Case Western University School of Law’s annual international law symposium this year focused on the question of whether the Geneva Conventions, enjoying their 75th Anniversary, need to be updated to deal with new challenges, including the application of IHL to space, expanding transnational conflicts with non-state actors, cyber-war, and the development and deployment of fully autonomous weapons systems. The conference began with a closed experts group meeting to discuss the development of a white paper on the issues, followed by an open conference with panels on each of the major topics.
My panel, with Laurie Blank of Emory Univ. Law, Milena Sterio of Cleveland Univ. Law, and Romina Morello of the ICRC, fielded questions from Paul Williams of American Univ. Law, on whether, and how, the Geneva Conventions might need to be updated in some form to better regulate the use of autonomous weapons systems. My article on the subject will be published next year in the Case Western Journal of International Law. Great conference.