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Part I Introduction, Ch.1 Current Challenges to International Humanitarian Law

Antonio Cassese

From: The Oxford Handbook of International Law in Armed Conflict

Edited By: Andrew Clapham, Paola Gaeta, Tom Haeck (Assistant Editor), Alice Priddy (Assistant Editor)

From: Oxford Public International Law (http://opil.ouplaw.com). (c) Oxford University Press, 2023. All Rights Reserved.date: 02 December 2023

Subject(s):
Geneva Conventions 1949 — Prisoners of war — Armed conflict — Terrorism — Belligerents
International humanitarian law (IHL) is one of the great achievements of mankind. It was born in the middle of the nineteenth century thanks to Henry Dunant, a Swiss banker. Dunant was not known for his acumen as a banker. Perhaps our debt for the creation of the International Committe of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the elaboration of the first Geneva Conventions is owed to his professional mediocrity, besides of course his great humanitarian commitment. In 1857, Dunant launched a company for the construction of windmills in Mons-Djémila, in the north-east of Algeria...
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