Since the early 1990s the ICRC has been promoting the teaching of international humanitarian law in the universities of countries which, though not necessarily at war, need to train lawyers in that field. The aim of the programme is both to improve knowledge of international humanitarian law among future decision- makers and to make the ICRC and its activities better known. One of the regions where the ICRC university programme has been strongly developed is the former Soviet Union, where the newly independent States, especially those of Central Asia, had little or no tradition in international law, let alone in international humanitarian law. After the break-up of the USSR in 1991 and their accession to independence, the four countries examined here — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — had to train their own diplomats and increase their public officials’ knowledge of international law. Under the circumstances, the ICRC offered to start developing the teaching of international humanitarian law at the universities of Central Asia.