A Proposal for an International Convention To Regulate the Use of Information Systems in Armed Conflict

摘要

One of the greatest challenges of law is keeping up with the advancement of technology. In this respect, international law is no different. Indeed, the process of creating international law is hampered by constraints that do not affect the making of domestic law. In an autocratic state, the rule of law is the will of the ruler and is enforced by the ruler. In a democratic state, the rule of law is a composite of the diverse opinions of legislators who have come together to forge a principle that carries the support of the majority. That norm is then applied to the entire state and enforced by the government on its people. The law of nations, however, is enforceable only by the nations themselves, making the creation of norm-creating law more difficult. In responding to the advancement of weaponry, the international community has struggled to promulgate standards of conduct in a timely manner that carry nearly universal support and adherence. On the heels of the first use of poison gas during World War I came the 1925 Geneva Gas Protocol, regulating the use of gas and "bacteriological" warfare. However, the Hague Rules of Aerial Warfare, crafted in the aftermath of the first use of aircraft in armed conflict, is a dead letter. It took nearly fifty years to formulate a total ban on biological weapons in the form of the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention and an additional twenty years to devise a comprehensive treaty outlawing the use of chemical weapons with the passage of the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention. On the other hand, some rules of warfare have been rather ahead of their time, such as the treaty banning the use of environmental modification techniques in warfare, the protocol banning weapons whose fragments cannot be detected by X-ray, and the protocol banning the use of blinding lasers.