Preserving Humanity in War
- Marine Ronzi
- Sep 1
- 3 min read
International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is only as strong as the people who carry it.
National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies act as living bridges between law and action, ensuring that the rules of war are known, understood, and upheld.
At the Monaco Red Cross, I led the strategy for disseminating and promoting IHL within the organisation’s historic and statutory mandate, from awareness-raising and training to advisory support for authorities, advocacy, and partnerships.
Even in a microstate, this mission carried weight: embedding humanitarian principles and norms at the local level strengthens our collective conscience globally.
Here are a few fragments of that journey.
When the Rules Are Tested
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), global military expenditure reached USD 2.44 trillion in 2023, the highest level ever recorded.[¹]
Beyond the figures, what defines our era is the fragmentation of conflict:
When explosive weapons are used in populated areas, more than 90 per cent of casualties are civilians.[²]
Non-state armed groups multiply, blurring lines of accountability.
And technologies — from drones to artificial intelligence — are redrawing the boundaries of the law, raising urgent ethical questions about accountability and distinction.[³]
New domains now test the resilience of humanitarian law:
Cyber operations can disrupt hospitals or water systems, erasing the line between civilian and military targets.[⁴]
Climate stress and resource scarcity are now recognised as conflict multipliers.[⁵]
Disinformation erodes public trust in humanitarian norms and actors.[⁶]
These dynamics reinforce one another: a cyberattack cuts power to a hospital; a drone destroys a water network already weakened by drought.
In other words, the humanitarian principles of distinction, proportionality, and humanity are at stake.[⁷]
Meeting these systemic challenges requires IHL to evolve — linking legal principles with data governance, digital ethics, and environmental protection.
The strength of the law today lies in its ability to adapt to new realities without losing its moral essence.
Teaching, Sharing, Advocating, Preparing
For IHL to remain alive, it must be taught, shared, internalised, and defended.
That means going beyond treaties towards collective ownership.
This conviction guided my work: from IHL training and experiential learning methods in Monaco to international advocacy for disarmament, I saw how strengthening humanitarian law locally can resonate globally.
In Monaco, we made this vision tangible through interactive training, peer education, strategic advocacy, and diplomatic partnerships.
Teaching the rules of war is teaching empathy, clarity, and critical thinking.
IHL must be lived and felt, not merely memorised.
Experiential approaches, learning through simulation, active problem-solving, and reflection, foster deeper understanding and lasting behavioural change.
In collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the French Red Cross, and the Belgian Red Cross, I implemented interactive workshops in Monaco for youth, teachers, and professionals.
We used storytelling, simulation, and reflection, learning through lived experience.
From Advocacy to Action
Campaigns such as the ICRC’s Not a Target remind us that protecting civilians and humanitarian workers is non-negotiable.
But raising awareness can also take the form of collective action.
That’s why, together with the Monaco Red Cross, I helped design a partnership strategy to encourage the Principality to support the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
For four years, we wove together citizen mobilisation, youth engagement, and humanitarian diplomacy, connecting a small National Society to a global disarmament agenda.
This experience showed me that patient, consistent action can shift state consciousness, and that even the smallest voices, when steady, can move international norms.
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