Professor Marco Sassòli discusses how the international community can recommit to respect international humanitarian law (IHL). Widespread violations of IHL cause tremendous human suffering. Against this background, it is tempting to conclude that IHL is less relevant or no longer relevant at all. And yet, in substance, IHL has grown stronger, not weaker, over the past years. States have negotiated new international treaties and incorporated IHL into their domestic legal orders, international tribunals have produced judgments on the basis of IHL, and arms carriers have been trained in this body of law. Professor Sassòli shares his insights on bridging the gap between the development of IHL and the situation on the ground. Marco Sassòli is Professor of International Law and Director of the Department of International Law and International Organization at the University of Geneva, and Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists’ (ICJ). From 2001-2003, he taught at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal, Canada, where he remains Associate Professor. From 1985-1997 he worked for the ICRC at the headquarters, inter alia as deputy head of its legal division, and in the field, inter alia as head of the ICRC delegations in Jordan and Syria, and as protection coordinator for the former Yugoslavia. During a sabbatical leave in 2011, he joined again the ICRC, as legal adviser to its delegation in Islamabad. He also served as executive secretary of the ICY, as registrar at the Swiss Supreme Court, and from 2004-2013 as chair of the board of Geneva Call, an NGO engaging non-State armed actors to respect humanitarian rules.