The GPP Celebrates the Release of a new ICRC Report on the Nexus Between International Humanitarian Law and Peacebuilding

10Dec

The GPP Celebrates the Release of a new ICRC Report on the Nexus Between International Humanitarian Law and Peacebuilding

Last month, the GPP participated in the launch of a major report by the ICRC—a key member of the GPP international advisory council—“Through Humanity To Peace: Reflections on Humanitarian Action and Peace From the ICRC’s Practice”. This report, produced in the framework of the ICRC’s momentous “Global Initiative to Galvanize Political Commitment to International Humanitarian Law”, is an important contribution to recalling the critical—yet often overlooked—relationship between peacebuilding and international humanitarian law and principled humanitarian action in armed conflict, a nexus which the GPP is committed to continue to promote.

The mutually reinforcing relationship between IHL and peacebuilding

In an era where the boundaries of war have become increasingly blurred—with protracted conflicts and hybrid warfare increasingly the norm rather than the exception—understanding the articulation of international humanitarian law (IHL) and peacebuilding is critical.

While other key nexus—such as between humanitarian action, development aid, and peace—are now well-understood, the IHL-peacebuilding nexus often remains overlooked or misunderstood. Because IHL focuses on the regulation of conducts in times of war rather than in resolving conflicts, and in part because of its emphasis on neutrality, it can even appear at odds with the objectives and approaches of peacebuilding. Meanwhile, its nature as a complex set of international treaties and customary norms sometimes overshadows its fundamentally practical orientation and concrete relevance, as well as the wide range of practices and network of actors that contribute to its implementation. As often in the field of peacebuilding, institutional fragmentation as well as siloed professional lingo and practices also contributes to maintaining such conceptual and operational separations.

Yet, in practice, as the ICRC report demonstrates, IHL already plays a variety of key roles that support peacebuilding efforts—meanwhile there is mounting evidence suggesting that the failure to comply with IHL makes achieving sustained peace after the cessation of hostilities more difficult and uncertain—and a better articulation with peacebuilding could offer major benefits.

Moreover, the relationship between International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and peacebuilding is mutually reinforcing, and both fields stand to benefit from a deeper understanding of their interconnection. As peacebuilding efforts encounter increasing challenges and respect for core humanitarian norms and values is significantly eroded in many contemporary conflicts, highlighting this relationship offers an important opportunity for collaboration toward achieving a more peaceful world.

How IHL contributes to peacebuilding

Building on key insights into how the work of the ICRC contributes to peacebuilding, the report—which adds to a special issue of the International Review of the Red Cross entitled “IHL & Peace” and published earlier this year—also highlights more broadly the variety of ways in which IHL contributes to peace both before, during, and after armed conflicts, including by:

Mitigating cycles of violence and retaliation: by restricting the conduct of parties in war, IHL helps prevent escalations of violence and cycles of retaliation, thereby reducing the levels of destruction and the suffering of affected populations.
Preserving pathways to reconciliation: by asserting the primacy of human dignity, mitigating the effects of war on populations, promoting restraint and accountability, IHL helps create conditions where reconciliation is possible and trust can be rebuilt between communities after hostilities end.
Practicing dialogue and building confidence: even in the midst of active conflicts, IHL and organizations that advocate for its respect contribute to establishing channels of discussion on humanitarian matters that help open up space for dialogue where it would otherwise be impossible and create precedents that can later be leveraged in peacebuilding processes.
Promoting shared values and principles: despite the divisions and tensions inherent in armed conflicts, IHL promotes a common baseline of standards rooted in the fundamental principe of human dignity, fostering shared values and principles that support peaceful coexistence.

Conversely, for warring parties and humanitarian actors active in armed conflict to better understand their contribution to peacebuilding also helps them rethink their role and see their responsibility and impact beyond the conflict paradigm. It helps dispel the myth of “victory” in war, and the focus on military operations, and instead encourages them to look ahead to the challenges that come with delivering peace and stability when the fighting ends. Emphasizing the IHL-peacebuilding nexus, also gives these actors access to the wealth of experience, methodologies, tools, and approaches, accumulated over time by the peacebuilding community and take advantage of potential synergies.

Spotlight on the GPP’s Work on the IHL & Peace Nexus

A longtime advocate of the importance of the IHL-peacebuilding nexus, the GPP warmly congratulates the ICRC on these important contributions. Welcoming this milestone, the GPP is committed to continue to work hand in hand with its partners to promote a better understanding and mobilization of this nexus, as has done in the past, including in 2025 through the following activities;