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The roles of civil society in the development of standards around new weapons and other technologies of warfare

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2013

Brian Rappert ,
Richard Moyes ,
Anna Crowe  and
Thomas Nash
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Abstract

This article considers the role of civil society in the development of new standards around weapons. The broad but informal roles that civil society has undertaken are contrasted with the relatively narrow review mechanisms adopted by states in fulfilment of their legal obligations. Such review mechanisms are also considered in the context of wider thinking about processes by which society considers new technologies that may be adopted into the public sphere. The article concludes that formalized review mechanisms, such as those undertaken in terms of Article 36 of Additional Protocol I (1977) of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, should be a focus of civil society attention in their own right as part of efforts to strengthen standard-setting in relation to emerging military technologies.

Keywords

weapon reviewArticle 36civil societynew technology
Type
Ethics, Civil Society and New Technologies
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 94 , Issue 886: New Technologies and Warfare , June 2012 , pp. 765 - 785
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 2013 

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