21 March 2016, ICRC News Release
Geneva – The International Committee of the Red Cross has unveiled major new guidance on the implementation of the Geneva Conventions, bolstering arguments that despite violations, the laws governing armed conflict remain relevant, crucial to saving lives and must not be abandoned.
The ICRC’s Director of International Law and Policy, Helen Durham, said that while it was “becoming fashionable to talk about the erosion of International Humanitarian Law” of which the Conventions form the core, the new publication, known as the commentaries, “show that this is a living body of law, which, far from being eroded, is playing a vital role.”