Autonomy in weapons systems: playing catch up with technology
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. T...
29 Sep 202113min
Identifying Protected Missions in the Digital Domain
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 e...
23 Sep 202110min
Signaling legal protection during cyber warfare: an authenticated digital emblem
Warfare increasingly takes place in cyberspace. Consequently, the question arises how a digital analogy of the protective emblems, the red cross, red crescent and red crystal, could be realized. How c...
21 Sep 202110min
Signaling legal protection in a digitalizing world: a new era for the distinctive emblems?
The use of digital technology in armed conflict is rising sharply. Such developments come with risks, but they may also provide opportunities. For example, could new technologies help digitally signal...
16 Sep 202112min
Biometrics in humanitarian action: a delicate balance
When biometrics enters the news cycle, it is usually in the context of a critical discussion on the risks versus the benefits – an ethical debate, as evidenced by recent events in Afghanistan, that ca...
2 Sep 202111min
Sustaining the momentum: working to prevent and address enforced disappearances
Preventing persons from going missing, clarifying the fate and whereabouts of those who do and supporting their loved ones, including in their quest to know what happened and to seek justice for serio...
26 Aug 202117min
The future is now: artificial intelligence and anticipatory humanitarian action
As the world faces simultaneous disasters and burgeoning risks, humanitarian actors need to develop more efficient ways of delivering aid to vulnerable populations. One current trend involves the use ...
18 Aug 20218min
The value (and danger) of ‘shock’ in regulating new technology during armed conflict
The rules and standards of war are not self-correcting. Contradictions, gaps, and ambiguities often endure until an external pressure makes them salient. This is particularly true of the laws governin...
12 Aug 202111min
