Article

The formation of international humanitarian law

by Jean Pictet

• International review of the Red Cross, no. 244, January-February 1985, p. 3-24

English

Concluding remarks published again on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the International Review of the Red Cross (no. 303, November-December 1994, p. 526-531).

To mark his seventieth birthday, Jean Pictet gave a lecture at the University of Geneva on 16 November 1984 entitled "The formation of international humanitarian law". A remarkable summary of the development of international humanitarian law in the twentieth century, it concludes with remarks which go well beyond the original subject. They express his thoughts about the difficult relationships between humanitarian imperatives and military and political necessities and between idealism and pragmatism; reference is also made to everyone's responsibility to disseminate and apply a law which stems not only from humanity but also from common sense.

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