The characterization of remote warfare under international humanitarian law

This chapter examines the qualification of remote warfare as a form of armed conflict under international humanitarian law. It does so first by considering how armed conflict is defined and how the concept has evolved since the drafting of the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It then focuses on three modes of attack that are commonly associated with remote warfare: the use of remotely piloted vehicles, cyber operations, and autonomous weapon systems. Bearing in mind the challenges that each of these present to the applicability of the law, it will be argued that the concept of armed conflict needs to be interpreted in terms consistent with the object and purpose of international humanitarian law, in accordance with Article 31 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties

This is a draft chapter. The final version is available in Research Handbook on Remote Warfare edited by Jens David Ohlin, published in 2017, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781784716998.00013
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