reaffirm them. The Global Initiative on IHL has been endorsed by more than 90 states worldwide, in a concerted effort to uphold and strengthen the rules that safeguard humanity.
Their protective power is only as strong as leaders' political will to enforce them. Because in the end, preserving humanity in war is a matter of choice – the choice to protect life, dignity, and the fragile thread of compassion that binds us together. The fate of millions depends on leaders choosing to preserve – not abandon – humanity in war.
INTERVIEW: "Not everything is allowed in war."
On the margins of the United Nations General Assembly on 25 September 2025, ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, discussed Gaza, Sudan and the need for political will to ensure people get the aid they need, on CGTN America. ICRC
In this interview with CGTN America, ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric described the devastation she witnessed in Gaza as surpassing “anything humane or legally acceptable.” Across conflicts in Ukraine and Sudan, she said, the same pattern had emerged: the limits of war were being ignored, with devastating human costs.
“You cannot have limitless wars,” she warned. When respect for the laws that safeguard humanity erodes, no one remains untouched. It is only a matter of time before every community faces a world where “there are no rules, anything is allowed."
Her words are a stark reminder: if these protections fail, we risk a world where compassion and restraint no longer survive the battlefield.
ON THE GROUND: Lives lost, dignity bruised: Gaza’s struggle after 2 years of war
Sarah Davies, ICRC spokesperson, on bbc world service
Sarah Avrillaud, ICRC head of subdelegation in Gaza.
Two years into the conflict, civilians in Gaza continue to face unimaginable hardship. Thousands have been killed, injured, or gone missing; homes reduced to rubble; and essential services brought to a standstill.
More than 80 per cent of the population has been displaced, many forced into overcrowded, unsafe areas where food, water, medicine – and dignity – are in short supply.
Entire communities are living amid destruction, as hospitals, water systems, and infrastructure collapse under the strain. With aid access still very limited and humanitarian needs growing by the day, the human toll is unbearable.
The ICRC urgently calls for renewed respect for international humanitarian law – to protect civilians, ensure safe passage for relief, and uphold the basic rules that preserve life even in war.
Sixty years on, why the fundamental principles must be lived not just remembered.
There’s a dangerous illusion in today’s world – that the principles guiding humanitarian action will endure on their own. They will not.
Marking 60 years since the adoption of the Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, we are reminded that humanity, impartiality, and neutrality are not relics of the past – they are lifelines under threat. As conflicts grow more polarized, these principles need defending, not remembering.
In this unflinching analysis on our Humanitarian Law and Policy blog, ICRC Director-General Pierre Krähenbühl reflects on what it will take to keep humanity alive in war.
The wars of today look nothing like those imagined in 1949.
From occupation to hostage-taking, from internment to displacement, ICRC’s landmark updated Commentary on the 4th Geneva Convention clarifies how these vital rules to protect civilians must apply to today’s warfare.
Built on 75+ years of legal evolution, new warfare and technology, and state practice, this go-to legal reference helps ensure the law can keep its promise to protect civilians as intended.
Civilians in Darfur, especially in Al Fasher and Kordofan, are enduring unspeakable suffering.
We call on all parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian law, protect lives, dignity, and the safe movement of people, aid workers, and medical staff.
