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8 rules for “civilian hackers” during war, and 4 obligations for states to restrain them

As digital technology is changing how militaries conduct war, a worrying trend has emerged in which a growing number of civilians become involved in armed conflicts through digital means. Sitting at some distance from physical hostilities, including outside the countries at war, civilians – including hacktivists, to cyber security professionals, ‘white hat’, ‘black hat’ and ‘patriotic’ hackers – are conducting a range of cyber operations against their ‘enemy’. Some have described civilians as ‘first choice cyberwarriors’ because the ‘vast majority of expertise in cyber(defence) lies with the private (or civilian) sector’. Examples of civilian hackers operating in to the context of armed conflicts are diverse and many (see here, here, here). In particular in the international armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, some groups present themselves as a ‘worldwide IT community’ with the mission to, in their words, ‘help Ukraine win by crippling aggressor economies, blocking vital financial, infrastructural and government services, and tiring major taxpayers’. Others have reportedly ‘called for and carried out disruptive - albeit…

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Response to the Letter to the Editors Regarding the Publication of a Symposium based on Papers Presented at an IDF Conference

We are grateful for this letter. It raises important and difficult issues. These are issues that must be identified, aired, discussed, specified and further discussed. This letter has spurred such a process. The symposium that the letter objects to focused on the question of the identification of custom in international humanitarian law. It consisted…

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Joint Open Letter to the Editorial Board of the Blog of the European Journal of International Law (EJIL: Talk!)

Note by the editors: the text of the letter inclusive of footnotes is available in PDF here: EJIL-Letter_18 Sept ; the response of the editors is available here. Re:      Providing a Platform to an Occupying Military Force Implicated in Violations of Jus Cogens Norms We, the undersigned…

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Goliath vs David (and Friends): A Recap of the Preliminary Objections Hearings in Ukraine v. Russia

Introduction Never before in the history of the Court have so many States’ representatives squeezed into the Great Hall of Justice for a contentious proceeding, as occurred in the preliminary objections hearings in Ukraine v. Russia which concluded on Wednesday. Not merely offering Ukraine and Russia a platform to trade political barbs, the proceedings raise a…

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Empowerment and Constitutional Control

Professor Geir Ulfstein is Professor in the Department of Public and International Law, University of Oslo International institutions exercise more and more power. This is not limited to foreign policy issues, such as international security or trade, but increasingly also to issues traditionally…

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ESIL-International Human Rights Law Symposium: Interactions Between IHRL and Other Sub-branches of International Law

We are happy to announce that over the course of this week and next we will be hosting an ESIL Interest Group on Human Rights blog symposium on the interactions between international human rights law (IHRL) and other sub-branches of international law. This follows the previous ESIL-IHRL Online Symposium – Is There…

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The Use of Cluster Munitions by Saudi Arabia in Yemen and the Responsibility of the United Kingdom

In December 2016, after repeated denials, Ahmed Asiri, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, said: ‘It has become apparent that there was limited use by the coalition of the UK-manufactured BL755 cluster munition in Yemen’. This admission opened up questions about the United Kingdom’s…

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What is the Future of the SOGI Mandate and What Does it Mean for the UN Human Rights Council?

Last June, human rights defenders the world over celebrated the historic step taken by the Human Rights Council (HRC) to create a UN Special Procedures mandate on sexual orientation and gender identity. It had taken years of advocacy by the LGBTI and wider human rights community, and careful…

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Joint Series on International Law and Armed Conflict: Rachel VanLandingham on the Procedural Regulation of Detention in Armed Conflict

The fourth post in our joint blog series arising from the 2016 Transatlantic Workshop on International,’The Procedural Regulation of Detention in Armed Conflict’- by Rachel E. VanLandingham (Southwestern Law School, Los Angeles) is now available on Lawfare. Here’s a snippet:…

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New EJIL:Live! Interview with Deborah Whitehall on A Rival History of Self-Determination

In the latest episode of EJIL: Live!, the Associate Editor of the European Journal of International Law, Dr. Guy Fiti Sinclair, speaks with Dr. Deborah Whitehall, Lecturer at Monash University Faculty of Law, about her article titled “A Rival History of Self-Determination”, which appears in…

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Dapo Akande

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Marko Milanovic

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Diane Desierto

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Devika Hovell

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Tal Gross

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Mary Guest

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Justina Uriburu

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Freya Baetens

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Michael Fakhri

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Douglas Guilfoyle

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Monica Hakimi

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Lorna McGregor

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Anthea Roberts

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