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Legal fact sheet: Humanity after life: Respecting and protecting the dead

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 October 2025

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International Review of the Red Cross , First View , pp. 1 - 4
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Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
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© ICRC, 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Committee of the Red Cross.

The proper management and identification of individuals who have died due to armed conflict, violence, disasters or migration is essential to upholding their dignity and providing closure for their families. International and domestic laws impose obligations to respect and handle the dead appropriately, as failure to do so can increase the number of unaccounted-for individuals and prolong the suffering of their loved ones.

International humanitarian law (IHL) governs the treatment of the dead in armed conflicts, requiring their dignity to be protected and their remains to be searched for, collected and evacuated. This aligns with broader humanitarian concerns present in international human rights law and international disaster response law, which also aim to ensure proper handling of the deceased and clarification of the fate of missing persons in various circumstances.

Application of relevant IHL provisions

Obligation to search for, collect and evacuate the dead

Whenever circumstances permit, every party to conflict must take all possible measures to search for, collect and evacuate the dead without adverse distinction.Footnote 1

Treatment of the dead

Parties to an armed conflict must take all possible measures to prevent despoilment of the dead.Footnote 2

Identification

Parties to an armed conflict must record all available information before disposing of the dead, with a view to identifying those dead bodies or human remains at a later date.Footnote 3

Return of human remains and personal effects

Parties to an armed conflict must endeavour to facilitate the return of the remains of the deceased, along with their personal effects, upon request.Footnote 4

Wills

Detaining Powers in international armed conflicts (IACs) must facilitate the execution and authentication of the wills of prisoners of war (PoWs) and of civilian internees.Footnote 5

Burial and cremation

The dead must be disposed of in a respectful manner.Footnote 6 Parties to an IAC have additional obligations concerning deceased members of the armed forces.Footnote 7

Collective graves

Parties must ensure that bodies are buried or cremated individually.Footnote 8

Lists of graves

Each party shall organize an official Graves Registration Service, and these Services shall exchange lists detailing the exact locations and markings of graves, together with particulars of the dead interred therein.Footnote 9

Marking, respecting and maintaining graves

Parties to the conflict shall ensure that graves are respected, properly maintained and marked.Footnote 10

Exhumations

Exhumation shall be permitted only when the States concerned have concluded an agreement to facilitate the return of the remains of the deceased and of personal effects to the home country, or when exhumation is a matter of overriding public necessity.Footnote 11

Death in detention

In IACs, every death of a PoW or civilian internee must be followed by an official enquiry by the Detaining Power, which must take all necessary measures to prosecute those responsible as appropriate.Footnote 12

Domestic implementation

States have an obligation to adopt measures for implementing IHL domestically, including measures related to respect for the dead. Such measures must be taken in both peacetime and wartime.Footnote 13

ICRC support

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) works to protect individuals during armed conflicts and other crises and helps to clarify the fate of missing persons by, inter alia, supporting proper treatment of the dead, and their identification. It provides guidance and training to authorities and forensic experts to strengthen local capacities using scientific best practices. Additionally, the ICRC Advisory Service on IHL advises and assists States in implementing IHL and other relevant norms domestically. In this regard, the ICRC has drafted its Guiding Principles/Model Law on the Missing, which can be useful to States wishing to adopt domestic measures on missing persons, including the dead.Footnote 14

References

1 Geneva Convention (I) for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field of 12 August 1949, 75 UNTS 31 (entered into force 21 October 1950) (GC I), Art. 15(1); Geneva Convention (II) for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea of 12 August 1949, 75 UNTS 85 (entered into force 21 October 1950) (GC II), Art. 18(1); Geneva Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949, 75 UNTS 287 (entered into force 21 October 1950) (GC IV), Art. 16(2); Protocol Additional (I) to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, 1125 UNTS 3, 8 June 1977 (entered into force 7 December 1978) (AP I), Arts 32, 33; Protocol Additional (II) to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts, 1125 UNTS 609, 8 June 1977 (entered into force 7 December 1978) (AP II), Art. 8; Jean-Marie Henckaerts and Louise Doswald-Beck (eds), Customary International Humanitarian Law, Vol. 1: Rules, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005 (ICRC Customary Law Study), Rule 112, available at: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/rules (all internet references were accessed in September 2025).

2 GC I, Art. 15(1); GC II, Art. 18(1); GC IV, Art. 16(2); AP I, Art. 34(1); AP II, Art. 8; ICRC Customary Law Study, above note 1, Rule 113.

3 GC I, Art. 16(1); GC II, Art. 19(1); Geneva Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War of 12 August 1949, 75 UNTS 135 (entered into force 21 October 1950) (GC III), Art. 120(2); ICRC Customary Law Study, above note 1, Rule 116.

4 GC I, Art. 17(3); GC III, Art. 120(6); GC IV, Art. 130(2); AP I, Art. 34(2)–(3); ICRC Customary Law Study, above note 1, Rule 114.

5 GC III, Arts 77, 120(1); GC IV, Art. 113.

6 GC I, Art. 17; GC II, Art. 20; GC III, Art. 120; GC IV, Art. 130; AP II, Art. 8; ICRC Customary Law Study, Rule 115.

7 GC I, Art. 17(1); GC II, Art. 20(1); GC III, Art. 120(3).

8 GC I, Arts 17(1), 20(1); ICRC Customary Law Study, above note 1, Rule 115, interpretation.

9 GC I, Art. 17(3)–(4); GC II, Art. 20(2).

10 GC I, Art. 17(3); GC II, Art. 20(2); GC III, Art. 120(4); GC IV, Art. 130(1)–(3); AP I, Art. 34(1)–(3); ICRC Customary Law Study, above note 1, Rules 115–116.

11 AP I, Art. 34(2)–(4).

12 GC III, Art. 121; GC IV, Art. 131.

13 For more information on turning IHL rules into action, see ICRC Advisory Service, “Implementing International Humanitarian Law: From Law to Action”, fact sheet, September 2019, available at: www.icrc.org/en/document/implementing-international-humanitarian-lawlaw-action.

14 ICRC Advisory Service, Guiding Principles/Model Law on the Missing, February 2009, available at: www.icrc.org/en/document/guiding-principles-model-law-missing-modellaw. See also ICRC Advisory Service, “Missing Persons and Their Families”, fact sheet, November 2023, available at: www.icrc.org/en/document/missing-persons-and-their-families-factsheet.