“Without information and telecommunication, people don’t know where to go for safety,” the ICRC reported from an ongoing armed conflict. Another humanitarian worker recalled that when connectivity is down and “a bombing happens, especially in the night, you cannot reach ambulances”. The importance of connectivity for people affected by armed conflict is further exemplified when displaced people ask humanitarian organizations for Wi-Fi or a ‘hot spot’, as connectivity provides the most direct contact to their loved ones. Yet, disruptions of connectivity are frequent in today’s armed conflict, at times part of incidental damage caused by hostilities, at other times presented as a measure necessary to impact an enemy’s operations.  

In this post, ICRC Legal Adviser Tilman Rodenhäuser discusses some of the limits that international humanitarian law (IHL) imposes on connectivity disruptions in armed conflict. The notion ‘connectivity disruptions’ is used to describe operations by belligerents that make digital connectivity or tele-communications unavailable or otherwise disrupted, temporarily or in the longer term. 

📑 In Case You Missed it

Offline and in danger: the humanitarian consequences of connectivity disruptions

Photographing humanity: hope amid crisis in Myanmar

Respect for the dead under Islamic law: considerations for humanitarian forensics

Verses of mercy: how Somali oral traditions can mitigate conflict and support IHL

📝 On Geneva Convention Commentaries

❝The updated Commentaries follow the methodology of treaty interpretation based on the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. ❞ — Jean-Marie Henckaerts

As the ICRC will release the updated Commentary on the Fourth Geneva Convention soon, this short lecture by ICRC Head of the Commentaries Project, Jean-Marie Henckaerts, explores how the rules of the Vienna Convention are applied in the process of updating the Geneva Conventions Commentaries. It outlines three main elements: the general rule of interpretation, which emphasizes good faith and the importance of taking subsequent developments into account; the use of supplementary means such as preparatory work and scholarly publications; and the principle of multilingual interpretation, which recognizes that all official treaty languages carry equal legal authority.

📚 International Review of the Red Cross

📢 Latest Edition: IRRC No. 928 - “The Military”

While many analyze military decision-making from outside the ranks of States’ armed forces, ultimately, the ones applying IHL during real-life battlefield situations are the decision-makers inside these structures. Yet, for various reasons, they express themselves less publicly on matters of IHL in academic journals, including the Review.
 
With the articles selected for this issue, the Review has created a space to put the spotlight on States’ armed forces so as to hear from them– and about them first-hand, from a contemporary perspective. Through this, the Review sincerely hopes that military lawyers and operators will more often find their way to our journal’s pages in the future, so as to share their experiences with its readers around the world on topics of interest to both the humanitarian and military communities.

💡 In the Spotlight

ICRC Library - Online Access to 1974–1977 Diplomatic Conference Documents

ICRC Humanitarian Visa d’Or: Saher Alghorra Honoured for Photojournalism in Gaza

From law to (regional) action: Regional reports on the implementation of IHL

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