Humanity holds its ground - shared by Niloufar Pourzand - from ICRC LinkedIn

ICRC president, Mirjana Spoljaric

The rhetoric of dehumanization may make the unthinkable feel easier to commit, but humanity holds its ground.

From the decade-long peak of the crisis in Colombia to the constant threats facing health care workers from Gaza to Nigeria, the landscape is undeniably dire.

Yet, as the global community gathered on the world stage for Protection of Civilians Week in New York, this issue reveals that humanity is still holding its ground.

We see it in Lebanon, where military leaders are choosing to ban landmines in the heat of conflict as a "wartime necessity." We see it in the canvas walls of a field hospital in Rafah, which has become a lifeline for a quarter of a million people.

We see it in the thousands of staff and volunteers who, as we recently marked World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day, remain United in Humanity—standing with their communities even when attacks on humanitarians make their work most dangerous.

And we hear it in the words of ICRC president Mirjana Spoljaric, who addressed the UN Security Council Open Debate to remind world leaders that respecting the law isn't a sign of weakness: it is our greatest strategic and moral asset for peace.

From the depths of the ocean to the heart of the Sahel, here is how the rules of war and the fundamental promise of civilian protection are being fought for, one life at a time.

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