SRH in new Geneva Convention IV Commentary

June 10, 2026:

SRH in new Geneva Convention IV Commentary

Congratulations to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who recently updated their commentary on the Fourth Geneva Convention (GC IV) of 1949, a cornerstone for the protection of civilians during armed conflicts. In October 2025, after five years of research and consultations, the IRCC published an, updated “Commentary pf 2025“.

As reviewers of drafts of the new Commentary, Christina Zampas, Rebecca Brown and Selene Soto Rodriguez provided analysis and recommendations to the ICRC on applying GC IV’s safeguards to sexual and reproductive health and rights. Christina Zampas is an independent consultant and a Fellow of the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program in the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law. Rebecca Brown served as Vice-President for the Center for Reproductive Rights, where Selene Soto Rodriguez was Senior Legal Advisor.

These experts in reproductive and sexual health law and rights endeavoured to align international humanitarian law with international human rights obligations, particularly the protection of civilian health and access to sexual and reproductive health services. They also contributed a modern and inclusive understanding of gender that recognizes sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics.

The 2025 Commentary on Geneva Convention IV—the first since 1958—updates outdated terminology that referred to pregnant women as “expectant mothers” and classified sexual violence as “attacks against honour.” It clarifies that such language must now be understood as protecting a person’s physical and mental integrity, with the focus placed on harm to survivors rather than notions of “honour” or reputation. The new Commentary also explicitly includes sexual and reproductive health (SRH) supplies, including “vaccines, medicines for treating chronic illnesses, and medical supplies necessary for sexual and reproductive health.” It specifies a range of items including contraceptive methods.

As Christina Zampas recently observed in a LinkedIn post, the first Commentary on Geneva Convention IV emerged in the aftermath of mass atrocities and genocide, with the aim of strengthening protections for civilians and ensuring that the devastating human suffering witnessed during the Second World War would not be repeated. Yet comparable atrocities continue to occur in contemporary contexts. Against this backdrop, she argues that the present moment calls for efforts “to make [international law] stronger, more responsive to reflect the needs of all people . . . . Upholding international law consistently and universally . . . is a legal and moral imperative.”

RELATED RESOURCES

Interpreting International Humanitarian Law to Guarantee Abortion and Other Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Armed Conflict, by Christina Zampas, Rebecca Brown, and Onyema Afulukwe, in Health and Human Rights Journal, vol. 26/1 (2024): 31-43 Article online

The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, with Commentaries of 1958 and 2025 is online here.

“Protecting civilians in good faith: The Updated Commentary on the Fourth Geneva Convention,” [an overview] by the International Committee of the Red Cross, Nov 8, 2025. ICRC’s Overview

Christina Zampas provides more details on the sexual and reproductive health review of the Commentary in this post on LinkedIn.

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Compiled by: the Coordinator of International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, reprohealth*law at utoronto.ca. See Program website for Abortion Law Decisions, Publications, Research resources, and the Reprohealthlaw Commentaries Series. TO JOIN THE REPROHEALTHLAW BLOG: enter your email address in the upper right corner of this blog, then check your email to confirm the subscription.

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