World: ICRC President: "We can no longer pretend that what we are witnessing across war zones is in accordance with the law"

Country: World Source: International Committee of the Red Cross Speech given by Mirjana Spoljaric, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, at the UN Security Council Open Debate on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict – 20 May 2026, New York Mr President, Wars fought without rules transform wars between combatants into wars against civilians. In recent weeks, I have undertaken several missions to the Middle East, where the impact of conflict on civilians is painfully clear. But brutal patterns of warfare are becoming pervasive across regions from the Middle East to the Horn of Africa, to eastern Europe, and beyond. We can no longer pretend that what we are witnessing across war zones is in accordance with the law. Not the scale of destruction. Not the scale of suffering. And not the language being used to justify it. When leaders direct their militaries to act without restraint, when they label their enemies as sub-human, when they threaten entire populations, they do more than incite war crimes. They threaten to destroy the moral foundations of what it means to be human. Across history, dehumanization has been a consistent precursor to atrocity. Indiscriminate killing, torture and abuse become far easier to justify when we stop seeing others as equal human beings. But what happens when brutalizing rhetoric becomes the baseline ? It gives your enemy the green light to do the same. The real-world consequences are horrific and undeniable. Entire territories reduced to rubble and hospitals destroyed, patients killed. Aid workers and medics repeatedly targeted. These are the IHL violations that happen in plain sight. Others happen in the shadows, in jail cells, detention centres and interrogation rooms far from public scrutiny. In the extreme power imbalance between ...

Original source: Relief Web