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Executive Summary: Avoiding civilian harm from military cyber operations during armed conflicts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2021

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Abstract

In January 2020, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) invited experts from various parts of the world to share their knowledge on practical issues for the implementation of international humanitarian law (IHL) in military cyber operations. Participants included experts with experience in the development and use of military cyber operations, experience working for global IT companies and cyber threat intelligence firms, as well as lawyers and academics. Experts analysed the conduct of military cyber operations, focusing on how armed forces can understand and assess the risk of civilian harm and what measures might be effective and appropriate to avoid or mitigate such risks.

The rich discussions provided an insightful picture of the ways in which armed forces consider the application of IHL when conducting cyber operations and the risks that such operations can entail for the civilian population. What emerged from the discussions is that States need to invest time and resources to develop tools, processes to assess the risks of incidental civilian harm and measures to limit these risks.

Type
Reports and Documents
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 104 , Issue 919: Selected Articles , April 2022 , pp. 1501 - 1505
Copyright
Copyright © ICRC 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the ICRC.

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References

1 The report from which this Executive Summary is extracted was prepared by Ewan Lawson, military adviser on cyber, and Kubo Mačák, legal adviser, ICRC. The full report is “Avoiding Civilian Harm from Military Cyber Operations During Armed Conflicts: ICRC Expert Meeting 21–22 January 2020 – Geneva”, available at: https://shop.icrc.org/avoiding-civilian-harm-from-military-cyber-operations-during-armed-conflicts-icrc-expert-meeting-21-22-january-2020-geneva-pdf-en. The ICRC Humanitarian Law & Policy blog ran a series of several posts on the same theme, “Avoiding Civilian Harm During Military Cyber Operations”, available at: https://blogs.icrc.org/law-and-policy/category/special-themes/avoiding-civilian-harm-during-military-cyber-operations/