Home > Sturm College of Law > Denver Journal of International Law & Policy > Vol. 53 (2024-2025) > No. 2 (2025)
Abstract
Digital technologies are transforming the nature and role of information during armed conflict. They have exponentially increased the amount of information about armed conflict and the speed with which it can be disseminated. Digital information technologies present both opportunities and challenges for International Humanitarian Law (IHL). They can help minimize harm to civilians, document IHL violations, and provide evidence for investigating and prosecuting atrocity crimes. Digital technologies, however, bring risks as well. They make it easier to misuse and manipulate information, which can increase risks to civilians, conceal IHL violations, and spread disinformation about the causes and conduct of war. Digital information technologies also have important implications for constructing narratives around armed conflicts—narratives that shape and are shaped by the language, logic, and values of IHL. These narratives can stigmatize individuals and states as transgressors of international law and pressure international courts to respond. At the same time, the proliferation of digitally derived information about atrocity crimes increases expectations that courts will act; consequently, when courts fail to act, or when they act but their decisions are ignored or go unenforced, it can reinforce a counter-narrative that international humanitarian law is weak and ineffective.
Recommended Citation
Jonathan Hafetz, Digital Information Technologies and International Humanitarian Law: New Opportunities and Challenges, 53 Denv. J. Int'l L. & Pol'y 249 (Spring 2025).