Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
"Protecting civilians and treating your adversary within the confines of the law does not make you weaker. It strengthens your moral upper hand."
In this address to the UN Security Council during the open debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, the president of the ICRC, Mirjana Spoljaric, lays bare a stark reality: We can no longer pretend that what we are witnessing across war zones is in accordance with the law.
In her statement, President Spoljaric warns how brutalizing rhetoric can pave the way for IHL violations -- with some happening in plain sight and others in the shadows of detention centres.
She calls on states to invest genuinely in the lasting resolution of conflicts and to respect international humanitarian law (IHL) as the first step towards the possibility of peace.
"Protecting civilians and treating your adversary within the confines of the law does not make you weaker. It strengthens your moral upper hand."
In this address to the UN Security Council during the open debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, the president of the ICRC, Mirjana Spoljaric, lays bare a stark reality: We can no longer pretend that what we are witnessing across war zones is in accordance with the law.
In her statement, President Spoljaric warns how brutalizing rhetoric can pave the way for IHL violations -- with some happening in plain sight and others in the shadows of detention centres.
She calls on states to invest genuinely in the lasting resolution of conflicts and to respect international humanitarian law (IHL) as the first step towards the possibility of peace.
