The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has a mandate to carry out the tasks incumbent upon it under the Geneva Conventions, in particular to promote the faithful application of international humanitarian law and to protect and assist civilian and military victims of armed conflict — whether international or non-international — or internal disturbances as well as their direct consequences.
In order to discharge its difficult mandate as effectively and consistently as possible, in 1981 the ICRC adopted guidelines concerning its action in the event of violations of international humanitarian law. Since it is important that the ICRC’s working procedures be well understood by the authorities and by its other contacts and that its different types of action be — in so far as possible — predictable, the ICRC decided to publish these guidelines, accompanied by an explanation.