• Parties to armed conflicts should take all feasible precautions to avoid or minimize the effects of hostilities on those who do not, or no longer, take part in them, as well as on civilian property. This entails avoiding the conduct of hostilities in populated areas and refraining from using means and methods of warfare with indiscriminate effects that cause excessive damage and superfluous or unnecessary suffering.
• Humane treatment must be guaranteed in all circumstances. Persons who do not take part in hostilities, or who have ceased to do so, must be respected and protected in accordance with IHL. Parties to a conflict are obliged to comply with and enforce these rules. Their observance is essential to preserve human dignity and limit suffering.
• We reiterate our call on all parties to the armed conflicts in Colombia to respect the special protection that IHL confers on children and adolescents. No person under the age of 18 should be recruited, used or involved in hostilities under any circumstances. To protect minors from war is to safeguard their physical, psychological and social integrity. Schools and the spaces where children grow, learn and develop must be preserved as what they are: safe and protective environments for children.
• No one should go missing, and no family should have to endure the uncertainty of not knowing what happened or where their loved one is. Preventing the disappearance of persons is an obligation imposed by IHL on all parties to armed conflicts.
• We reiterate our call on all parties to armed conflicts to respect the life and dignity of persons deprived of their liberty. All persons deprived of their liberty must be treated humanely in all circumstances and protected against violence, ill-treatment and any form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Ensuring dignified detention conditions, access to health care and contact with family members is an obligation under IHL.
   

About the ICRC

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a neutral, impartial and independent organization with an exclusively humanitarian mandate that stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It helps people around the world affected by armed conflict and other violence, doing everything it can to protect their lives and dignity and to relieve their suffering, often alongside its Red Cross and Red Crescent partners.