New Technologies, Old Law - the 6th annual Minerva/ICRC IHL conferences (28-29/11 2011, Jerusalem).

Post date: Nov 21, 2011 4:36:12 PM

The Minerva Center for Human Rights at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Law and the Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Israel and the Occupied Territories - in cooperation with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Bruce W. Wayne Chair of International Law at the Hebrew University - are pleased to invite you to an international conference examining the normative impact of new military technologies on core doctrines and principles of international humanitarian law (IHL). The conference, the 6th annual Minerva/ICRC international conferences on IHL, will take place on 28-29 November 2011 in Jerusalem.

The main question to be examined by the conference is whether the basic principles of international humanitarian law - military necessity, distinction, proportionality and humanity - and key concepts such as combatancy, armed conflict and combat zone are elastic enough to accommodate the new technological armed conflict terrain. By mapping the main challenges presented by technological developments to the continued application of the traditional concepts of the laws of war – e.g., physical removal of military actors from the battlefield and the risks associated with it, the erosion of the boundaries between civilian and military infrastructures, the substitution of on-the-spot discretion with pre-programmed reactions, and the increased transparency of some battlefield activities – the conference will encourage vigorous debate on the need for a new direction in the laws of armed conflict, evaluating new technologies in light of existing legal principles and considering also whether these principles and their underlying rationale themselves need to be re-examined in the wake of technological advances.

The conference will take place at Beit Maiersdorf, on the Mt. Scopus campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem – and is open to the general public. Discussions will be in English.

For registration, information and campus entry/parking permits:

Please contact the Minerva Center for Human Rights by Sunday, November 27 via e-mail: mchr@savion.huji.ac.il or tel. 02-5881156, providing your name, ID or passport number and vehicle license plate number. Vehicle entry will be through the Humanities Gate.

Programme is attached.

*Disclaimer - ALMA is not part of the aforementioned conference and is not responsible for the accuracy of the information above which is based on the official publications of Minerva Center for Human Rights.