Civilians

This theme highlights the protection of civilians in armed conflict, focusing on mitigating harm from explosive weapons, digital threats, harmful information, and challenges in urban warfare, while emphasizing the urgency of implementing international humanitarian law.

War in cities: a solemn appeal from the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

January 7, 2025 6 mins read Access / Accountability / Analysis / Armed Groups / Conduct of Hostilities / Generating Respect for IHL / Humanitarian Action / Humanitarian diplomacy / Humanitarian Principles / IHL

Around the world, civilians in cities at war face immense risks. Urban warfare devastates lives ...

IHL and the challenge of maintaining food security in armed conflict

October 17, 2024 11 mins read Access / Analysis / Conduct of Hostilities / Generating Respect for IHL / IHL / Special Protections Matt Pollard

Food insecurity remains a critical issue in modern armed conflicts, exacerbated by the mutually reinforcing ...

Protecting civilians in conflict: the urgency of implementing the Political Declaration on Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas

April 22, 2024 9 mins read Analysis / Generating Respect for IHL / IHL / Influencing Behaviour in Armed Conflict / Urban warfare / Weapons Laura Boillot, Laurent Gisel, Paul Holtom, Frederik Siem, Dina Abou Samra & Juliana Helou van der Berg

The widespread use of heavy explosive weapons has reached alarming levels, exacting a staggering toll ...

From content to harm: how harmful information contributes to civilian harm

February 27, 2024 10 mins read Analysis / Communications / Humanitarian Action / New Technologies / Social Protection Chris Brew

From traditional media to social media, coordinated information campaigns or operations, the ways in which ...

Deploying OSINT in armed conflict settings: law, ethics, and the need for a new theory of harm

December 5, 2023 16 mins read Analysis / Cybersecurity and data protection in humanitarian action / Human Costs of Cyber / IHL / New Technologies / Technology in Humanitarian Action Ed Millett

The deployment of open-source intelligence, or OSINT – information gathered from publicly available data sources ...

Algorithms of war: The use of artificial intelligence in decision making in armed conflict

October 24, 2023 14 mins read Artificial Intelligence and Armed Conflict / Autonomous Weapons / Humanitarian Action / New Technologies / Technology in Humanitarian Action Ruben Stewart & Georgia Hinds

In less than a year, Chat-GPT has become a household name, reflecting astonishing advances in ...

Protecting civilians against digital threats: four worrying trends and recommendations to address them

October 19, 2023 11 mins read Analysis / New Technologies Cordula Droege, Laurent Gisel, Tilman Rodenhäuser & Joelle Rizk

In situations of armed conflict, access to digital technology can save lives. But the use of cyber, information, and other digital operations by ...

Space security governance: steps to limit the human costs of military operations in outer space

August 22, 2023 13 mins read Analysis / Law and Conflict / Outer Space / Technology in Humanitarian Action / War, law, and outer space / Weapons Nivedita Raju

Civilians are heavily dependent on space systems for everyday life. Yet, those same space systems ...

Reducing the civilian cost of military counterspace operations

August 17, 2023 14 mins read Analysis / Avoiding civilian harm during military cyber operations / Communications / IHL / Law and Conflict / New Technologies / Outer Space / Technology in Humanitarian Action / War, law, and outer space Dr Stuart Eves, PhD, FRAS, FBIS & Gilles Doucet

Enabled by advanced technologies, the past few decades have seen a revolution in the utility ...

Collateral damage from the use of indirect fire in populated areas – can it be avoided?

May 5, 2022 11 mins read Analysis / Humanitarian Action / Urban warfare Ove Dullum

Collateral damage is the unintended damage inflicted on humans, structures, animals and the natural environment that are not the target of the attack. ...

Preparedness in urban operations: a commander’s planning checklist to protect civilians

May 11, 2021 12 mins read Analysis / Humanitarian Action / Law and Conflict / Religion / Urban warfare Sahr Muhammedally

Implementing international humanitarian law’s (IHL) precautionary measures for both defending and attacking forces is a ...

Joint Blog Series: Are sieges prohibited under contemporary IHL?

February 5, 2019 4 mins read Joint Blog Series / Law and Conflict Gloria Gaggioli

Closing out our Joint Series is a post by on Gloria Gaggioli on siege warfare published by EJIL Talk! Are Sieges Prohibited under Contemporary IHL? ...