Article

Direct participation in hostilities from cyberspace

Collin Allan

• Virginia journal of international law, Vol. 54, no. 1, December 2013, p. 173-193

English

Photocopies. - Source : https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/vajint54&id=177&collection=journals&index= (last accessed on 18.06.2020)

As demonstrated by the cyber attacks against Georgia in 2008 and the cyber attacks against Aramco in 2012, civilians are increasing their participation in armed conflicts through cyber attacks. In 2009, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) published a document on how to determine when a civilian’s participation in armed conflict reaches the necessary level to render him or her targetable by one of the parties to the conflict. The Tallinn Manual was published this year to provide legal guidance in cyber situations. While professionals have written in this area previously, it is the first time that experts have compiled a manual of rules to indicate how international law applies to cyber situations. It includes a section on direct participation in hostilities through cyber means. This paper compares and contrasts the ICRC’s approach and the Tallinn Manual’s approach. The author reaches the conclusion that the Tallinn Manual’s approach has the general effect of lowering the standard for civilians’ actions in meeting the direct participation in hostilities bar. This makes a civilian participating in hostilities through cyber means targetable in more situations than a civilian participating in hostilities under the ICRC’s framework.

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