Chapter

Developing and clarifying international humanitarian law : the role and legacy of the ICRC

Knut Dörmann and Andrea Raab

Research handbook on human rights and humanitarian law : further reflections and perspectives

Cheltenham : E. Elgar, 2022

p. 240-264

English

The international community has vested the ICRC with the mandate to work for the faithful application and promotion of IHL, and to prepare its development. This chapter explores the diverse ways in which the ICRC has carried out this role, and contributed to the development and clarification IHL. By dissecting its historical involvement and modern-day advocacy, it examines the organisation's approach toward advocating for the strengthening, clarification and effectiveness of the law, and elucidates the manifold IHL and related instruments that bear the ICRC's imprint. In discussing the manner in which the ICRC has navigated the obstacles it has been facing in carrying out its IHL mandate, the chapter further illustrates the organisation's unwavering determination to enhance the protection for persons affected by armed conflict. On this basis, the chapter sheds light on the ICRC's vast legacy in shaping the contemporary IHL landscape - which it continues to build today.

• Research handbook on human rights and humanitarian law : further reflections and perspectives / Edited by Robert Kolb, Gloria Gaggioli and Pavle Kilibarda