What Is International Humanitarian Law and What Is the ICRC's Role in It?

International humanitarian law (IHL) is the set of rules that seeks to limit the effects of armed conflict and protect people who are not, or are no longer, taking part in hostilities. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a neutral, impartial and independent organization that works to relieve suffering during war and armed violence, and it advocates for compliance with IHL to keep civilians safe, including online. This explainer covers what IHL protects, how the ICRC promotes it, and why new technology is testing the rules.

What international humanitarian law covers

IHL applies during armed conflict. Its core purpose, as the ICRC frames it, is to preserve and prioritize humanity during war. In practice that means:

• Protecting people who are not fighting — civilians, the wounded and sick, detainees, and people who have been separated from their families.
• Setting limits on how war is fought — rules on the conduct of hostilities that are meant to spare civilians and civilian objects.
• Guaranteeing humane treatment — including for people deprived of their liberty.

The ICRC describes its own work as delivering life-saving aid across front lines, striving to reconnect families, advocating for humane treatment of detainees, and urging compliance with IHL to keep civilians safe.

The ICRC's role in promoting IHL

The ICRC has worked since 1863 to relieve suffering and preserve human dignity during war and armed violence. Its role in relation to IHL has several practical dimensions:

Reaching people on all sides

As a neutral, impartial and independent organization, the ICRC works to reach people affected by conflict on all sides. That neutrality is what allows it to operate across front lines — delivering medical care, essential household items, food, clean water, and support for people separated from their loved ones.

Advocating for compliance

Beyond direct aid, the ICRC urges parties to conflict to comply with IHL. Its public statements regularly press this point. For example, the ICRC president underscored the role of international humanitarian law as a foundation for global peace and stability during an audience at the Vatican and in Rome, and separately stated that the safety of humanitarian personnel is inseparable from the safety of all civilians.

Calling for protection of civilians and aid workers

The ICRC issues direct calls for protection. In the West Bank, it called for urgent protection of the civilian population. It also makes the case that an attack on a humanitarian worker puts more than one life at risk — a reminder that IHL protections for aid personnel are not abstract.

Why technology is testing the rules

One of the ICRC's current themes is that technological progress must not outpace the rules designed to preserve humanity in war. The organization frames its civilian-protection advocacy as extending "including online," which signals that the same humanitarian logic it applies on the battlefield is now being applied to digital spaces and new technologies of warfare.

How the ICRC describes its own scale

The organization's reach is part of why its voice on IHL carries weight. According to the ICRC:

What this means if you want to engage

• If you want to understand the rules: IHL is the framework; the ICRC is one of its principal interpreters and advocates in practice.
• If you want to support the work: the ICRC runs donation appeals tied to specific crises, such as Gaza, Ukraine and Ethiopia, describing how contributions help families meet urgent needs and recover with dignity.
• If you want to follow current advocacy: the ICRC publishes news releases, statements and articles on civilian protection, detainee treatment and humanitarian personnel safety.

The through-line is consistent: the ICRC positions IHL compliance as the mechanism that keeps civilians safe, and its own neutrality and independence as what lets it deliver aid and make that case on all sides of a conflict.