It is back to the fundamentals at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva. In the face of conflicts – in particular, the Russian-Ukrainian and Middle Eastern wars – that are shaking the world, and countries' tendency to forget their responsibility under international humanitarian law, the Geneva Convention's guardians are seeking to restore meaning to their mission.

The International Red Cross is mandated by the states themselves to assist wounded combatants, prisoners, the missing and civilians, increasingly targeted in recent decades. Seventy-five years after the adoption of the Geneva Convention, it has to go again on the offensive to prove its relevance in the face of political leaders who disregard the laws of war.

ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric believes that the world is facing "a critical moment," she said in a stern warning on Thursday, February 6. Spoljaric highlighted the scale of violations of international humanitarian law and the "devastating impacts" of the conflicts that are setting the planet ablaze. She pointed to an "erosion of respect" for the Geneva Conventions, despite their "universal ratification" after "the darkest hours" the world has ever known.

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