Presentation Title: On the limits of existing humanitarian technologies and the promise of ‘cyber-humanitarian interventions’
Theme: Politics and Power
Presenter: Ms Rhiannon Neilson

This paper critically examines the role of humanitarian technologies – such as satellite imagery, mobile ‘apps’, and crowd-source mapping – in the context of atrocity crimes in the 21st century. In particular, it highlights two core limitations of the ways in which these existing technologies are used for human protection purposes. The first limitation is that these current uses of new technologies for atrocity prevention are overwhelmingly passive. That is, humanitarian technologies are being used almost exclusively for the identification, observation, verification, and documentation of atrocities for (ideally) prosecution and transitional justice. The second limitation is that these uses of new technologies are ultimately designed to 'help vulnerable populations help themselves'. In other words, much of these new technologies rely on the vulnerable populations, in extreme conditions, being aware of, having access to, and then using - at their own risk - such technologies. Whilst not dismissing the importance of existing humanitarian technologies, this paper gives thought to how more proactive uses of cyber-capabilities might be used to protect populations from atrocity crimes in 2020 and beyond. As such, this paper introduces a series of 'cyber-humanitarian interventions' that aim to disrupt potential perpetrators' means and motivations for perpetrating genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing. 

Rhiannon is a Scientia PhD Candidate at the University of New South Wales. Her research interests include atrocity prevention, moral and political philosophy, cyberspace, and the Responsibility to Protect. In 2019, she was awarded the Barbara Hale Fellowship by the Australian Federation of Graduate Women to be a visiting doctoral student at the University of Oxford. Rhiannon has also been a visiting scholar at the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (2019). Her published work has appeared in international journals, such as Ethics and International Affairs (2020), Terrorism and Political Violence (2019), and Genocide Studies and Prevention (2015).