Event information

26 February 2020, 14:00-16:00

Downloads

Flyer >

ESIL Lecture: Disruptive Military Technologies

Event

Photos taken from the Norse Attack Map.     The map shows in realtime attacks that happen on the Norse honeypots. Photos taken from the Norse Attack Map.     The map shows in realtime attacks that happen on the Norse honeypots.

New (military) technologies are set to revolutionize the ways wars are fought. Technological advances in the fields of cyberspace and artificial intelligence are at the forefront of contemporary geopolitical power struggles and are already bringing about major transformative shifts in military and humanitarian affairs. Military spending in these fields has increased dramatically in recent years, a new type of arms race has ensued and the deployment of new military technologies is no longer a hidden battlefield reality. These developments will have far-reaching and not yet fully understood consequences for future humanitarian protection needs and the humanitarian legal framework at large. Yet, in spite of many years of discussion and an inflation of norm clarification processes, dissent and ambiguity even around basic legal principles abound.

Against this backdrop, this ESIL Lecture by Robin Geiß, Swiss Chair of International Humanitarian Law at the Geneva Academy and Professor of International Law and Security at the University of Glasgow, will explore the disruptive potential of a range of new military technologies with a particular focus on those areas where these technologies could fall through the cracks of the international legal order.

Video

ESIL Lecture: Disruptive Military Technologies

Missed the ISIL lecture on Disruptive Military Technologies with Robin Geiß, Swiss Chair of International Humanitarian Law at the Geneva Academy and Professor of International Law and Security at the University of Glasgow. He explored the disruptive potential of new military technologies and where these technologies could fall through the cracks of the international legal order.

 

MORE ON THIS THEMATIC AREA

GHRP EU News News

Bridging Geneva and Europe: advancing human rights in the digital age

2 June 2025

The Geneva Human Rights Platform has taken its work on strengthening the international human rights system to the heart of European policymaking.

Read more

IHL in Focus Spot Report News

Water Wars: How Sudan’s Conflict Weaponizes a Basic Human Need

4 August 2025

Our latest spot report explores how the targeting of water infrastructure is contributing to what is now considered the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, affecting 30 million people.

Read more

Neutrotechology Project

Neurotechnology and Human Rights

Started in August 2023

This project addresses the human rights implications stemming from the development of neurotechnology for commercial, non-therapeutic ends, and is based on a partnership between the Geneva Academy, the Geneva University Neurocentre and the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee. 

Read more

Iraq, Mosul. View of the west bank after the war. Project

IHL in Focus

Started in January 2024

As a yearly publication, it keeps decision-makers, practitioners and scholars up-to-date with the latest trends and challenges in IHL implementation in over 100 armed conflicts worldwide – both international and non-international.

Read more

Cover of the 2023 Geneva Academy Annual Report Publication

Annual Report 2024

published on July 2025

Read more