Welcome to the Customary IHL database. This is the updated version of the Study on customary international humanitarian law conducted by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and originally published by Cambridge University Press
This study examines the evolving meaning of the term 'humanitarian', from its emergence in the mid-nineteenth century through to the end of the twentieth century. It explores how the goals of humanitarian action have developed, the principles that guide it, the range of actors that pursue it and its relationship with politics