Human shields constitute part of the reality of contemporary armed conflicts, primarily fought in urban contexts. As such, they pose a host of complex legal issues, notably for destabilizing the traditional categorizations of international humanitarian law.

In this post, part of our special series on urban warfare, Zoi Lafazani, PhD candidate and researcher in international law, describes the current state of affairs within international humanitarian law when it comes to human shields and indicates why a legal vocabulary can often be inappropriate and obscure the political dimension of human shielding.

Intergovernmental discussions on the regulation of emerging technologies in the area of (lethal) autonomous weapon systems (AWS) are back on track in Geneva after more than a year of COVID-19 related disruptions. A critical task facing States is to further clarify how international humanitarian law (IHL) applies: what limits does it place on the development and use of AWS and, perhaps most importantly, what does it require from humans in the use of force?

In this post, Laura Bruun from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), reflects on whether IHL provides sufficiently clear guidance as to how humans and machines may interact in use of force decisions. Building on the findings of a recent SIPRI study, she argues that clarification may be warranted and provides concrete suggestions on how States may further identify what IHL compliance requires in the development and use of AWS.

The ‘Great Move’ to communication in the virtual world has been underway for some time. Spurred on by the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us have switched to the medium of a screen, raising questions as to what is lost and what is gained. This is of critical importance to the humanitarian sector, especially when carrying out negotiations which can have a life or death impact.

At the heart of any negotiation is how to attain sufficient trust between the parties. But how do you build trust in a virtual environment? Following their first post on influence and persuasion in the virtual world, ICRC diplomatic advisers Nicholas Hawton and Shahrokh Shakerian now look to the issue of building trust in virtual diplomacy and humanitarian negotiations.

Communities enduring conflict are on the frontlines of the climate crisis. Paradoxically, they are also among the most neglected by climate action. It is increasingly urgent to act. The climate crisis is deeply unsettling, as it forces people to reinvent their ways of life. This reality needs to drive the conversation and lead to more and faster action.

In this post – ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) and part of our special series on climate change, conflict and humanitarian action – ICRC Policy Advisor Catherine-Lune Grayson calls on us all to step up our collective efforts to support conflict-affected populations in adapting to growing climate risks.

Within a complex and growing threat landscape, the cyber arms race is ramping up, underscoring the need for reasonable and realistic constraints on the development and use of cyberweapons. To minimize the direct or indirect harm to civilians, cyber arms development should bolster technological development safety and cybersecurity measures, and offensive cyberspace operation execution should choose the most viable course of action to achieve the specified operational effect in line with the applicable law and rules of engagement.

In this post, part of our special series on avoiding civilian harm during military cyber operations, Dr. Bernhards Blumbergs, Senior Researcher at CERT.LV (Information Technologies Security Incident Response Institution in Latvia) presents forward-looking considerations from the offensive cyberspace operation execution technical and operational perspective, based on the author’s practical experience.

The destruction of nature and the world’s ecosystems presents an unprecedented challenge for humanity. With one million species on the brink of extinction – the 6th mass extinction event in world history – nature loss also has a profound impact on international peace and security.

In this post – part of a special series on war, law and the environment co-hosted with the Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS) – Florian Titze, Policy Advisor for International Biodiversity Policy for WWF-Germany, makes a case for the UN Security Council to acknowledge the nexus between nature and security, arguing that today’s conflicts can no longer be viewed in isolation from the natural environment in which they take place.

When international law addresses a particular issue of concern, ultimately the intention is to have some kind of real impact on that issue. In the case of armed conflict and the environment, the aim is to enhance the protection of the natural environment from the negative effects of war.

In this post, which is part of a special series on war, law and the environment co-hosted with the Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS), Jani Leino, legal advisor for the Finnish Red Cross, examines the nuts and bolts of effective domestic implementation of international humanitarian law (IHL) in Finland and identifies six corresponding ingredients for success.

Alongside the urbanization of armed conflict lies a second trend: the increase in the use of technology to augment methods of warfare. Although some may claim that the integration of technological solutions – such as increasing the precision of munitions or reliance upon enhanced data and surveillance collection and analysis tools – can reduce civilian harm, contemporary urban conflict demonstrates that more should be done to ensure that new weapons technologies incorporate additional measures to minimize civilian harm when deployed in urban environments.

In this post, part of a special series on urban warfare, Damian Copeland and Lauren Sanders, both senior research fellows at the University of Queensland Law and Future of War Project, propose that enhancing existing IHL obligations in reviewing weapons, means and methods of warfare, by adopting a cooperative approach between industry and States, promises to help bridge this gap. The result is both business efficiency in the design and development of new technology, but more importantly – harmonization and increased compliance with IHL for new technologies likely to be fielded during urban warfare.

For almost eight years now, the international community at the United Nations (UN) has been discussing the various ethical, legal and security-related issues surrounding autonomy in weapons systems. The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) in Geneva is the focal point of this exchange. Since 2017, a CCW Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) has been busy deliberating the structure and content of a possible ‘normative and operational framework’ for regulation.

In this post, Frank Sauer – a long-term observer and participant in the CCW process as well as the wider debate on weapon autonomy – examines the current state of the debate and charts a possible way forward for the discussion within the CCW framework.

Digital technologies and the always-on communications that underpin the internet have transformed our world in many positive ways, but have also enabled behaviors contrary to the public interest and even threatened the continued stability of the internet. The transformation has been technology-driven but carried out in a larger commercial, social, and legal environment that shapes how the technologies are developed and used. As part of that effort, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) has partnered with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to investigate technical solutions for identifying protected missions in the digital domain.

For several years, APL has been studying approaches to assuring a stable internet through norms, laws, and technologies. In this post, continuing a discussion on the viability of a ‘digital emblem’, Antonio DeSimone, APL Principal Professional Staff, Brian Haberman, APL Principal Professional Research Scientist, and Erin Hahn, APL Principal Professional Staff, present an overview of technical approaches that may help.