I would like to thank the leaders of Médecins Sans Frontières, without whose support, trust, and encouragement this work would not have been possible, as well as all the volunteers who defend life and human dignity through their relief efforts in the midst of conflict and crisis situations.
For the initial version of this dictionary, I would like to extend my special thanks to Fabien Dubuet and Jacqueline Schuchman for their support in designing and implementing this project, as well as to Louise Doswald-Beck and the Legal Division of the International Committee of the Red Cross; Stéphane Jaquemet, legal advisor to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and Brigitte Stern, professor of public international law at the University of Paris-I-Panthéon-Sorbonne, for their careful proofreading and valuable advice.
Since 1998, each new edition of this dictionary has been enriched and updated thanks to the teamwork required for the various translations into foreign languages and the evolution of the law. We would like to thank everyone for their valuable contributions, in particular: Tatiana Alexseytseva, Laura Brav, Bérengère Cescau, Julie Hotte, Madiha Massoud, Camille Michel, Mariya Nikolova, Clémentine Olivier, Natalia Voutova, Lola Zellvegue
To Christian, Martin, Jean, and Clémence
This book is dedicated
to all those who are confronted in person
or on their screens with violence
and human destruction,
to all those who suffer it,
to all those who fight against it.
