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Since the genesis of the practice of warfare,
rules have guided wartime conduct.
Originally derived largely from custom as well as from religious and
ethical principles,
many of these regulations aim to limit unnecessary brutality during conflict.
Over the course of centuries, these rules evolved and
have since been codified as International Humanitarian Law, or IHL.
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Appalled by the suffering he witnessed in the aftermath of the Battle of Solferino
in 1859, Swiss businessman and social activist Henri Dunant helped to establish
the International Committee of the Red Cross.
And the codification of modern IHL began with the first Geneva Convention in 1864.
Over the course of subsequent decades, states revisited and
expanded upon this body of law.
The horrors of World War I and II, in particular,
reinforced the need to limit suffering and armed conflict and lead to the adoption of
the four Geneva Conventions of 1949, which formed the foundation of contemporary IHL.
Since then, states have negotiated and
concluded other international agreements regulating armed conflict.
Including three additional protocols to the Geneva conventions and
a series of weapons treaties that have expanded humanitarian protections
in armed conflict.
As the set of international legal rules that govern situations of armed conflict
and occupation, IHL aims to strike a balance between military necessity and
humanity.
It accommodates military objectives on the battlefield while seeking to reduce
human suffering in wartime by preventing unnecessary harm to civilians and
non-combatants.
In doing so, it establishes a minimum set of standards for conduct during warfare.
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IHL protects those who are not fighting, or are no longer able to fight,
such as civilians, prisoners of war, and the wounded.
It requires that parties to a conflict always make a distinction,
between combatants and military targets, which may be attacked.
And civilians and civilian objects, which must be spared from attack.
Attacks against military targets also have limits.
Combatants must always observe the principle of proportionality,
which limits anticipated collateral damage to civilians and civilian objects,
resulting from attacks against legitimate targets.
Parties to a conflict must take all feasible precautionary measures to avoid
harming civilians or destroying resources essential to their survival such as
critical infrastructure or the natural environment.
In order to enable critical resistance to reach those in need during wartime
IHL protects humanitarian actors in operations in conflict settings.

IHL also provides the basis for humanitarian actors to engage with
parties of conflict and to gain access to affected populations
in order to deliver effective humanitarian assistance during wartime.
It is especially important for humanitarian actors to understand IHL
since it establishes the fundamental protections for civilians and
aid workers in times of armed conflict.
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