Civilians might get dragged into playing a greater and more dangerous role in conflicts due to the digitalisation of warfare, notably through gathering information for combatants, the Red Cross said Thursday.
The International Committee of the Red Cross is responsible for ensuring compliance with the Geneva Conventions on the conduct of war.
The omnipresence of digital tools like smartphones could see civilians called upon to take a more active role in conflicts, it warned.
It is not illegal for civilians to gather information, for example, about the presence of tanks in a village, as long as they do not directly participate in hostilities, the ICRC said.
However, states might take a different interpretation.
If civilians are “more and more seen as contributing to the military effort”, there is a danger of “large groups of civilians being seen as potential targets”, said Tilman Rodenhauser, a legal adviser with the ICRC.
The organisation is urging countries to “avoid involving civilians in activities that bring them close to hostility”, or to at least give them “clear warnings” of the risks they may face, he told reporters at the ICRC’s headquarters in Geneva.
Given the growing role hackers are playing in armed conflicts, the ICRC also launched a campaign two years ago to explain to them, in particular, the ban on targeting civilians and medical infrastructure.
The Red Cross is one of the very few humanitarian organisations — possibly the only one — that has “engaged in direct, confidential dialogue with some of these groups on international humanitarian law”, said Rodenhauser.
Two years on, the results are mixed.
“We are not naive. We do not think all hackers now respect the laws of war,” Rodenhauser said.
“But what we’ve seen is a shift in narrative where hacker groups, at times, consider humanitarian aspects and legal aspects.”
Meanwhile, he said the Red Cross was now seeing “entire continents, countries preparing for potential future armed conflict”.
They are developing strategies called total or comprehensive defence.
These strategies have positive aspects, such as strengthening hospital capacities or the ways in which civilians can protect themselves in the event of war, the ICRC said.
But Rodenhauser also voiced concern that countries are looking to “develop how civilians or civilian infrastructure can be used for the purposes of the armed conflict”.
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