Socrate conseillait déjà de définir d'emblée les notions que l'on allait employer dans un discours.

Depuis quelques lustres, on a pris l'habitude d'appeler « droit humanitaire » cette portion considérable du droit international public qui s'inspire du sentiment d'humanité et qui est centrée sur la protection de la personne.

To ensure that it is respected, international humanitarian law (IHL) requires mechanisms for its implementation. Most of these are known and have proved their worth, whether as means of prevention, control or repression. They do however have their limitations and, in this sense, the International Fact-Finding Commission provided for in Article 90, Protocol I, fills a gap.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has witnessed in its work for war victims throughout the world the increasingly devastating effects for civilian populations of the proliferation of weapons, particularly small arms. The difficulties of providing humanitarian assistance in an environment where arms have become widely available to many segments of society are well known to most humanitarian relief agencies today. However, until recently the relationships between the availability of weapons, the worsening situation of civilians during and after conflict and the challenges of providing humanitarian assistance have not been addressed directly.

These Guiding Principles address the specific needs of internally displaced persons worldwide. They identify rights and guarantees relevant to the protection of persons from forced displacement and to their protection and assistance during displacement as well as during return or resettlement and reintegration.

Of the 51 opinions handed down by the Court of the Hague (28 by the Permanent Court of International Justice and 23 by the International Court of Justice), there is little doubt that the two delivered on 8 July 1996 in response to requests submitted by the WHO World Health Assembly and the United Nations General Assembly will become landmarks in the history of the Court, if not in history itself.

The International Museum of the Red Cross will be inaugurated in a few days' time. This is an important event for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement—now the world's most universal humanitarian movement will have a place of its own where its past achievements and present activities will be brought to life.

La República de Malí se adhirió, el 8 de febrero de 1989, a los Protocolos adicionales a los Convenios de Ginebra del 12 de agosto de 1949, relativos a la protección de las víctimas de los conflictos armados internacionales (Protocolo I) y no internacionales (Protocolo II), aprobados en Ginebra el 8 de junio de 1977.

De conformidad con sus disposiciones, los Protocolos entrarán en vigor, para la República de Malí, el 8 de agosto de 1989.

Con esta adhesión, asciende a 80 el número de Estados Partes en el Protocolo I y a 71 el de Estados Partes en el Protocolo II.

As part of its activities to mark the 125th anniversary of its foundation on 4 February 1864, the Belgian Red Cross has been taking stock of its work to date and future possibilities for Red Cross action in various domains.

From 15 to 22 April 1989, the French-language Community of the Belgian Red Cross held a series of one-day symposiums in which Society volunteers and officials as well as many outside individuals and associations took part.

In December 1995 the 26th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent endorsed the recommendations drawn up by the Intergovernmental Group of Experts for the Protection for War Victims which had met, at the invitation of the Swiss government, on 23–27 January 1995 in Geneva. Recommendation II of this Group proposed that:

“the ICRC be invited to prepare, with the assistance of experts in IHL [international humanitarian law] representing various geographical regions and different legal systems, and in consultation with experts from governments and international organisations, a report on customary rules of IHL applicable in international and non-international armed conflicts, and to circulate the report to States and competent international bodies.”