Countless historic monuments, works of art and places of worship have been destroyed in recent conflicts, despite the fact that cultural property, as part of the cultural heritage of all mankind, is protected by the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 14 May 1954 — the fiftieth anniversary of which is being celebrated this year — and by other provisions of international humanitarian law, in particular Articles 53 and 16 respectively of Protocols I and II additional to the Geneva Conventions. his article retraces the origin and development of the main rules of international law adopted to safeguard cultural property in the event of armed conflict, and shows their place in the context of international humanitarian law.

In 1962 Switzerland ratified the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. It thereby undertook to guarantee optimum protection for all its valuable cultural property. Specific legislation drawn up in 1966 marked a decisive step forward: it stipulates the protective measures to be planned, encourages their implementation by means of grants, and designates competent authorities responsible for their enforcement. The Confederation bears the full costs in some spheres. Most of the measures required under Article 5 of the Second Protocol are already in place in Switzerland; a Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional importance has been prepared, as have documentary and microfilm records, and shelters have been provided for the storage of cultural property. Staff have been trained, the general public has been informed and cooperation has been set up with institutions and partners such as the fire brigades.

Fifty years after the adoption of the 1954 Hague Convention, the entry into force of the Second Protocol is the most recent step forward in the legal protection of cultural property during armed conflicts. The aim of this article is to explain the significance of the new rules introduced by this instrument. Drawn up within the framework of UNESCO, the Second Protocol takes into account major developments in international humanitarian law, international criminal law and cultural heritage law. It significantly reinforces the provisions of the Hague Convention, particularly regarding measures to safeguard and ensure respect for cultural property, provides for a new system of enhanced protection, establishes a new institutional framework, defines serious violations, which entail individual criminal responsibility and the duty upon States Parties to establish jurisdiction over those violations, and, finally, extends the scope of application to non–international armed conflicts.

Cambodia's unequalled cultural heritage — and in particular Angkor — was not spared the sufferings that country endured from 1970 onwards. Cambodia went through 30 years of conflict, with the Khmer Rouge regime (1975–1979) marking the peak of cruelty and ideological barbarity. These years have left a permanent scar on the country and its memory. Monuments and archaeological sites in particular suffered the consequences of abandonment, vandalism, looting and lack of maintenance, together with the effects of military use. However, despite the traces of vandalism that bear witness to the sites' having been subjected to military occupation, the temples suffered less during the fighting than had been feared. The application of certain of the provisions contained in the Hague Convention for the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict of 14 May 1954 played a crucial role in protecting Cambodian heritage. The Convention constitutes one of the most important tools for the protection of cultural property under international humanitarian law. It clearly helped to protect cultural property by providing the Cambodian authorities with a legal basis and, above all, by legitimizing the action they undertook in this area.

In 2001 restoration of the ICRC's film archives covering the period 1920–1957 was completed. Nearly a hundred exceptional documents on the organization's activities were saved and made accessible to the public

This article relates the circumstances surrounding the ICRC's first steps in cinematography in the early 1920s. This innovative and promising medium was turned to good account to make known the ICRC's new assistance activities at the end of the First World War

Le CICR et la Revue internationale de la Croix-Rouge rendent hommage au grand poète et sociologue Jean-Georges Lossier qui s'est éteint le 3 mai 2004. Grand défenseur des valeurs humanitaires fondamentales, M. Lossier a pu transmettre sa réflexion sur l'humanitaire au monde entier à travers la Revue, dont il fut le rédacteur en chef pendant plus de vingt ans.